A Conversation with

Sherece Y. West is chief executive officer of the Baton Rouge–based Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation (LDRF, www.louisianahelp.org)—established by Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. LDRF provides resources for the relief, recovery and betterment of Louisiana's people and communities. Building upon its residents' strength of spirit to transform the disaster into unprecedented opportunity, the foundation supports nonprofit organizations engaged in economic development, housing, land use planning, education, and healthcare. LDRF promotes equity and inclusion as communities rebuild in Louisiana. The foundation is dedicated to equipping displaced people with the tools to understand, organize, advocate for, and be involved in the decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods. The goal is a better, more equitable Louisiana that offers all people the opportunity for full participation in its economy and society.

West holds a B.A. in Public Administration from Bowie State University, a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, was a fellow with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Policy Institutes, and recently completed requirements for her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Her background in public policy, affordable housing, and community development led her down a career path that began with the Social Security Administration and wound its way through the Maryland Municipal League, the DC Department of Public Health, the Community Service Society in New York City, the Ford Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. At Casey, she spent 13 years partnering with its Rebuilding Communities Initiative grantees and consultants to help the five RCI sites advance their community-building plans. Her last activity at Casey was developing and managing the foundation's investments in youth mobilization, engagement and leadership.

West landed in Louisiana last June as president and CEO of the newly formed Carrier Foundation. Within months, Hurricane Katrina struck, literally turning the tri-state area and West's plans upside down. Foundation News & Commentary sat down with West, also a newly elected board member of the Council on Foundations, to talk about LDRF and the recovery, relief, and rebuilding of Louisiana.

How did you become involved with the Carrier Foundation?

The genesis of the foundation came about when the Carrier family, an African-American family, became so concerned about the difficult economic and social circumstances of the black population in many rural areas of Louisiana that they decided to do something about it. Seeking more knowledge on how the family could use its resources to help transform the effects of poverty in poor Louisiana communities, they began searching the Internet for answers. Fortunately, they found a link and a telephone number for the Rebuilding Communities Initiative that I comanaged at Casey. What started out as a single phone call turned into a two-year exchange between the family and me. I consulted with them regularly and asked organizational development expert Bill Link of No Magic, Inc., to make their dream of establishing a family foundation that works on behalf of poor families in Louisiana come true. By the time the family was ready to establish its foundation, I was their choice to head it up.

I moved to Louisiana last June. Then, August 29th, Katrina hit.

What was the focus of the Carrier Foundation's funding before the hurricanes?

The foundation's focus is to provide support to disadvantaged kids and families in Southwest Louisiana. Initially, the foundation will concentrate its efforts in education, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, prisoner re-entry, and health, with a particular focus on the mental health of the poor and disadvantaged.

How did you get from Carrier to the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation?

Within days after Hurricane Katrina, Governor Blanco, along with the Louisiana Division of Administration Commissioner Jerry Luke LeBlanc and Executive Counsel Maris LeBlanc, incorporated the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. It was one of three disaster-response funds established by the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

To establish the foundation's independence and ensure its best possible start, a group of philanthropic and nonprofit leaders from the state and across the country—including those involved in 9/11 relief funds—was convened on September 9, 2005. I participated in these meetings held in Baton Rouge from September 9–14 to develop best practice scenarios for the foundation on issues of governance, structure, management and outreach to the broader foundation community.

The Minneapolis, KnowledgeWorks, Carrier and (later) Annie E. Casey foundations provided loaned executives to allow the foundation to begin operating immediately. The Foundation for the MidSouth provided the initial operating support. I served as a loaned executive from September through February, when I became the CEO.

What's the status of the Carrier Foundation, and who's working with them now?

It's in transition. I'm going to continue to participate in its development in some way, but we just don't know how, as of yet.

What was the original plan of action for the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, and what were the foundation's priorities?

Our short-term grantmaking strategy was to provide relief funds to address needs of evacuees, as well as faith-based and other nonprofit organizations that advocate on behalf of those with no voice, with no means of legal assistance, with no access to healthcare, housing, or educational support. We wanted to help these organizations survive and recover to continue with their important service. Rebuilding the nonprofit infrastructure in the hurricane-impacted areas of Louisiana is a LDRF priority.

