Youth rebuild blocks, one house at a time

Vidya Rao

Dead bodies floating down swollen rivers. Over 1,000 people killed. More than 200,000 families left without homes.

It has been ten months since the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and though headlines about the disaster have long since faded into oblivion, the traumatic consequences have not.

Neither has the effort to rebuild generations-old communities in the hardest-hit regions of Louisiana and Mississippi, as illustrated by the work of organizations such as YouthBuild USA.

YouthBuild plans to build 250-300 houses in two primarily low-income African American neighborhoods of North Gulfport, Miss. The organization received a $2.5 million grant from AmeriCorps to feed and house the over 300 young volunteers who will be rebuilding this community and toiling through the intense Mississippi summer.

“We were worried about going down there for a Katrina-related effort ten months after the disaster,” says YouthBuild’s Boston-based director of economic development, David Slatery. “Would there even be work for us to do?”

After taking four trips down to the area this year alone, Slatery soon realized there would be plenty of work to do — for at least the next ten years.

“The devastation is amazing,” he says. “As you drive through these neighborhoods every single house has been destroyed; it has its roof off, the side is missing. What you see on TV cannot prepare you for what the devastation really is.”

YouthBuild, a nonprofit that educates and trains out-of-school and out-of-work young people in construction-related skills, takes participants to low-income, distressed communities where they can use their newfound construction know-how.

The two neighborhoods from the North Gulfport community were chosen as recipients of this project for several reasons. According to the 2000 census, both had a median income of approximately $21,000 — 49 percent less than the nation’s median income — and both were left with very little resources to deal with the catastrophic decimation that marked Katrina’s exit.

Neither neighborhood has received much help from other nonprofits or reconstruction efforts. And because the community is located above sea level, the constructed houses will likely survive future hurricanes. As explained by one YouthBuild director, the organization chose a community which would be sustained even when “Hurricane Louie hits next year.”

Although the rebuilding efforts cannot recreate the community’s history, Slatery says that YouthBuild is determined to give the community some control of what their neighborhoods will look like. “We want the community’s input. We want what we build to be something that the community can be proud of,” he explains.

The organization is now in the process of hiring the AmeriCorps youth and 35 former program graduates who will be stationed in North Gulfport for the next year, as well as skilled workers for eleven supervisory positions such as construction manager, program manager and director. The organization will also have “traveling networks” — teams of 7 volunteers who will work in the area for a couple of weeks at a time.

Volunteers will be staying at a local naval base, housed in barracks-style quarters and sleeping on cots. “It will definitely not be luxury-style living,” jokes Slatery.

The main goal of this project, which is slated to run from June through September, is to reconstruct some of what Katrina has damaged and provide sustainable housing for hundreds of families. However, Slatery hopes this project will plant the seeds for a long-term relationship between YouthBuild and the local community.

“We would eventually like to see a local YouthBuild branch develop in North Gulfport,” says Slatery. “With so much work to be done, it would be great to see this effort go on indefinitely, if possible.”

YouthBuild is still in need of resources to provide specialized kits for the volunteers, building materials and other support services. For more information or to volunteer, go to www.youthbuild.org.