The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit formed in the wake of Katrina and Rita, will be presenting a new “holistic” recovery plan today to a subcommittee of the National Commission on Children and Disasters. The commission answers directly to President Barack Obama and has been charged with developing long-term recovery solutions related to children and families and presenting them to Congress next year.
The group’s research has identified some of the major barriers in the recovery process, like the inability for many to reestablish their households with proper furnishings, pay for back utility bills, late rent and related deposits. The lack of available rental housing and the challenges in repairing uninhabitable homes even after receiving some federal, state and insurance assistance are also on the list.
Recovery Corps President and CEO Monteic A. Sizer says many of the programs focus on providing direct assistance in those areas, as it’s the most efficient way to aid the most people in the recovery process. But there also must be some wiggle room in the federal government’s response to any disaster, he adds. “Certainly specific recovery strategies relative to specific disasters must be implemented on a case-by-case basis given the dynamics of each disaster and based on the real-time ‘on the ground’ needs of those impacted by that disaster,” Sizer says.
To view the “Roadmap to a More Holistic Recovery,” click here.—Jeremy Alford
