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Issue: Rebuilding
Of the more than $116 billion earmarked by the federal government for recovery and rebuilding of the Gulf Region, more than half has not been spent. The funds have often been held up by conflicts over costs, timelines, and priorities. Residents report challenges from the profound to the absurd as they attempt to start over.
Main Image: After the Storm: Life in the Crescent City
After the Storm: Life in the Crescent City
Eve Troeh was the only public radio reporter on the ground full-time in New Orleans after Katrina; she reports on public safety, housing, and cultural rebuilding.
Audio National Public Radio Stories National Public Radio Stories
Audio <i>Weekend America</i> Stories Weekend America Stories
Audio <i>World Vision Report</i> Stories World Vision Report Stories
Main Image: Another Black Blues Story
Another Black Blues Story
Clarence Williams is producing a photographic essay of post-Katrina New Orleans, from flood to aftermath to rebuilding, with a visual emphasis on the remnants of the cultural wealth and family ties that make this city unique.
Photo Another Black Blues Story Another Black Blues Story
Main Image: Beyond Black and White
Beyond Black and White
Sara Catania wrote stories on the long-term effect of the storm on Vietnamese communities all along the Gulf Coast.
Print From Fish Sauce to Salsa From Fish Sauce to Salsa
Print James Bui Builds the Peaceful Neighborhood James Bui Builds the Peaceful Neighborhood
Print Patching a Broken City Patching a Broken City
Photo Vietnamese Tet Festival in New Orleans East Vietnamese Tet Festival in New Orleans East
Main Image: Child of the Flood
Child of the Flood
Child of the Flood, a novel by Dale Maharidge with photographs by Michael Williamson, combines fiction with documentary imagery and chronicles the story of John Boucher, an 18-year-old who is knocked unconscious and loses his memory as a result of the post-Katrina flooding.
Print Child of the Flood Child of the Flood
Photo Child of the Flood (Photographs) Child of the Flood (Photographs)
Main Image: Faubourg Tremé
Faubourg Tremé
Lolis Eric Elie and Dawn Logsdon are working on a feature-length documentary, Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, which focuses on the historic neighborhood in New Orleans that, during slavery, was home to one of the oldest, most prosperous, and most politically active black communities in the country.
Video Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
Main Image: From Flood Lines to Second Lines
From Flood Lines to Second Lines
Kate Ellis and Stephen Smith completed two documentaries for American RadioWorks: Rebuilding Biloxi: One Year After Katrina, about families there struggling to recover one year after the storm; and Routes to Recovery, about whether the preservation and restoration of New Orleans' cultural life might provide the most enduring path to its rebuilding.
Audio Rebuilding Biloxi: One Year After Katrina Rebuilding Biloxi: One Year After Katrina
Audio Routes to Recovery Routes to Recovery
Main Image: Generation Katrina
Generation Katrina
Youth Radio partnered with local New Orleans youth media groups, schools, non-profit organizations, and individual young people to create Generation Katrina: Youth Voices from New Orleans.
Audio College Student Conversation College Student Conversation
Audio Generation Katrina Generation Katrina
Audio God and Katrina God and Katrina
Photo Youth Radio Photographs Youth Radio Photographs
Main Image: Gulf Coast: Work in Progress
Gulf Coast: Work in Progress
Dee Davis and the Center for Rural Strategies developed a media campaign to illustrate the struggles of rural Gulf Coast residents to re-establish their lives after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The project aimed to help Americans understand conditions along the rural Gulf Coast and explore how America's failure to formulate effective rural policy is reaping disaster.
Video Gulf Coast: Work in Progress Gulf Coast: Work in Progress
Main Image: The Insurance Transparency Project
The Insurance Transparency Project
Dean Starkman took an in-depth look at the insurance industry through his blog, InsuranceTransparencyProject.com, which offers commentary and original reporting on political, legal, and corporate news affecting the insurance aftermath; he contributed to several newspapers and is also working on a book and a data-collection project in Bay St. Louis, MS.
Print 'Eyewitness Statements Are No Longer to Be Relied Upon'—Shows v. State Farm 'Eyewitness Statements Are No Longer to Be Relied Upon'—Shows v. State Farm
Print Coming Soon: Insurance Crisis Answers Not Yet on the Table Coming Soon: Insurance Crisis Answers Not Yet on the Table
Print The Legal Storm in Katrina's Wake The Legal Storm in Katrina's Wake
Print 'Where Did You Get This?'—Shows v. State Farm 'Where Did You Get This?'—Shows v. State Farm
Main Image: In the Danger Zone
In the Danger Zone
A website and series of articles by Steve Myers on how outdated flood maps contribute to the destruction wrought by hurricanes such as Katrina.
Print Alabama Left Behind Alabama Left Behind
Print Daring the Surge Daring the Surge
Print Elevating Pays Off Elevating Pays Off
Print Fending for Themselves Fending for Themselves
Print In the Danger Zone In the Danger Zone
Main Image: Lives Out of Context: A Hurricane of Race
Lives Out of Context: A Hurricane of Race
Ten photographers from Kamoinge, a New York-based collective of African-American photographers, documented ravished communities impacted by the hurricane and the devastation's far-reaching ramifications on the economic, social, and racial fabric of its residents; the resulting body of work explores the despair, as well as the hope and resilience of the many residents who have lived in these communities for countless generations.
