Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding Briefs Friends of New Orleans

Release Date: September 14, 2007

For Immediate Release
Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding
Contact: Brendan Lacivita, 202-572-8878

(Washington, DC) -- Donald E. Powell, the president's top official for Gulf Coast rebuilding, today briefed the Friends of New Orleans, a private, non-profit, non-partisan membership organization, on issues critical to the rehabilitation of the Gulf Coast region, particularly the city of New Orleans.

"Americans want to help their neighbors and this group demonstrated that today," stated Powell.  "We had a positive and candid conversation about the federal government’s responsibility in rebuilding New Orleans and the tremendous efforts individuals and non-profits have made to rebuild their communities."

Chairman Powell's briefing included issues ranging from levees, flood maps, public housing, public assistance and education.  The discussion also highlighted transparency efforts, including a web-based tool to illustrate the status and location of federal funding for long-term rebuilding.  The web site under development will focus on mapping FEMA investments in rebuilding public infrastructure, with the goal of publicly sharing as much information as possible in ways that are useful for citizens, community leaders, and the marketplace.

"We want to engage this group in our overall transparency efforts because they are leaders and activists among the citizens of New Orleans," Powell said.  "By increasing transparency at all levels, we are able to increase accountability for everyone involved in the rebuilding process.  In addition, sharing information where public investments are being made empowers individuals and the business community to make decisions that are well-informed."

The mission of the Friends of New Orleans is to advocate for the city and its surrounding parishes, inform people of key issues that are shaping the national debate and decision making of the rebuilding effort, and link individuals who want to help and motivate people to participate in the rebuilding.

Representatives of the following organizations and neighborhood associations participated in today's meeting in Washington, D.C.:

New Schools for New Orleans
United Nonprofits
Family Services of Greater New Orleans
Levees.org
New Orleans Video Access Center
Neighborhood Planning Network
Beacon of Hope
Priestly School of Architecture & Construction
Common Knowledge
MQVN Community Development Corporation
Idea Village

Neighborhood Associations:                           
Broadmoor
Gentilly
Holy Cross
NW Carrolton 
Lakeview
Mid City

For the last twenty-two months, the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Gulf Coast Rebuilding has been engaged in facilitating and streamlining various components of the recovery effort, providing key federal support and resources to local leaders, and reinforcing the federal government’s commitment to the people of the Gulf Coast.

www.dhs.gov/gulfcoastrebuild

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This page was last modified on September 17, 2007