We’ve Got Interns!

from Intern Steven Guerry

This is the first of what we hope will be many entries by the new crop of Make It Right Spring/Summer interns.  We’d like this blog to be a place to share what we’re learning, working on, and of course our experiences during our time in the already enchanting (we’ve only been here two weeks) city of New Orleans.  Most of us are here for the next six to eight months, which will not only encompass a mayoral campaign and Mardi Gras but also a Saints’ Superbowl. After this last weekend, if we weren’t Saints fans before, we are now.

Tonight many of us attended a meeting put together in partnership between the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Historic Green group and the City of New Orleans Public Library’s Village Green Program.  Both organizations work to reach out to the community educate residents about green building practices and many of the great resources available in the city.  Historic Green was originally organized by young USGBC professionals interested in helping with Hurricane Katrina recovery. Canopy and owner Peter Seltzer hosted the event. Canopy offers green building and landscape supplies and provided a great space for our discussion.  Check out his store’s website at canopynola.com.

Tonight specifically, Anisa Baldwin-Metzger of Historic Green discussed upcoming seminars on March 9th through 19th whose focus will be on educating residents of the Ninth Ward about techniques that will not only preserve the historical character of their homes, but do so sustainably.  We spent the bulk of the night’s discussion exploring ways to get the word out about the seminars in the first place.  In addition to a strong Make It Right contingent, the group was a healthy mix of architects, landscape architects, and community organizers.
This meant a great variance of ideas and perspectives on how to engage the community.

Much of what we talked about folded in nicely with the two planning implementation meetings the interns and many Make It Right staffers attended both Friday and Saturday.  At issue in both instances was corralling the abundance of will of residents to recover from the long-term effects of Hurricane Katrina and to effect real and lasting development progress in the community.

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