Study Recommends Public-Private Partnership and Strategic Approach to Redeveloping New Orleans' Economy

New Orleans should craft a comprehensive economic redevelopment plan that combines public- and private-sector funding with a centralized structure, according to a study issued today by the RAND Corp.

Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent failures of levees in New Orleans in August 2005 devastated the city's economy in addition to destroying buildings and causing more than 1,800 deaths. Even before the storm, the city's population was declining and the economy was not robust, which complicated recovery efforts, according to the study.

The Horizon Initiative, a private-sector organization formed in 2006 to help New Orleans' economic recovery, asked the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute (RGSPI) to recommend the most effective organizational and strategic approaches to revitalizing the city's economy.

“This is a unique opportunity to not only repair the damage from the storms, but also address some pre-existing problems, in a comprehensive way, to forge a stronger, more vibrant economy for the city of New Orleans and the surrounding region,” says Kevin McCarthy, author of the report and a senior social scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization.

The study is not a detailed redevelopment plan, but provides recommendations for designing an effective organizational structure for those efforts.

RGSPI, a partnership between RAND and seven universities in the Gulf States region, examined 17 other cities' economic development efforts. The analysis showed that in many cases, economic development work was spread across a range of different agencies without a common development strategy, and in some cases, with competing messages. The most successful efforts incorporated three key elements: a comprehensive design, an appropriate organization, and an effective implementation plan.

Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.

Video: New Orleans Health

In this only-on-the-Web video, New Orleans is having trouble holding enough health providers to meet the needs of the area. The region is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina which slammed the U.S. Gulf Coast two years, flooding most of the city.

Katie Couric interviews the chief of staff of a New Orleans hospital.

Watch the video now:

Watch more breaking news now:

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.

Survey of Hurricane Preparedness Finds One-Third On High Risk Coast Will Refuse Evacuation

According to a new survey of people in high-risk hurricane areas conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security, one-third (31%) of residents say if government officials said they had to evacuate due to a major hurricane this season, they would not leave. This is an increase from 2006 when 23% said they would not evacuate.

The survey was conducted in eight states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas—and only included residents of counties within 20 miles of the coast. The poll included a special sample of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

The top reasons people give for not evacuating involve issues of safety and security. Three-quarters (75%) say their home is well-built and they would be safe there. Over half (56%) feel that roads would be too crowded, and slightly more than one in three (36%) feels that evacuating would be dangerous. One-third (33%) worry that their possessions would be stolen or damaged while one in four (27%) say they would not evacuate because they do not want to leave their pets.

“Public officials need to be concerned that the further we get from the severe hurricanes of 2005, the less willing people are to evacuate,” says Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard School of Public Health. “Officials need to remind people that many homes are vulnerable to major storms. They also need to ensure safe evacuation routes are available and the public is aware of them.”

These findings are based on interviews conducted June 18 - July 10, with 5,046 adults in high hurricane risk counties in eight states.

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.

Federal Auditors Uncover Millions in Katrina, Rita Fraud

U.S. government auditors have identified millions of wasteful and fraudulent dollars paid by FEMA for relief in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to respond to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two storms which laid waste to the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005.

In one case, FEMA provided free housing to 10 individuals in apartments in Plano, Texas, while at the same time it sent these individuals $46,000 to cover out-of-pocket housing expenses. In addition, several of these individuals certified to FEMA that they needed rental assistance, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

GAO is the nonpartisan watchdog agency of Congress.

FEMA made nearly $20 million in duplicate payments to thousands of individuals who claimed damages to the same property from both hurricanes Katrina and Rita. FEMA also made millions in potentially improper and/or fraudulent payments to nonqualified aliens who were not eligible for FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP).

For example, FEMA paid at least $3 million to more than 500 ineligible foreign students at four universities in the affected areas. This amount likely understates the total payments to ineligible foreign students because it does not cover all colleges and universities in the area. FEMA also provided potentially improper and/or fraudulent IHP assistance to other ineligible non-U.S. residents, despite having documentation indicating their ineligibility.

Finally, FEMA’s difficulties in identifying and collecting improper payments further emphasized the importance of implementing an effective fraud, waste, and abuse prevention system, GAO says. For example, GAO previously estimated improper and potentially fraudulent payments related to the IHP application process to be $1 billion through February 2006. As of November 2006, FEMA identified about $290 million in overpayments and collected about $7 million.

GAO recommends that DHS direct FEMA to take six actions, including establishing controls to prevent duplicate housing benefits to FEMA trailer and apartment residents and duplicate benefit payments for the same damages. GAO is also recommending that FEMA establish controls to prevent benefits to nonqualified aliens.

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.

Survey: Labor Demand Still Soaring in Gulf Coast Area

Labor markets in areas damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 continue to be among the most active markets in the United States, according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine DataSeries.

For the last three months, the average monthly count of online advertised vacancies in the New Orleans metro area was 17,300, a level that is more than double the monthly average for the three months before Katrina.

"In the last three months, the average number of ads for the nation was 11% above the three months prior to Katrina, well below the growth in the Lake Charles (65%), Pascagoula (30%), Gulfport (41%) and New Orleans (105%) metro areas for the same period," says Gad Levanon, economist at TheConference Board. "The Houma metro area had a very dramatic rise in online ads after the storm and the average monthly number of advertised vacancies is still running about 1,700 ads per month, a level that is over five times the pre-hurricane level."

