Programs in Louisiana

In partnership with the Diocese of Louisiana’s Office of Disaster Response, Episcopal Relief and Development is serving families in the city of New Orleans and surrounding communities.  Programs are particularly designed to reach the poor, elderly, marginalized, and uninsured. 

Case Management
La Place, LA
Case managers work with individuals to identify their needs, map out individual recovery plans, and link them to resources available to them.  Each summer, children can attend Camp Noah, a free, week-long faith based camping experience designed for children who have lived through a natural disaster. 

New Orleans, LA
Through the Katrina Aid Today consortium, Episcopal Relief and Development assists survivors through the process of applying for and obtaining federal, state, and private disaster assistance programs.

Housing
For decades the city of New Orleans set the standard for neighborhoods where families from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds lived together. The devastation caused by Katrina, on top of years of economic downturn, has left more than 70% of the housing stock uninhabitable in New Orleans. Episcopal Relief and Development is working to renew the city by providing affordable housing and home ownership opportunities.

House Gutting and Rebuilding
Volunteers come alongside families to clean out their damaged properties and prepare for rebuilding.  Volunteer teams work to renovate and rebuild homes. 

Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative
Jericho Road was formed in 2006 with the purpose of creating community partnerships and collaborations to rehabilitate neighborhoods, empower families, and transform communities throughout the city. Currently, Jericho Road is partnering with six local organizations in the areas of youth job training, homeownership advocacy and education, housing construction, and mortgage and financial services.

Jericho Road has successfully received adjudicated properties from the city of New Orleans, and works with volunteer teams to build affordable housing on the home sites. These leading-edge designed homes, which are handicapped accessible, are the highest quality housing being built in New Orleans.  Eligible families participate in homeowner education programs to help them qualify for low-interest mortgages.

Neighborhood feeding and distribution programs
Church distribution centers
Three New Orleans churches, Christ Church Cathedral, Church of the Annunciation, and Church of the Holy Comforter continue to provide emergency goods to community members.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes
Because stores have not yet re-opened in many of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, Episcopal Relief and Development has partnered with Mobile Loaves and Fishes to deliver food to families while they are working on their homes.

The Mobile Respite Unit
This “distribution site on wheels” offers pastoral care, cleaning supplies, snacks and personal hygiene items to people in the Lower 9th Ward.  Personal goods are also distributed through a network of churches throughout the city.

Health care services
Mobile medical unit
The mobile medical unit travels to communities providing medical exams and treatments to people working on damaged homes around the city.

St. Thomas/Louisiana State University Health Clinic
This free clinic provides pediatric care, along with mammography and cardiology services, for uninsured and low-income residents of the city.  Episcopal Relief and Development funded the completion of the mammogram and cardiology rooms in 2006.

“Welcome Home” centers
St. Luke’s Welcome Home Center
St. Luke’s offers support to students attending John McDonogh High School.  The school made national headlines when it re-opened after the hurricane because of the shocking condition of the facility and lack of teachers and security.  The center offers meals, tutoring, support services, and help with accessing financial assistance to students and family members.  Mental health counselors have been placed on the school campus to help students deal with the trauma and violence they experienced.

St. Paul’s Welcome Home Center
Located in Lakeview, one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, the center offers assistance including child care on weekends for families rebuilding their homes, connections to contractors and builders, access to computers, fax machines, copiers and lawn equipment, along with an on-site Laundromat.  The center provides housing for volunteer crews who help families with clean-up projects in the neighborhood.

Counseling services
Suicide intervention
Even before Katrina struck, the North Shore area had the highest suicide rate in the state.  An emergency call-in center and counseling service has been established to serve this neighborhood.

Trinity Counseling and Training Center
The medical schools of Tulane, Loyola, Xavier, Holy Cross and the University of New Orleans are cooperating with the diocese to identify unmet needs and gaps in mental health services and design outreach programs for the greater community.

Programs in Mississippi

Episcopal Relief and Development is partnering with the Diocese of Mississippi and Lutheran Episcopal Services of Mississippi to meet the current needs of survivors, guide them through the process of accessing services, rebuild homes, and provide opportunities for home ownership.

Feeding programs
Working together with Feed my Sheep, located in Gulfport, Episcopal Relief and Development is offering free meals to the homeless, homebound, and others in need.  

Children's programs
Each summer, children can attend Camp Noah, a free, week-long faith based camping experience designed for children who have lived through a natural disaster

Housing programs
Relief Camps for Volunteer Housing and Coordination
Camp Coast Care was initially set up in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane on the campus of Coast Episcopal School to distribute food, clothing, and supplies.  A medical clinic provided basic health care and trauma counseling.

Currently Episcopal Relief and Development is supporting three relief camps on the Gulf Coast: Camp Coast Care in Pass Christian, Mission on the Bay in Bay St. Louis, and Camp Victor in Ocean Springs.  These camps house and feed volunteers who working alongside residents to gut, repair, and rebuild homes.

Hallelujah Housing
Many families along Mississippi’s Gulf coast did not receive enough financial assistance from FEMA, insurance monies, or other grant fund to rebuild their homes.  If these families have incomes below the Area Median Income (AMI), they are typically unable to secure a mortgage to cover the full cost of the house.

Hallelujah Housing, a collaborative affordable housing project, will provide low-interest gap funding to help people rebuild their homes or become first-time home owners.   Hallelujah Housing will target families and households living at 60-80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).  Financing will be administered through the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta/Hope Community Credit Union.

Hallelujah Housing hopes to build 400 homes in three coastal counties by 2015.

St. John’s Sheetrock Ministry
With funding from Episcopal Relief and Development, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Pascagoula is filling a critical need by distributing free sheetrock and dry wall to elderly or low-income residents in both Mississippi and Alabama.  Already more than 17,000 pieces of sheetrock have been provided to close to 500 people who otherwise could not afford to rebuild their homes.

Case Management
Case Management Offices:  Camp Coast Care, Mission on the Bay, and Jackson, MS
Case management services are provided at three locations as part of the Katrina Aid Today (KAT) consortium.  Case managers help survivors identify their needs, advise them of available resources, and create individual recovery plans.  Guidance is provided to help access public and private assistance programs.

Canon-Pastor Missioner Case Management
This program lends congregational support to Episcopal clergy and parishes in Mississippi to help them deal with the emotional trauma from the disaster. Guidance is also provided as parishes work through the dilemmas associated with rebuilding their churches.  This program has been expanded to create a support network for local clergy of other denominations and faiths.

Coast Episcopal School Toddler Program
Affordable child care is greatly needed to help families re-establish themselves in their communities and rebuild their lives.  Episcopal Relief and Development and the Coast Episcopal School is expanding to accommodate additional children and provide a full-day program to give more parents the opportunity to place their children in a high-quality program.

Katrina Aid Today
Through Katrina Aid Today, Episcopal Relief and Development provides assistance to the most vulnerable Katrina evacuees living in nine communities around the country:  Texas (Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio), Kentucky (Louisville), and Minnesota (Minneapolis), Louisiana (New Orleans), and Mississippi.

These individuals include the elderly, children, new immigrants, and those suffering from physical disabilities or mental illness.  With assistance from local parishes and volunteers, evacuees receive counseling, referrals to services and financial aid, and friendship and support to help start their lives in a new community.