Feature Story

June 19, 2007

Rockefeller Foundation to Provide $2.2 Million for New Orleans 'Rebuilding' Fellowships

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The Rockefeller Foundation announced today a $2.2 million grant to fund a series of fellowships to advance the redevelopment process in New Orleans.

The Rockefeller Foundation Redevelopment Fellowships, to be administered by the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania, will enable key redevelopment organizations in New Orleans to recruit talented urban redevelopment professionals both from New Orleans and from around the country to work on the rebuilding process currently underway there.

"The Rockefeller Foundation's New Orleans Fellowships will allow us to attract the best and brightest urban development professionals, so that the city can accelerate its recovery and rebuilding efforts," said Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Edward Blakely, the Director of the city's Office of Recovery Management, said, "The Rockefeller Fellowships will be critically important in helping the city build the necessary human capital to assist in New Orleans' recovery."

In the past, the Center has successfully recruited and placed teams of fellows with top urban redevelopment organizations nationwide.

"Our Penn community is proud that talented professionals from our School of Design's Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence will be applying their knowledge, their energy, and their hearts to rebuilding New Orleans," Penn President Amy Gutmann said.

These include for-profit and non-profit development organizations, government agencies, financial institutions investing in affordable and mixed-income housing and other firms directly involved in the redevelopment process.

Foundation investments include major support for the development of the Unified New Orleans Plan, a comprehensive rebuilding and recovery plan, that was recently approved by the New Orleans City Planning Commission.

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