Achieving Successful Long-Term Recovery and Safety from a Catastrophe: Recommendations for Public Assistance

There have been numerous complaints, testimonies, studies, reports and recommendations regarding problems with the Public Assistance (PA) program after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Congress has addressed some of them as part of the Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) and continues to monitor progress in FEMA and in the field. Our report today draws upon the existing literature and our own investigations in Louisiana and Mississippi to reach a series of findings about the nature of aid needed in catastrophes and to offer recommendations

Achieving Successful Long-Term Recovery and Safety from a Catastrophe: The Federal Role

Our task, reflected in this report, was to assess the government’s role in achieving long-term, safe recovery of the Gulf coast communities from the catastrophic disaster of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the early fall of 2005. The focus is on its catastrophic nature and the ability of our society to deal with such. This report offers our analysis with a focus on the federal government, per the national policy interests of the Ford Foundation. A companion book from the research is under preparation; it will consider the same question with the state and local government focus added to the federal response

GLOBALIZATION'S IMPACT ON STATE-LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT POLICY

The growing exposure of the U.S. economy to international competition, popularly termed globalization, over the past two decades has brought some momentous changes affecting the American economy, society, and life styles. Not surprisingly, these changes have been reflected in growing political turbulence and shifts in policy paradigms as well. This symposium explores the effects that globalization has had on economic development policy and practice by state and local governments in the United States. Part I charts and seeks to explain"The Expanding Global Linkages" of state and local governments over the last several decades. Part II on the" Potential for Transformation "then argues that the economic transformations set off by globalization are pushing state and local development policy toward strategies that should overcome some of the problems associated with the previous strategy dubbed "smokestack chasing." Yet, caution is certainly necessary before accepting such optimistic interpretations. Part III, therefore, presents several analyses suggesting that smokestack chasing "struck back" and that blind reliance on free markets and entrepreneurs hip can be dangerous to a community's social and economic health, indicting the existence of "Pitfalls in a Changing Universe." Copyright 2001 by The Policy Studies Organization.

Achieving Successful Long-Term Recovery and Safety from a Catastrophe: Recommendations for Public Assistance

There have been numerous complaints, testimonies, studies, reports and recommendations regarding problems with the Public Assistance (PA) program after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Congress has addressed some of them as part of the Post Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) and continues to monitor progress in FEMA and in the field. Our report today draws upon the existing literature and our own investigations in Louisiana and Mississippi to reach a series of findings about the nature of aid needed in catastrophes and to offer recommendations