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CIAO DATE: 5/5/2007
Katrina Index: Tracking Recovery of New Orleans and the Metro Area
March 2007
Abstract
Beginning in December 2005, the Katrina Index began monitoring the social and economic recovery of the Gulf Coast region, especially the New Orleans area, from the storm’s impact in August 2005. Relying on nearly 40 indicators, the Index has aimed to provide members of the media, key decision makers, nonprofit and private sector groups, and researchers with an independent, fact-based, one-stop resource to monitor and evaluate the progress of on-the-ground recovery.
Starting in 2007, The Katrina Index is being released as a joint collaboration between the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center and the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program. The goal of this collaboration is to bring an even better, more tailored assessment of recovery to this Index's many users.
You will see a number of changes with the 2007 releases of the Index. First, the Index will now exclusively monitor progress in the City of New Orleans and her surrounding parishes, with data for Louisiana wherever possible. Second, you will see a streamlined set of indicators for tracking recovery, newly organized by the key facets of recovery, such as housing, population, services and infrastructure, economy, and emergency response.
Finally, now that the post-Katrina recovery effort is fully in its second year, the partnership between Brookings and the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center will also bring you access to new, state and locally-driven data sources, some of which will be mapped to visually demonstrate the extent to which different parts of the region, by neighborhood or other geographic measure, are benefiting from various aspects of recovery. This collaboration will also draw on more local insights as to the nature of the rebuilding efforts.
The Brookings Institution and the New Orleans Data Center will continue to release and update the Katrina Index on a monthly basis, likely on the second Wednesday of every month.
We continue to benefit from many of your comments and suggestions to this Index, including the offerings of additional data to be included in the Index. Please submit such comments and suggestions to info@gnocdc.org.
Both the Data Center and Brookings would like to thank the Blue Moon Fund for their support of the Katrina Index beginning in 2007 and their commitment to providing a steady stream of quality information to the people of New Orleans as they seek to further the recovery of their area. Visit the Blue Moon Fund on the web at www.bluemoonfund.org Finally, both the Data Center and Brookings would like to thank Living Cities, Inc.: The National Community Development Initiative for its founding support of the Katrina Index. Visit Living Cities on the web at www.livingcities.org.
