Samuel Sanders, Executive Director of Mid City Redevelopment Alliance (MCRA) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is among the NeighborWorks network’s “veteran” disaster responders. In fact, NeighborWorks Western Region partnered with the Houston LISC office to host a convening so others could learn from his hard-earned wisdom. Below is a Q-and-A with Sanders.
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Tell us about your organization’s past experience with natural disasters. How much damage did they cause to the areas you serve?

Rural Neighborhood: Avoids Hurricane Irma's wrath and responds to resident needs

 
Seventy-two hours prior to the arrival of Hurricane Irma — then a Category 4 storm that had carved a destructive path through numerous Caribbean islands — staff members at Rural Neighborhoods Inc. (RNI) worked to shutter nearly 1,000 rental homes on Florida's west and east coasts and urged residents to evacuate.


 




In the media and at meeting tables, conversations about communities in need of attention typically center on distressed neighborhoods on the slide down or “hot” markets where gentrification is in danger of pushing out older, original residents. What’s missing from the strategy talks, says Paul Brophy, consultant and chair of the Legacy Cities Partnership, are “middle neighborhoods.”
 

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