Adds Levanon: "Labor demand is also stronger than the national average in many of the metro areas where the Katrina evacuees fled."

Again, while vacancies were up 11% nationally, the three-month moving averages seen in Baton Rouge (74%), Austin (76%), Houston (49%), San Antonio (86%), and Dallas (37%) are much greater, the survey says.

The labor demand covers a wide range of occupations. In New Orleans the largest increase in demand is for office and administrative support, business and financial operations, and management occupations. "It's not just construction," notes Levanon. "In the damaged areas, the number of ads for architects and engineers has more than doubled, reflecting there building efforts. The high labor demand is a positive sign for the revitalization of the Gulf Coast area. But it is just part of the overall dynamic of the area. Population shifts make a big difference."

In some areas like Lake Charles, the labor force has rebounded almost to its pre-hurricane size while New Orleans' labor force is reported to be down over 30 percent from its previous level. "Part of the labor demand reflects the difficulty of finding workers in the reduced local labor force," he says.

The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series is released monthly and measures the number of unduplicated online jobs postedon more than 1,200 major Internet job boards and smaller job boards that serve niche markets and smaller geographic areas.

Bookmark http://universeeverything.blogspot.com/ and drop back in sometime.

Enter your Email





Preview Powered by FeedBlitz

Study: Students Displaced by Katrina Suffer

Many of the approximately 200,000 Louisiana students displaced from their public schools by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita may experience long-term academic problems, according to a RAND Corporation study.

The vast majority of the displaced students missed weeks or more of school due to the storms, and most did not return to their original schools by the end of the 2005-06 school year, according to the report prepared by RAND Education for the RAND Gulf States Policy Institute (RGSPI).

“Many children relocated to other schools or left the Louisiana public school system entirely,” says lead study author John Pane of RAND. “Most students missed a lot of school and many had to adjust to new environments, which might slow their academic progress.”

Moving children among schools has been associated with detrimental effects on academic achievement both for the students who move and for other students in the schools, Pane said. In addition to missing some time in school, the students who move may find themselves inadequately prepared for their new classes because the curriculum varies across schools. These problems are compounded by the need to adjust to new social environments and overcome the trauma of the disasters.

Using Louisiana's Student Information System and a survey of 415 school principals, researchers determined that more than a quarter of the state's 740,000 public school students were displaced by one of the hurricanes – the largest displacement of students in U.S. history.

Overall, more than 81 percent of the displaced Louisiana students came from one of three parishes: Orleans, Jefferson and Calcasieu.

The study found that 45 percent of displaced students eventually returned to their original schools, either directly or after enrolling elsewhere temporarily. Another 24 percent, who did not return to their original schools, enrolled elsewhere in the state.

“After their initial re-enrollment, many displaced students continued to change schools, and a substantial number left the state's public education system entirely,” says RAND researcher Dan McCaffrey, a co-author of the report. He said the median amount of time the affected students missed from school was five weeks.

In addition, minority students and those who had been faring poorly academically before the storms were disproportionately impacted, according to the study.

Researchers found that nearly 65 percent of the displaced students were members of minority groups. About 58 percent were black, 4 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian and less than 1 percent Native American. This compares to the 52 percent of all Louisiana public school students who are minorities.

Researchers said some students also experienced mental health and behavior problems due to the trauma that many youngsters experienced in the storms and their aftermath, including moving to new communities and schools.

The study by RAND, a nonprofit research organization, found that the majority of principals surveyed indicated that the social behaviors of most displaced students were similar to those of students in the schools before the hurricanes hit.

But in a sizable portion of schools — particularly those serving a large number of displaced students — principals said they observed an increased level of student absenteeism, fights, verbal abuse of teachers, bullying, cutting class and theft. Displaced students were more likely to violate school rules, isolate themselves, and not participate in social activities like clubs or sports. They were also more likely to need mental health counseling.

Faculty members in Louisiana schools also experienced higher levels of work stress, job frustration and absenteeism, the study found. This resulted from the storms' effects on their own lives, as well as staffing shortfalls and strains on other key resources.

According to the report, class sizes increased in more than a third of the schools, and more than half of the schools needed more classroom teachers, special education teachers, support staff and counselors.

The study says problems that students and faculty faced during the 2005-06 school year are likely to persist. It recommends that schools continue helping students affected by the hurricanes with counseling and academic services, and also help teachers deal with their own hurricane-related problems.

“The plight of children in the face of tragedy is always a concern,” says Mike Ward, associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Southern Mississippi. “The report offers very useful insights into the experiences of students in the wake of these storms, along with recommendations to help reduce their suffering and that of students in subsequent disasters.”

Researchers found that about 53,000 of the displaced students never re-enrolled in Louisiana public schools, and another 10,000 dropped out by the end of the 2005-06 school year.

While many of these students enrolled in schools in other states, the lack of definitive tracking data makes it hard to determine where many went. Some students may not have gone back to school anywhere, losing nearly an entire year of schooling or dropping out of school.

The study says better state and national student information systems could help keep track of students who are displaced by future disasters, while also assisting in information sharing about proper placement and needed educational services, grade completion, test scores and other educational matters.