Donald R. Phoenix worked at NeighborWorks® America for more than 26 years. He was regional vice president of the Southern Region at the time of Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and was part of the NeighborWorks support team as the region began to rebuild. Isaac Igbonagwam, a relationship manager in the Southern Region, asked Phoenix for some of his reflections from that time.
NeighborWorks: How did the impact of Hurricane Katrina affect you personally?
Phoenix: “I felt a little helpless initially. The community was not in a state that, you know, could really employ the tools. They
were just dealing trauma. Most people suffered personal loss, not just physical loss. We had to wait for a moment and pause and not run in there like the calvary, with ‘this is what we have to offer.’
We had to spend a lot of time listening. One thing I learned about people who experience trauma is that they need to tell their story.”
By doing that, Phoenix said, NeighborWorks was able to provide the type of help people needed, including grant support, help filing FEMA and insurance claims, and supporting organizations both established and new organizations as they worked to help a region in need.
NeighborWorks: What was NeighborWorks’ response to Hurricane Katrina?
Phoenix: “At the time there were only two NeighborWorks organizations in the south. We needed to expand our capacity. That led us to tweak our model to serving organizations outside of our network and that paid dividends because many of the partners we supported during that time are still doing that work today. By doing that we were able to expand our presence in the gulf.”
NeighborWorks: Looking back, now that it has been 20 years post-Katrina, what did you learn from that experience?
Phoenix: “The one thing I’m thinking about is not the numbers … it’s the resilience of people. People are quite resilient. They were determined to rebuild that city. They were determined to rebuild that city. It was that determination … that kept me moving every day.”
