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	Photos Photos of the NENA Recovery Center and a NENA-led Katrina memorial march

Mission

Founded in February 2006, The Lower 9th Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association’s (NENA) mission is to empower residents of the Lower 9th Ward to play a vital role in the neighborhood’s post-Katrina development by facilitating collaboration within the entire community. Working with current and displaced residents, NENA utilizes an individualized, resident-based approach for comprehensive rebuilding. The goal is to support the repopulation of the Lower 9th Ward to 60% of its pre-storm level within five years.

Programs

• Outreach: creating a growing network of 16 Neighborhood Block Captains to provide information and collect data from residents

• Volunteer Coordination. receiving and organizing volunteers and material donations to the neighborhood in partnership with several local organizations

• Case Management: providing comprehensive case management services to more than 1,200 households at various stages of the rebuilding process, including preparing Road Home and other applications, creating budgets and financial planning programs, and presenting cases to recovery agencies to secure financial resources, among other services

• Community Design Studio: providing architectural, permitting, and construction administration services to residents rebuilding their homes; currently with 50 homes as either new construction or rehabilitation projects

• Gap Financing: establishing and capitalizing a housing redevelopment fund, in partnership with a local CDFI, that will provide forgivable loans directly to residents

• School Rebuilding: promoted the reopening of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology in fall 2007, and exploring the redevelopment of the Alfred Lawless High School as a charter school with a curriculum focused on community health

• Economic Development: providing employment assistance, including preparing resumes and providing job referrals, and support to small business owners through bookkeeping services and preparing licenses with local and state agencies

• Policy Promotion: promoting the equitable rebuilding of the Lower 9th Ward

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