THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2009

Recovery Corps selects service provider for HEF program

BATON ROUGE, La. -Gulf Coast Professional Consultants, LLC has been selected as the service provider for the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps’ next iteration of its Household Establishment Funds (HEF) program. The organization was selected after a stringent internal vetting process that included a statewide Request for Qualifications and strict review of the applying agencies.

The Recovery Corps expects to serve more than 1,000 households impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in St. Helena, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes via the HEF program. In all, more than $1.5 million in resources will be put into the three-parish area. The program is slated to begin in mid-March after intensive training on the HEF model and programmatic protocols by the Gulf Coast Professional Consultants staff.

“We are very excited to be able to provide much-needed resources to these parishes,” said Dr. Monteic A. Sizer, President and CEO of the Recovery Corps. “This program will make a meaningful impact on the lives of many Louisiana families who have been largely overlooked during prior recovery efforts.”

HEF is a proprietary program of the Recovery Corps that provides direct assistance to qualified families and individuals impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Those eligible for the program may receive up to $1,500 in utility deposits and payments, rent deposits and payments, and household furnishings such as washing machines, dryers, stoves, refrigerators, and beds. The HEF benefits are intended to provide one-time help for families attempting to re-establish or maintain their household as part of their recovery process.

Gulf Coast Professional Consultants is a consulting and case management firm that partners with various entities in the southeastern portion of the state to assist the citizens of Louisiana who are rebuilding their lives following hurricane disasters.

“Our HEF program is another example of the Recovery Corps’ ability to effectively and efficiently provide resources to people who need them most,” Sizer added. “At a time in which there is so much criticism, and rightfully so, about organizations’ and agencies’ inability to effectively align resources and quickly get them to people in need, the Recovery Corps has proven its ability to design quality outcome-based programs and distribute resources entrusted to us in a manner that directly assists impacted people.”

The Recovery Corps recently concluded a HEF program in six parishes in the Acadiana area with resounding success, providing more than $3 million in assistance to thousands in need. Additionally, the organization is in the initial stages of implementing home repair programs in St. Tammany, Terrebonne, and Lafourche parishes, utilizing more than $2 million for those initiatives.

ABOUT THE RECOVERY CORPS
The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation based in Baton Rouge, La., and formed in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The Recovery Corps’ mission is to facilitate human recovery for the State of Louisiana in the aftermath of disaster, both natural and man-made. The Recovery Corps has partnered with human service and non-profit organizations throughout the state and the country to deliver assistance as effectively and efficiently as possible, allocating more than $80 million to recovery efforts and assisting more than 30,000 households since January 2006.