Rebuilding with faith in New Orleans

I'm in New Orleans this week with The Isaiah Funds, a new inter-faith effort to boost long-term rebuilding in the Gulf Coast.

Faith groups were the unsung heroes of the Katrina response. It's difficult to find a storm victim in New Orleans or coastal Mississippi who didn't in some way benefit from the work of faith institutions, when help was hard to find from government and other channels.

Churches, synagogues and mosques deployed tens of thousands of volunteers, shipped truckloads of supplies, delivered millions of dollars worth of services, and raised vast sums of money to help a region in need.

Faith leaders have also been among the Gulf Coast's most effective advocates, holding officials accountable and pressuring government to fulfill its obligations to the region. The Jeremiah Group, an inter-faith alliance in New Orleans, has been at the forefront of pushing state and federal officials to speed up aid to renters and homeowners so they can return to the city.

The Gulf Coast is still facing major obstacles to recovery. The pace of people returning to New Orleans has slowed again, with about 70% of the city back [pdf]. A report this month found that only 25% of New Orleans residents affected by the storms consider themselves to be "mostly recovered."

Congress heard testimony this week about Mississippi, where Gov. Haley Barbour is under fire for diverting $600 million in funds earmarked for post-Katrina housing assistance into rebuilding a shipping port.

The Isaiah Funds aim to build on the credibility that faith groups earned in the wake of the storms, channeling faith resources into long-term rebuilding projects. Jeffrey Dekro of the Jewish Funds for Justice -- one of the funds' founders -- says they have received commitments totaling $4.5 million towards their goal of $10 million by 2009.

Today they've announced their first low-interest loan: $500,000 to the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, which is the process of constructing 1,000 new homes.