News

Staying Connected Six Months After Ike
Angela Blanchard, President and CEO
 
For most of us, learning to cope with the uncertain effects of the global financial crisis is daunting.  Those events have taken over the news cycles and captured the public eye.  But many thousands of our neighbors along the Texas Gulf Coast are still struggling with another crisis, one that began last September—the devastation caused by Hurricane Ike.

These individuals and families—all of them our neighbors—continue to pay a disturbing, often overwhelming emotional and financial toll.  More than six months after the storm, they are still hurting, still trying to put their lives together, and still waiting for help.

We at Neighborhood Centers Inc. have not forgotten them.  We are making every effort to help them recover their independence, rebuild their communities, and stay connected.  So I am particularly pleased to report some good news on this front.

Neighborhood Centers has been selected by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to provide long-term case management for an estimated 15,000 people in Harris County as part of a disaster case management pilot project funded by FEMA.  We look forward to beginning this crucial work within the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, our Stay Connected program continues on several other fronts.  To date we have worked with more than 3,700 people who have received housing assistance through the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) administered by public housing authorities.  Our Stay Connected case managers are helping people navigate the stages of recovery and focus on moving forward. 

We also are working with the Galveston Public Housing Authority to assess needs of area DHAP participants.  In addition to case management activities, we are identifying and meeting basic needs of our clients through a grant from the Gulf Coast Ike Relief Fund for unmet needs. The funds provide one-time financial assistance for necessities such as food, child care, furniture, utilities, and medical expenses that can help individuals and families move through the stages of recovery more effectively.

As we at Neighborhood Centers assist others through this ongoing period of recovery, we have come to understand yet another pressing need—one that prepares us for future natural disasters. Looking ahead, we have begun working on a way to prepare a long-term recovery plan that focuses not just on rebuilding physical infrastructure, but equally on the human dimensions of natural disaster recovery. After all, while our well-being depends on clean water and electricity, it also depends on stable connections to one another, to our families, and to our communities.

For now, those who continue to fight to rebuild their lives six months after Ike have shown admirable persistence and courage in the face of adversity. They are heroes in their own right. They deserve our respect. And they deserve our support.