Anya Vaverko

Reading about New Orleans in preparation for this reporting trip, I kept coming across articles about the “revitalization” of the city by young optimistic entrepreneurs. Interested in learning more about this growing number of creative young people being drawn to New Orleans, I contacted several of them to talk about what drew them to the city and how they were faring.

I started by meeting with Nathan Rothstein, the former Executive Director of the New Orleans Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals Initiative (YURP), a group whose mission is to create a support network to connect, retain and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans. Along with Nathan, I met his friends Alexis Leventhal, Hampton Barclay, and Jeff Brusaic, all of whom moved to New Orleans after Katrina. We spent the afternoon talking about why they were drawn to this city, the opportunities and challenges they face, the responsibilities they feel and what they envision for the future of New Orleans. Though confirming that change is slow here with factors like old political structures and racism still very much in existence, newcomers like them were drawn to New Orleans because it was a place where they could have the power make a difference, both in the city and in their own careers. Because so few emerging entrepreneurs were living here, they say, people just starting out were able to get opportunities that would have taken years to find in a larger city.

Later in the afternoon, I talked to Tess Monaghan, Director of Operations of Build Nola, a non-profit company that builds new houses and helps clients with the rebuilding process. Coming from the big business world of New York City, she says doing business in New Orleans feels completely different because it is so much more personal. Just by living here, everyone feels they have a stake in rebuilding the city.

That was the sentiment echoed at a happy hour gathering of University of New Orleans Urban and Regional Planning students organized by Alexis, who is a graduate student in the program, as well as a member of YURP. Everyone I spoke to has come here for a reason from all over the country- to learn from the unique situation of the city, to create change, and to be part of the energy of revitalization that is thriving in New Orleans.