2007 CBR Grant Summaries
Amy Koritz- Living Cultures Project: Sustaining Arts, Culture and Heritage in New Orleans
Neighborhoods
New Orleans is an internationally treasured center for the arts and culture, and cultural tourism is a key
focus of the City’s economic redevelopment plans. The Cultural Sector Plan focuses on repairing and
compensating arts organizations and facilities, as well as individual artists, for losses suffered in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While the emphasis on supporting a cultural economy that focuses on
translating cultural production into dollars quickly and directly is important to the city, and the transfer
of funds directly into individual artists crucial, both approaches overlook the role of the arts and culture
in strengthening neighborhoods and building communities. This project will attempt to seed a policyresearch and cultural community development project collaboration between Tulane, UNO, and the
Urban Institute. The Living Cultures Project will compile and disseminate a compendium of research,
policies, models and practices, and will hold a series of policy convenings around key issues of concern in
community cultural development such as crime and violence, civil liberties, artist housing, and licensing.
Jennifer McGee- African-American Renal Transplant Experience
Racial disparities are present for outcomes following renal transplantation. Although current kidney
data demonstrates an equivalent one-year graft survival for blacks and whites, a worse long-term graft
survival exists for blacks. To date reasons cited for differences are considered multi-factorial and are
incompletely understood. After comparing similar patient sub groups for several institutions across the
US, the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients documented improved kidney allograft survival
among African-American recipients at the Tulane University Center for Abdominal Transplant, which
transplants African-American patients at a volume two times the national average. Taken together it is
our goal to use the Tulane African-American renal transplant experience to aid in understanding
outcome disparities through the investigation of the community’s conviction regarding transplantation.
At completion of the surveys and interviews, data will be analyzed and a report generated.
Identification of the community’s opinion on transplantation will reveal areas of excellence as well as
areas in need of improvement thus fostering more research questions.
Stacy Overstreet- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among New Orleans children
Children within the New Orleans community are currently at high risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
(PTSD), due to high rates of violent crime compounded with the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder associated with debilitating symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts and
flashbacks related to the traumatic event, persistent feelings of fear and worry, and an inability to
concentrate. The goal of this study is to examine the persistent attention deficits in children with PTSD,
which may occur regardless of the presence of threat, through a direct and objective measure of
attention. Results can inform individual and class-wide intervention strategies for students who
demonstrate symptoms of posttraumatic stress. This preliminary study could serve as the foundation
for larger scale research examining the effects of trauma on academic functioning, a significant problem
faced by the New Orleans community.
Carol Reese- Developing partnership between Longue Vue House and Gardens and Pontchartrain Park
Pontchartrain Park, which opened in 1954 with lots for sale in the Gentilly section of New Orleans, was
the first community planned for middle-class African-American home ownership in a segregated city. In
2005 the community planned a fifty year founding celebration but the neighborhood was inundated in
August 2005 by the London Avenue Canal failure. Ironically, however, having reached its fifty-year
anniversary, Pontchartrain Park is eligible for National Historic Landmark Status. Residents are
combining forces to have their community recognized at the local and national levels and to rebuild
their homes and iconic public green spaces that give the neighborhood its special character and feel.
This project will immediately assess the situation facing 1000 flooded properties to ascertain key
recovery indicators. It will also lead into the preparation and submission of National Register Historic
District nomination for Pontchartrain Park and collaboration with Longue Vue House and Gardens in
development of a recovery plan for the green space, playgrounds, and landscaped streetscapes.
Allison Truitt- A Cultural Geography of Vietnamese Communities in metropolitan New Orleans
Vietnamese-Americans are the largest Asian-American group in Louisiana, concentrated largely in the
metropolitan New Orleans area. This community-based project will identify and document how
religious intuitions sponsor and support Vietnamese cultural life. It is intended to provide preliminary
findings for a large study on transformations in the social economies and networks of the Vietnamese
community of metropolitan New Orleans. Identifying how religious institutions also serve as cultural
centers is an important first step. This project will document the social histories and community events
that take place in five different institutions throughout the metropolitan region, including Bo De
Buddhist Temple, Cao Dei Temple, the Vietnamese Baptist Church, and LaVang Catholic Church.