We made an initial grant of $750,000 and a subsequent grant of $3 million thanks to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund for a total of $3.75 million to the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps, established by the state to provide immediate relief and direct case management assistance to those displaced by the disasters. We also supported the hurricane relief funds of three of the four community foundations in the state with grants between $350,000 and $400,000. We then created a donor-advised fund for hurricane relief at the Greater New Orleans Foundation with support of $500,000. Finally, we awarded $100,000 to the Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations for relief needs of nonprofit organizations impacted by the hurricanes, such as paying salaries, purchasing equipment and reacquiring office space.

Specifically, LDRF's recovery and betterment strategy also includes supporting community organizing and neighborhood planning to ensure community voices are heard during the recovery and betterment processes; leadership development through the Louisiana Organizers Renewal Award; policy and advocacy to leverage the billions of dollars that will be spent on housing, jobs, education reform, healthcare, and land-use planning; and housing and small business development with support from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

Additionally, we've been charged by our board and LDRF founders to have a social, economic, and racial equity lens on all of the grantmaking that we do.

The majority of the media attention has gone to the devastation in New Orleans. How will the foundation work to help those in the rural, more marginalized Louisiana communities?

Rural Louisiana is home to some of the state's poorest residents. We do not want the Rita-affected areas or the more rural areas to be an afterthought by any stretch. We have already awarded grants in Southwest Louisiana areas impacted by Hurricane Rita. We've also funded nonprofit organizations that are working in areas such Plaquemines, Terrebonne, St. Bernard, Tammany, and Iberia parishes, to name a few. When I speak at conferences and events, I use the opportunity to make sure the audience knows that there were two hurricanes and that communities in addition to New Orleans, many of them rural, were also devastated.

Several rounds of grants have already been made. How will the foundation go about giving out successive grants? Are there planned grant cycles?

LDRF has awarded nearly $7.3 million in grants. We do not have planned cycles, because we want to be as responsive as possible to requests. There's still an urgency for support. The needs are great. Planned cycles may be something we do in year two or three. For now, the board decided to have an open, rolling grant cycle.

Will the foundation sunset or operate in perpetuity?

The board decided not to operate in perpetuity. We are going to continue our grant strategies for three years and then assess our utility before moving forward.

We are going to set benchmarks, outcomes and indicators for the foundation, and then measure and evaluate ourselves. If we find that we're not contributing in a useful way or we've done all that we can as an organization by year three, we're open to making a decision not to continue. We want to help rebuild the nonprofit infrastructure; we want to assist in building the capacity of groups and organizations throughout the state to influence policy and advocacy—our focus areas. We want to be one of the catalysts to help strengthen philanthropy in Louisiana.

Was the board selected by that group convened by the governor?

Governor Blanco appointed LDRF's initial board of directors. Most of them are still members of the board. Last November, LDRF's board, not Governor Blanco, asked Ambassador Joseph [also president emeritus of the Council on Foundations] to join the board and elected him as its chair. They also asked me to become the interim managing director and later officially appointed me CEO on February 1.

I want to point out that LDRF should not be characterized as the governor's fund, even though Governor Blanco moved quickly after Katrina to make sure that a fund was established. LDRF is wholly independent, governed by an independent board of directors whose civic-minded members hail from all affected areas of the state.

Are you still the sole staff person?

Thank goodness, no. Debra Ryland is our operations manager. Ashley Shelton is our director of Policy Initiatives, Samantha Bickham our manager of Grants and Contracts and Landon Williams recently joined our staff as director of Housing and Small Business Development. We also have a team of consultants working with us on communications, fundraising, neighborhood organizing and planning.

Was the money from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund distributed equally among the three states?

It was not. Louisiana is receiving a greater portion—$24.4 million. Mississippi will receive $12.4 million and Alabama $3.2 million.

How much support has LDRF raised?

