President Barack Obama returned to New Orleans to hail Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts and to bring attention to the area’s resilience in the face of the devastation.
When Barack Obama was a presidential hopeful years ago, he declared “America failed the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.”
During his visit with the people in New Orleans this time around, he talked with them about their rebuilding of the neighborhoods and the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. He also set aside time to go to a community center in the Lower 9th Ward, a neighborhood hit extremely hard by Katrina, according to NBC.
The community, which is a historically African-American neighborhood in the city is still fighting to recover and rebuild. The Obama Administration has been noted as supplying above-and-beyond efforts to helping New Orleans recover and rebuild the economy, schools, hospitaks, homes, roads, wetlands and public transportation.
The funding efforts behind the recovery started with Obama’s predecessor, former president George W. Bush. Together, the two administrations have dedicated over $71 billion in federal funds to boost their economy and rebuild their communities.
But still, with all efforts focused on supporting the city’s rejuvenation, some of the city’s poorest residents have been disproportionately impacted.
“Not long ago, our gathering here in the Lower Ninth might have seemed unlikely,” the president said in excerpts of a speech released by the White House. “But today, this new community center stands as a symbol of the extraordinary resilience of this city and its people, of the entire Gulf Coast, indeed, of the United States of America. You are an example of what’s possible when, in the face of tragedy and hardship, good people come together to lend a hand, and to build a better future.”
During Obama’s visit to the city, he strolled through one of the oldest black neighborhoods n America with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, an area that borders the French Quarter, north of Downtown, the stomping grounds of many historic jazz legends.
“Like so much of this area it was devastated during the storm, but what we’re seeing is an example of the incredible federal, state and local partnerships that have helped revitalized this community,” the president said.
