The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) at Dillard University like many other programs at colleges and universities in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, while physically destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, recognizes an even greater need for its services. It is imperative that our current programs are continued, but it is also necessary that we shift our major attention to the destruction caused by this devastating hurricane.

Programmatic Focus
Much of our work at the center will focus on the research, policy, and community outreach and assistance and education needs of the displaced minority population of New Orleans. There are critical issues of health and environmental restoration that must be monitored for fairness as it relates to standards of cleanup for re-settlement. Additionally, in the area of jobs and economic development, the center will engage in job training and placement related to environmental clean-up. Our focus will be on training displaced citizens of New Orleans and job placement for those citizens who have already been trained through our Minority Worker Training and Brownfields Minority Training Program funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
It is imperative that we seize every opportunity to make contact with the now dispersed New Orleans African American community. This will be accomplished through the establishment of Advisory Boards in key cities within the diaspora that now constitutes the displaced population of New Orleans and its surrounding areas.

Target Population
The project will facilitate a visioning process for the shaping of the “new” New Orleans that includes race and class. We will attempt to bring stakeholders to the table, with special emphasis on the poor, health, and the environment. Moreover, it is imperative that the grassroots are solidly at the table during the planning process.

Project Approach -- Katrina Survivor Project (Bring Back New Orleans)
The immediate task of the Center will be to provide a space for dialogue between community leaders who are concerned about how the “new” New Orleans will be shaped by race and class. Of most concern is the potential for permanent displacement and permanent removal of poor and working class African Americans who have called New Orleans home for centuries. Also, at stake is the loss of a culture that is deeply rooted in the African American community and has been preserved and practiced by the grassroots. First and foremost is the goal of returning residents who wish to return and the monitoring of all aspects of government and commerce that may hinder that effort.