New Orleans

Working Alongside Communities

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sixteen-foot-tall storm surges overwhelmed the levy system and 80% of the city became flooded. The damage was catastrophic. The country responded.

Headwaters’ began as a grassroots volunteer effort providing disaster relief in 2005 in response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, one of the most devastated areas of the city. Initially we assisted with gutting and interior debris clean up. As more volunteers joined us, we developed partnerships with other organizations and moved into re-building.

In 2007 Headwaters’ volunteers committed to long-term support of the Ninth Ward community when we opened a walk-in mental resource health center. The River of Hope Mental Health Resource Center was founded to help the Ninth Ward community. Its goal is to help the community recover psychologically and deal with lingering emotional trauma.

The resource center offers free counseling, referral to other resources if needed and community education to those who might not otherwise have access to mental health support. The center is particularly important in supporting the unmet needs of children in that area. We have published three research studies related to our work in New Orleans, two in partnership with Lesley University and one with Georgetown University.