Photo Photographs by Collette V. Fournier Photographs by Collette V. Fournier
Photo Photographs by Wayne Lawrence Photographs by Wayne Lawrence
Main Image: Living Through the Storm
Living Through the Storm
Mark Hertsgaard focused on global warming and interviewed a wide range of people about what went wrong in New Orleans before Katrina, and how ongoing reconstruction and conservation efforts could protect the Gulf Coast in the future.
Print On the Front Lines of Climate Change On the Front Lines of Climate Change
Main Image: New Orleans Now: Weathering the Storm
New Orleans Now: Weathering the Storm
Tena Rubio developed the Katrina Uncovers/New Orleans Now series for the National Radio Project; as part of the project, she produced a 30-minute show on street art, a one-hour show about New Orleans two years after Katrina and a three-part series on the immigrant/migrant workforce in New Orleans
Audio Can Art Help Heal a Broken City? Can Art Help Heal a Broken City?
Audio Immigrants, Labor Rights and the Human Cost of Rebuilding an American City, Parts 1-3 Immigrants, Labor Rights and the Human Cost of Rebuilding an American City, Parts 1-3
Main Image: Not As Seen On TV
Not As Seen On TV
Two producers from New York City's Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) traveled to New Orleans to collaborate with two local teen reporters on videos that illustrate how people of all ages are coping after Katrina. The films touch on how art can be used for healing, how residents are helping themselves in the absence of government support, and how issues of race, culture, and poverty continue to play a central role in recovery, relief, and revitalization efforts.
Video Not As Seen On TV Not As Seen On TV
Main Image: Portrait of Neglect: Injustice of Hurricane Katrina
Portrait of Neglect: Injustice of Hurricane Katrina
"Portrait of Neglect: Injustice of Hurricane Katrina" is a body of photographs by Debbie Fleming Caffery that aims to capture the effects of this disaster on Louisiana's African American population.
Photo Portrait of Neglect Portrait of Neglect
Main Image: Post-Katrina Pioneers
Post-Katrina Pioneers
Annette Foglino reported on people with exceptional perseverance, who not only survived the storm but have found the will and the means to rebuild the Gulf Coast in unique ways.
Print Getting the News Out Getting the News Out
Print Moving Forward Gulf Coast Moving Forward Gulf Coast
Main Image: Rebuilding, Inc.
Rebuilding, Inc.
Tim Shorrock has been reporting on post-Katrina economic development and the health care crisis in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.
Print Casino Interests Hit the Jackpot in Post-Katrina Development Casino Interests Hit the Jackpot in Post-Katrina Development
Print Energy Companies See Gulf Coast as LNG Gateway Energy Companies See Gulf Coast as LNG Gateway
Print Gambling with Biloxi Gambling with Biloxi
Print The Street Samaritans The Street Samaritans
Main Image: Struggling to Make It
Struggling to Make It
Katy Reckdahl covered the working poor in New Orleans, their struggles to return to the city after Katrina, and the hurdles they faced once they arrived home.
Print Do You Know What It Means to Myth New Orleans? Do You Know What It Means to Myth New Orleans?
Print Like a Ton of Bricks Like a Ton of Bricks
Print Sour Note Sour Note
Print They Got It Bad They Got It Bad
Main Image: Those Who Fell Through the Cracks
Those Who Fell Through the Cracks
"Those Who Fell Through the Cracks" is a collaborative photography project by Stanley Greene and Kadir van Lohuizen that documents Hurricane Katrina's effects on Gulf Coast residents who are still struggling to reestablish their lives after the storm.
Photo Photographs by Stanley Greene Photographs by Stanley Greene
Photo Photographs by Kadir van Lohuizen Photographs by Kadir van Lohuizen
Main Image: To Have Not, And To Hold
To Have Not, And To Hold
Filmmaker June Cross is working on a feature-length documentary film that examines the failures of public policy through the experiences of one extended family from New Orleans.
Video To Have Not, And To Hold To Have Not, And To Hold
Main Image: Where Do We Go From Here?
Where Do We Go From Here?
Joseph Rodriguez created an extensive body of photographs that will be distributed as a book, featured in online exhibitions, and displayed as a traveling exhibition consisting of approximately 25 multimedia portraits of individuals affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Photo The Hendricks Family The Hendricks Family
Photo Katrina Robinson Katrina Robinson
Photo Vietnamese Tet Festival in New Orleans East Vietnamese Tet Festival in New Orleans East
Photo The Williams Family The Williams Family
Main Image: Won't Bow Down
Won't Bow Down
Larry Blumenfeld researched and wrote about the post-Katrina realities faced by the prime movers in New Orleans's musical subcultures—from jazz musicians and brass band players to tribes of Mardi Gras Indians and the Social Aid and Pleasure clubs—and the cultural crises that emerged in the wake of the 2005 floods.
Print America's New Jazz Museum! (No Poor Black People Allowed) America's New Jazz Museum! (No Poor Black People Allowed)
Print Barack Obama in New Orleans Barack Obama in New Orleans
Print Do We Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans? Do We Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?
Print It Ain't Easy in the Big Easy It Ain't Easy in the Big Easy
Print Rebuilding the Foundation Rebuilding the Foundation
 
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