More than 5,000 donors from around the world contributed close to $13 million to LDRF. The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund awarded $24.4 million. We are in the process of raising an additional $3 million dollars for operating support for three years from private foundations so that 100 percent of the money raised from private donations goes to relief, recovery, and betterment in the Rita- and Katrina-affected areas of Louisiana.

Is it a part of your mandate to raise additional support for LDRF?

Yes. We will fundraise among private donors, corporations, private foundations, and other sources. LDRF is the only statewide foundation solely dedicated to providing resources for hurricanerelated efforts. We are helping areas impacted by the hurricanes and those that received and are providing services and support to evacuees. Recovery and betterment will be a long process.

Can you speak to the issue of foundation reluctance to make grants for operating support?

Now that's a tough one that I never understood, quite frankly. Operating support enables LDRF to use 100 percent of donations for grantmaking, so that none of it goes to administration. Operating support will allow us to focus on effective grantmaking and achieving our desired outcomes of a strengthened nonprofit infrastructure, public policy that will result in billions of dollars for reconstruction, functional public delivery systems, and more. Operating support will free us to champion and advocate for racial, economic, and social equity in the recovery and betterment process.

It also frees us to be able to operate effectively—to hire quality staff, to have quality space and equipment, and to have the technology and communication resources that we need to help tell the stories that will keep the social and economic impact of the hurricanes on the minds of the American public. We have to tell the stories of the displaced and those who are working hard in their policy, advocacy, and programmatic work to rebuild and recover. We have to tell the stories of our grantees and partners, so that the voices of those who are often marginalized are heard and the social, moral, and economic impact of the storms remains alive in the public's eye.

Operating support will also enable us to be a well-functioning foundation based on the principles and standards of the Council on Foundations. We want to operate in excellence.

Do you fear competing with other community nonprofits as you fundraise?

We recognize that some might feel that we are competing for funds. But we play an important and unique role in this whole scenario. We need operating and programmatic support to fulfill our role effectively.

With so much attention focused on the hurricane devastation, do you fear donor fatigue?

As we become less and less front-page news, yes, there's a real concern there. All anyone has to do is visit the devastated area or talk to anyone in the diaspora and any potential donor would be over donor fatigue. Some residents still have not gotten a FEMA trailer to live in temporarily as they rebuild, and many parts of the state have made no progress in areas damaged in the storms.

We are trying to find media partners in different networks as a strategy to combat this. We're even looking into aligning ourselves with product partners in a strategy similar to breast cancer awareness—creating ribbons and other products to be sold with their proceeds being donated to LDRF. We currently have that with Pandora's Jewelry and there are some corporations that have done wonderful work for us voluntarily, using their products or creating products for LDRF, for Katrina victims. It is happening. We intend to do more.

This was the largest outpouring of charitable giving in American history. What were some of the unique donations that formed your $13 million asset base?

Well, employees cashed out their sick leave and donated it to LDRF. That was creative. Bowling leagues raised money. Kids in Canada set up lemonade stands and donated the proceeds. Youngsters emptied their piggy banks and donated their savings.

While these are not necessarily unique examples of philanthropy, they are beautiful expressions of compassion and giving. We received donations in letters written by children. I read them and tear up. They are sweet letters.

Was there a lot of international response?

We received donations from the governments of Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Trinidad and Tobago, Japan, and others. International donors were very generous. A gentleman actually sent $1,000 in U.S. currency from Japan to the United States—via regular mail—and all $1,000 made it.

What about faith-based communities?

I would very much like to give kudos to the faith-based communities throughout the state of Louisiana. They stepped up in a major way—particularly in relief. They became shelters, provided parishioners who took people into their homes, collected money, and gave money, food and clothing. They became the first points of contact for many, and are unsung heroes in this work.

I was very surprised to hear that there was $700 million in governmental emergency funding that has to be repaid.

