LOWERNINE.ORG BREAKS GROUND ON NEW HEADQUARTERS; COMMEMORATES 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF HURRICANE KATRINA AND ANNOUNCES CALL FOR $500K FUNDRAISING
Groundbreaking for lowernine.org headquarters took place on August 26, 2020 - almost fifteen years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. Pictured from left to right: Calvin Alexander, lowernine.org board president; Laura Paul, lowernine.org executive director; Katy Reynolds, Shibusa Systems CEO; and Darren Mckinney, lowernine.org crew leader
NEW ORLEANS (September 1, 2020) – On Wednesday, August 26, lowernine.org gathered to break ground on its new headquarters. The groundbreaking took place three days before the fifteenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and coincidentally only hours before the most powerful hurricane in Louisiana’s history, Hurricane Laura, made landfall. The new building will be located at 1739 Jourdan Avenue directly across the street from the Lower Ninth Ward levee breach of the Industrial Canal in 2005.
“For nearly 15 years, we have been focusing all our funding and efforts on helping return pre-Katrina residents of the Lower Ninth Ward to safe and affordable housing in the neighborhood, ultimately mitigating blight in the community,” explains lowernine.org executive director, Laura Paul. “We have repeatedly been reminded that while disasters don’t discriminate, recoveries do. As the memories of the devastating events of 2005 begin to fade, it is vital that we increase our efforts and continue working until this community is fully rebuilt. With our new headquarters, we will have a sustainable, permanent position in the community to which we are 100% committed.”
To date, lowernine.org has fully rebuilt 89 homes, and has completed additional smaller repair and renovation projects on over 300 homes, bringing back more Lower Ninth Ward families than any other single organization. However, the population return is still only approximately 40% – lagging far behind the rest of the City of New Orleans – and many more pre-Katrina families are waiting for help to rebuild.
Rendering of the forthcoming lowernine.org headquarters, to be built in the Lower Ninth Ward. The first story will contain office space and the second and third floors will house volunteers aiding with rebuilding homes for New Orleanians affected by the hurricanes of 2005.
The plan for the new headquarters includes 2,700 square feet, comprising three stories, with the ground floor serving as lowernine.org offices and the upper two floors providing housing for 10-12 volunteers. The property will be sustainably landscaped and provide parking in the rear of the property for volunteers. The project has been designed and will be built by Shibusa Systems who will also be partnering with key materials suppliers and service providers to donate as much of the project cost as possible. In addition to the headquarters, Shibusa Systems and lowernine.org are also teaming up to build new high-quality, sustainable affordable homes in the Lower Ninth Ward and have set a fundraising goal of $500,000 for this initiative.
“Our mission is to improve social equity through increasing the supply of sustainable and attainable healthy homes, which is why partnering with lowernine.org makes perfect sense,” says Katy Reynolds, Shibusa Systems CEO. “Pre-Katrina Lower Ninth Ward homeowners have battled an unending stream of bureaucratic red tape and systemic racism, including from the federal Road Home program. With new lowernine.org funding and raised awareness, the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood has the opportunity to continue rebuilding to its previous glory of having one of the highest rates of Black homeownership in the country. By focusing on efficiency and innovation, Shibusa aims to provide high quality homes at significantly below market cost to help with greater wealth creation at lower income levels.”
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ABOUT LOWERNINE.ORG: lowernine.org is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the long-term recovery of the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the levee breaches of 2005. For more information visit lowernine.org.
ABOUT SHIBUSA SYSTEMS: Shibusa Systems is a socially, environmentally and economically responsible company with a purposeful solution to the global housing crisis. Shibusa’s collaborative production model makes high-quality sustainable homes economical across all income segments. Shibusa provides an end-to-end building solution— from design conception through to certificate of occupancy—at a fixed price significantly below market cost due to managing every step of the process in-house, eliminating reliance on contractors. For more information visit shibusasystems.com.