MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009

Recovery Corps completes home repairs ahead of schedule demonstrating effectiveness and efficiency

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps is poised to wrap up its Homeowner Repair Grant Program in St. Tammany Parish approximately 60 days ahead of schedule, said Dr. Monteic A. Sizer, President and CEO of the Recovery Corps.

The Homeowner Repair Grant Program utilized more than $1 million provided by the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) to provide families impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita up to $25,000 in repairs. In providing these much-needed home repairs, the Recovery Corps is helping to preserve precious housing stock at a time when Louisiana’s affordable housing market is unsettled.

“The ability to design, implement, execute, and report back to the funding source earlier than the contractual deadline demonstrates the Recovery Corps’ ability to quickly determine the needs of citizens and provide for those needs in a timely fashion,” said Sizer. “This represents one of the great strengths of the non-profit sector as compared to the governmental sector when considering large programs that need to move quickly to most effectively meet the needs of impacted citizens.”

The success of the program also demonstrates the Recovery Corps’ ability to determine qualified non-profit and for-profit partners based on the specific programmatic need. The Recovery Corps worked with private contractors to get outcomes for citizens very quickly while not only holding the contractor accountable for cost overruns, but also for the quality of craftsmanship. The Recovery Corps was also able to leverage its network of non-profit partners to further assist in completing projects ahead of schedule.

“As we continue to execute our various home repair programs and Household Establishment Funds programs throughout the state,” said Sizer, “we take pride in the fact that we have been able to deliver services to the people of Louisiana. This is an example of how the non-profit sector can work alongside government as a true partner and can add value and specialized expertise that simply is not available en masse at the governmental level.”

Another way that the Recovery Corps and its partners added value to the program comes in a true monetary sense. Though each of the homes repaired was eligible to receive up to $25,000 worth of supplies and repairs from the program, additional funds provided through the Recovery Corps’ network of partner agencies and organizations, along with volunteer man-hours provided during certain phases of the projects, allowed many of the home repair projects to actually come in at $40,000 – 60,000 in value.

“Given these realities, it is incumbent on government to continue to look for ways it can utilize and partner with non-profit organizations for similar projects and other human services and non-essential government services,” said Sizer. ”Not only can the non-profits usually provide these services in a more effective and efficient manner, but it will also free up the government to execute the tasks and services for which it is best suited.

“In saying that, however, we must commend the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) and the LHFA for recently developing programs that provide an array of strategies associated with helping people recover. It is our hope that the citizens of Louisiana still impacted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as those recovering from Gustav and Ike, will be able to quickly access these programs and finally begin to see some closure while earnestly beginning their recovery processes.”

The Recovery Corps continues to look for ways in which Louisiana’s non-profit sector can be further developed. As such, it works closely with various non-profits statewide in an effort to advocate for the sector and demonstrate to local, state, and federal officials the need for a collaborative effort in order to continue to provide sound, solid solutions to many of the challenges that face our state today.

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.