For the complete text of the report, please visit:
www.rockinst.org/gulfgov or www.la-par.org
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and the Nelson A.
Rockefeller Institute of Government today released a report on the
important role the nonprofit community has played in hurricane recovery
efforts across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. GulfGov Reports:Response, Recovery, and the Role of the Nonprofit Community in the Two Years Since Katrina and Rita
examines the role of the nonprofit sector in the recovery, what impact
hurricanes Katrina and Rita have had on the work of these
organizations, and what changes they already have made to handle the
next disaster that strikes.
In contrast to the criticism that seems to accompany almost every
aspect of the governmental recovery effort, the consensus among local
officials, residents, and outside observers is that the nonprofit
sector has responded to the rebuilding challenge beyond all expectation.
“The scope of the nonprofit community’s work in helping the Gulf
Coast region rebuild has been unprecedented,” said Jim Brandt,
president of PAR and co-principal investigator for the GulfGov Reports
project. “It has included everything from national foundations
investing millions of dollars in the recovery to out-of-town groups
making frequent rebuilding trips to locally based groups lobbying for
policy changes. There is no question that the nonprofit community is
helping to push the recovery forward.”
Immediately after the storms, organizations that had never been
involved in disaster relief and recovery work looked for ways to help.
Small churches that really were not equipped to handle sizable numbers
of evacuees opened their doors anyway, and their congregations
responded. Normally staid foundations cut through paperwork and
procedures to get money out quickly to organizations and agencies
working directly in the affected areas. Well-established nonprofits
performed double duty, taking in their counterparts from the devastated
areas at the same time that their client loads increased. As the
immediate crisis passed and the affected communities settled in for the
long recovery, the nonprofit sector moved with them.
This study finds that nonprofit, community-based, and faith-based
organizations remain more important than ever in the recovery efforts.
By examining the groups cited in this report, one gets a picture of the
variety of these organizations and the different strengths they bring
to the recovery. In addition, some common issues and concerns emerged
from the research:
- The wide-ranging impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita
required the nonprofit sector to be adaptable to rapidly changing
circumstances. It was not so much the missions of these groups that had
to be altered. Rather, it was the scope of the work that changed as the
demand and the need for services exploded.
- The critical
need for a disaster response and recovery plan was reinforced. Many
nonprofit organizations did not have such a plan before Katrina and
Rita. Now they do. Other groups that had plans found they had to revise
them.
- Funding sustainability is a serious problem. More
than two years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many groups are
running out of the money they need to keep providing elevated levels of
service.
- The role and coordination of volunteers are major
concerns for state and local governments. Everything from work
assignments to housing, food, and transportation must be coordinated so
that volunteers can be sent where they are most needed. That
encompasses both the response and recovery phases of disasters.
“Studying the nonprofit community’s response to Katrina and Rita and
how nonprofit organizations worked with government at all levels offers
us another opportunity to gain insight into how best to respond to
disasters,” said Dr. Richard P. Nathan, co-director of the Rockefeller
Institute and co-principal investigator for the GulfGov Reports
project. “It is critical that we take heed of the lessons learned here
so that we can be better prepared for the next time. This fifth report
from our three-year study focuses a flashing red light on the need for
mechanisms to enable a leading organization in disaster situations to
pull things together to make and oversee working connections among
nonprofit and community-based groups. This is a vital part of the hard
work of managerial leadership on the ground. Laws should be in place so
that such mechanisms will be established at the ‘get go’ with adequate
financial support to maximize and coordinate the contributions of
volunteer groups to help address both human and infrastructure needs.”
Nonprofit, community-based, and faith-based organizations are
well-suited to help out in disaster response and recovery. They are
flexible, they can adapt their missions, they can marshal resources,
and they can get around stultifying paperwork. But even the most
efficient, well-run, well-funded nonprofit group has a limited reach.
For all of the work that the nonprofit sector has done and continues to
do in the hurricane recovery effort, it is still more akin to a drop in
the bucket rather than a giant wave.
The scale of the devastation is so vast in Louisiana and across the
Mississippi Gulf Coast that only government has the capacity to handle
significant rebuilding. The role of the nonprofit sector was not meant
to replace government as the primary driver of the recovery. Rather, it
was to buttress the governmental response, to fill in the gaps. For the
recovery to proceed in a timely and substantial way, government must
take the lead while nonprofit, community-based, and faith-based
organizations play a strong supporting role with their focus on the
human element of any disaster.
This report is part of an ongoing research project being conducted
jointly by the Rockefeller Institute and PAR with the help of a grant
from the Ford Foundation. In addition, the John C. Stennis Institute of
Government at Mississippi State University and the Center for Urban
Planning and Policy Assessment at Jackson State University are
partnering in the research network for this project, as are researchers
affiliated with Louisiana State University, the Southern University Law
Center, and McNeese State University. The Advisory Committee for the
project is chaired by former Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter.
The report is available online at www.rockinst.org/gulfgov or www.la-par.org.
Previous reports also available online include:
Source: PAR
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