Fourteen months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, towed cars still remain piled under highways and abandoned children's toys populate the Ninth Ward.
Although volunteers rushed down to the Gulf Coast to provide relief shortly after disaster struck, Rob Lalka and Amanda Sheldon said they hope to bring lasting reform to the area.
The two first-year masters in public policy students discovered a shared passion for the ravaged city while waiting for Graduate School convocation to begin and decided to work together to effect policy changes in New Orleans.
Their dream came to fruition in the formation of the Duke-New Orleans Post-Katrina Partnership, which sent 11 masters in public policy students to New Orleans for a policy consulting trip in early October.
"If there's anything that history has taught us, long-term changes and reform occur through groups of dedicated individuals over a long period of time, who have the patience and dedication to make it happen, to really put their idealism into action in a way that is pragmatic and sustainable, and that's the model that we're looking to take on," Lalka said.
After the hurricane struck, Lalka decided to volunteer for the Louisiana AmeriCorps, leaving his investment banking job for the Gulf Coast.
"I would be sitting in my cube at Wachovia, and I realized that the devastation was unimaginable," Lalka said. "It was something I couldn't fathom sitting there at my desk, and people weren't concerned or bothered by the absolute catastrophic event that it was."
"I saw the faces of the people who were evacuated and I realized that I needed to do something more," he added.
Sheldon, a Tulane University graduate, was fulfilling her Peace Corps duties when Katrina hit. She said despite Americans' generosity, the disaster has been too easily forgotten.
"We knew that it was last year's issue and that it needed to be brought back up again," she said. "There is a major election in a few days, and people are not talking about Katrina-they are talking about Mark Foley."
The students traveled to New Orleans to investigate policy failures after Katrina and how to prevent a breakdown in communication between local and state leadership and the federal government from occurring again, Lalka said.
"As much as it is a natural disaster, it's also a man-made disaster, in the fact that the suffering and tragedy could have been averted," he said. "If all the levels of government worked, then we wouldn't be looking at the calamity we see."
Lalka and Sheldon both said they hope the partnership will engage undergraduates and other graduate students in its efforts. Whether students are interested in race relations, education, biotechnology or health care, there is opportunity for them to work with the partnership, Lalka added.
"We're looking for intelligent, driven and passionate people who want to be involved," he said. "No matter what your issue is, no matter what your passion is, no matter what your desire in the world is, New Orleans needs help."
The students are planning a University-wide panel in late November to facilitate discussion and raise awareness about the partnership.
Ultimately, the students said they would like to attract other universities to work toward revitalizing and improving the policy of the Gulf Coast states.
"Why rebuild New Orleans?" Sheldon said. "Because it's New Orleans, it's the most fantastic city in the world."
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