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New Orleans

Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, the fate of the people, infrastructure, and economy of New Orleans has been the subject of extensive research and discussion. RAND established the Gulf States Policy Institute to provide objective analysis to federal, state, and local leaders in support of evidence-based policymaking and the well-being of communities and individuals throughout New Orleans and the greater Gulf States region.

News Release

Surges in Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children Prompt Need for Better K–12 Policies

491,000 children from Mexico and the Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) arrived in the United States between fiscal years 2017 and 2019 and remained with unresolved immigration statuses. Of these, 321,000 were enrolled in U.S. K–12 public schools as of March 2020. About 75% settled in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, and Louisiana.

Sep 30, 2021
Research Brief

Surges in Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children Prompt Need for Better K–12 Policies

Growing numbers of children from Central America and Mexico are arriving in the United States. As of March 2020, 321,000 undocumented and asylum-seeking children were enrolled in public schools. How are the schools managing, and what could be done to help them better prepare to assist these students?

Sep 30, 2021
Report

Educating Newcomers: K–12 Public Schooling for Undocumented and Asylum-Seeking Children in the United States

This report models numbers of undocumented and asylum-seeking children crossing the U.S. southwest border, reviews the federal and state policy landscapes for their education, and provides case studies of how schools are managing education for them.

Sep 30, 2021
Journal Article

Building a Values-Informed Mental Model for New Orleans Climate Risk Management

ViMM helps identify gaps between the values used by the public and experts to understand risk factors and strategies. This study suggests a framework to construct a more explicit model of the public's and CRM experts' and climate scientists' values.

Mar 7, 2018
Report

Reducing Coastal Flood Risk with a Lake Pontchartrain Barrier

A Lake Pontchartrain barrier could provide substantial damage reduction benefits—including reduced flood depths and preventing direct economic damage—for southeastern Louisiana, potentially amounting to billions of dollars saved per year.

Aug 4, 2017
Research Brief

Does School Choice Mean Students Attend Better Schools? The Case of Post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans

Researchers examined school choice outcomes in New Orleans following 2005's Hurricane Katrina, including exit patterns of students across sectors and school types in New Orleans and the destination schools of mobile students.

Jun 22, 2017
Essay

Is Suicide Preventable? Insights from Research

Conventional wisdom about suicide prevention suggests that one just needs to know what warning signs to look for. But that's not the case.

May 8, 2017
Report

Assessing the Role of State and Local Public Health in Outreach and Enrollment for Expanded Coverage: A Case Study on New Orleans, Louisiana

Part of a series highlighting innovative models and best practices for local health departments' involvement in Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment, this report describes a case study on New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jul 8, 2016
Tool

The Displaced New Orleans Residents Survey: Overview, User's Guide, and Codebook

Documentation for the 2009-2010 Displaced New Orleans Residents Survey (DNORS), a study of individuals and families who resided in New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to Hurricane Katrina. DNORS assessed medium-term outcomes five years after the hurricane.

Mar 14, 2016
Journal Article

Latino Immigrant Day Laborer Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Health Information Preferences

We address immigrant day laborers' experiences with occupational safety in the construction industry in New Orleans, and opinions about content and method of communication for educational interventions to reduce occupational risks.

Mar 2, 2016
Journal Article

School Choice, Student Mobility, and School Quality: Evidence from Post-Katrina New Orleans

This paper analyzes student mobility in post-Katrina New Orleans between and within the various sectors and school types using a multinomial framework.

Nov 24, 2015
Journal Article

Current and Future Flood Risk in Greater New Orleans

This report presents estimates of flood risk in New Orleans and quantifies the accomplishments of the post-Katrina efforts to improve coastal defenses.

Oct 20, 2015
Journal Article

Community Engagement in Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: A Tale of Two Cities – Los Angeles and New Orleans

Known difficulties in preparing communities for disasters and a lack of focus on relationship building and organizational capacity in preparedness and response have led to a greater policy focus on community resiliency as a key public health approach to disaster response.

Sep 1, 2013
Commentary

In Wake of Hurricane Sandy, Look to Louisiana for Lessons

Just as public agencies across the country conducted terrorism risk assessments in the wake of 9/11, a comprehensive infrastructure assessment may be in order to understand natural hazard risks and the potential exacerbating effects of climate change, write Gary Cecchine, David Groves, and Jordan Fischbach.

Nov 1, 2012
Project

Reducing New Orleans Storm-Surge Flood Risk in an Uncertain Future

Preparing for natural disasters is a long, multi-faceted process that requires years of planning, coordination, and direct action. RAND has developed a new approach for assessing hurricane flood risk in New Orleans under uncertainty and evaluating city-wide approaches for reducing this risk.

Sep 10, 2012
Report

Perceptions of Traditional and Charter Schools in New Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans replaced the city's existing school system with a decentralized choice-based system of both charter and district-run schools. An examination of principal, teacher, and parent surveys found many similarities between charter and traditional schools' performance but greater satisfaction among charter school parents with their children's schools, as well as more perceived choices.

Oct 5, 2011
Research Brief

Perceptions of Charter and Traditional Schools in New Orleans

RAND researchers found many similarities between charter and traditional schools in New Orleans but greater satisfaction among charter school parents with their children's schools, as well as more perceived choices.

Oct 5, 2011
Research Brief

Reducing Future Flood Damage in New Orleans Through Home Elevation and Land Use Changes

Describes how nonstructural measures -- such as incentives for home elevation, incentives for relocation to lower-risk areas, and restrictions on the use of floodplain land -- can make New Orleans less vulnerable to storm surge.

Sep 23, 2011
Periodical

Beyond the Shadow of 9/11

The 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks warrants a thoughtful review of America's progress and future strategy. In this RAND Review cover story, RAND experts offer perspectives on Afghan-led solutions, ways to counter al Qaeda, air passenger security, and compensation for those affected by terrorism.

Sep 1, 2011
Research Brief

High Rates of Household Breakups Occurred Following Hurricane Katrina

The composition of households in New Orleans made the city's families more vulnerable to breakup during the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina. Two-thirds of the city's households at that time saw at least one family member move away, an unusually high number even given the tremendous destruction of the hurricane.

Jun 7, 2011

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RAND Topic:
New Orleans

Topic Synonyms:
New Orleans Office

Research conducted by

RAND Gulf States Policy Institute