Philanthropy and the Storm: Five years after Hurricane Katrina

The Bradley Center’s fall series of monthly panels began on Wednesday, September 29, with a discussion of the rebuilding of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the region five years ago. From the beginning, civil society organizations have played an important role in the ongoing reconstruction efforts. Now after five years of intensive recovery efforts, what are the most important lessons we’ve learned, and how can nonprofit organizations adapt these lessons in response to future disasters? What role has social entrepreneurship played and how can it be utilized more effectively? To what degree is the government needed to guide the reconstruction efforts?