Building Partnerships to Help Rebuild the Big Easy

Photo by Rebecca Solnit

Ever since Hurricane Katrina, Sierra Club volunteers and staff have been working to help rebuild and renew the Holy Cross neighborhood, part of the lower Ninth Ward that was inundated with more than six feet of water. Recent efforts include street and community garden cleanups, and the Delta Chapter has secured grants and allocated chapter funds to help rebuild the neighborhood smarter and greener. The Club and other environmental and citizen groups have helped locals install solar panels donated by Sharp Electronics and design homes to be more energy efficient in Holy Cross and in the city's Vietnemese community. On June 14, members of the Sierra Club and the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association gathered for a Friendship Dinner, an outgrowth of a Sierra Club workshop, Dismantling Racism, that included Holy Cross residents, members of the local Vietnamese community, and Club volunteer leaders from Louisiana and Puerto Rico. The Club is fighting the dumping of debris in New Orleans' Vietnemese neighborhoods as part of the Green Zone Task Force. Read more about the Sierra Club's Gulf Coast Restoration work.