Yes. It's actually more than that. I think repayment has reached the $1 billion mark now, because interest and penalties started accruing after a certain date. Louisiana's total share of relief and reconstruction spending is likely to top $1 billion. Federal law requires states to pay a share of recovery and rebuilding costs after a disaster. The size and scope of hurricanes Katrina and Rita have made Louisiana's tab the largest that any state may have to pay to date.

What are foundations uniquely positioned to do to help at this stage?

While there are ongoing relief needs, relief is morphing into recovery. Philanthropy can have the most impact in the recovery and betterment stages of reconstruction of hurricane Rita and Katrina areas. Over the next ten years, we will need the knowledge, wisdom, and experience of foundations that work in rebuilding devastated communities and public systems. Foundations are positioned to provide resources for technical assistance to nonprofit and government agencies; support research, data, and analysis; support community organizing and advocacy; provide flexible capital for physical development; build leadership; support state-of-the-art technology; advance democratic values and civil society during the recovery and betterment stages. We need philanthropy to work with us for many years to come.

We need foundations to collaborate with nonprofits in the region. We are in a unique position to pool resources and work together during the recovery and betterment stages. I do my best to reach out and collaborate, but am finding it challenging. Foundations are in the area doing their thing and making their mark, which I respect. We could leverage support, increase capacity and work more efficiently together. We so wish we could talk and collaborate more with funders doing grantmaking in Louisiana.

I'd be remiss not to take this opportunity to ask foundations to support LDRF's operations and/or programmatic areas I described earlier. Loaned executives worked well in getting LDRF started. As we get deeper in our grantmaking focus areas, we will call on our colleagues in philanthropy to loan us staff who are experts in those areas. We may call on colleagues to work at LDRF for three to six months, giving us access to experienced grantmakers at no cost to LDRF and enabling the grantmaker to contribute to recovery and betterment efforts in Louisiana.

As the region approaches another hurricane season, what are your thoughts on safety, preventative measures and retraumatization?

Wow, this is a tough question to even consider. While the state and parishes throughout the state are working on evacuation plans, I pray we do not experience another hurricane season like 2005. The Army Corps of Engineers is not optimistic that they will restore the levees to Category 3 levels before the start of the 2006 hurricane season. As I mentioned, there are areas hit by hurricanes Rita and Katrina that are already marginal. As far as I know, there is no approved funding to support the massive effort of rebuilding eroded coastlines and wetland areas that would naturally protect hurricane-vulnerable areas. Thus, even a Category 3 storm could destroy previously hurricane-devastated areas of New Orleans and rural communities and cause serious damage to areas that were not as affected.

The emotional effects of Rita and Katrina will be long-lived and deep. I would guess that many throughout the diaspora are still in mourning from last year's hurricane season. We need a healing and reconciliation process—healing from the impact of the storms and reconciliation among victims of the storms and maltreatment from all levels of government during and after the disasters.

'Rebuilding' has been defined as recreating the community. There were so many problems with disparity in the community previously, how will the disenfranchised be involved to ensure the creation of better, more equitable places?

We use the term betterment rather than rebuilding at the foundation, because we want to contribute to making Rita- and Katrina-affected areas better and not recreating or rebuilding the poor physical infrastructure and dysfunctional social and service delivery systems that were there before. Our board encouraged staff to use LDRF as a bully pulpit for promoting racial, economic and social equity. We emphasize to funders, collaborators, grantseekers, and others that we do not give lip service to this. This is not jargon for us. We show our commitment and demonstrate it in our grantmaking strategy.

Is there anything you'd like to comment on that I may not have asked?

I'd just like to end by pointing out our clarity around this marathon effort that lies ahead and the challenges we'll face. Our board chair, Ambassador Joseph, reminds us often of President Herbert Hoover's words following the 1927 floods in Mississippi: "We have before us perhaps the most difficult and discouraging of all periods. No longer is there the excitement of catastrophe, the stimulation of heroism and fine sacrifice. Reconstruction is always the most trying of all periods of the disaster." But even faced with that reality, we are confident that we can count on the philanthropic community to continue this walk to recovery and betterment with us and the citizens of Louisiana.

Photos by Theresa Cassagne