Hurricane Katrina & Rita

With the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on our tribal community, long-term hurricane relief efforts have moved to the forefront of the UHN’s strategic plans for the next 3-5 years. Efforts are focused on 2 distinct areas – tribal citizens’ immediate rebuilding needs and future community development. The UHN estimates that following Katrina and Rita, approximately 7,000 tribal citizens were directly affected by these hurricanes with nearly half displaced.

The United Houma Nation received funds from various grants and contributions. These donations have greatly impacted the United Houma Nation and its tribal citizens in our relief efforts. The funds were used to hire a Program Manager and Administrative Assistant for the United Houma Nation Hurricane Relief Office. With the contributions, the United Houma Nation Relief Office has been able to help tribal citizens with making individual home repair grants, individual fishing vessel repair grants, assisting by providing furniture, bedding, personal hygiene supplies, school supplies, food, etc. Thousands of tribal citizens have received aid from the United Houma Nation Hurricane Relief Office. A database has been set up to record names, addresses, phone numbers, and items received by tribal citizens helped at the Relief Office. Pictures are taken of homes in need of repair, and after the grants are received for building supplies, pictures are taken of the repairs made. Files are kept on everyone who receives the home repair grant. The same process is followed for the fishing vessel grant.

The needs of the tribal citizens greatly outweigh the funds available to them. This is the biggest challenge that faces the United Houma Nation. Though the Hurricane Relief Office has been able to help to replace some furniture losses and purchase building supplies to help repair their homes, it is not enough to get tribal citizens back into homes that were gutted or completely destroyed. Tribal citizens who have received the home repair grant are very appreciative of the help provided to them, but it is disheartening to know that it is not enough to get them back into their homes in a timely manner.

Looking back at the past year, the United Houma Nation Tribal Government and Staff has learned that we must become self-sufficient to ensure the future of the Houma People. It is disappointing but not surprising that the Federal Government, FEMA, Road Home, etc. whose role is to assist in recovery efforts for all citizens, has been ineffective. Tribal citizens seeking assistance from these agencies are often faced with cultural and language barriers on top of the beauracracy that hinders the application process.

Data collection at our Relief Office, community outreach events and tribal council meetings indicate that many tribal citizens lack the basic resources needed to adequately prepare for and recover from future disasters. Our tribal communities face extinction by the constant threat of coastal erosion and hurricanes. In order for our tribal communities to survive, tribal citizens must have their home elevated or must relocate inland to higher ground.

We have begun to devise an emergency response plan and to seek certification as a Community Emergency Response Team through the Department of Homeland Security.

To follow-up and track community changes, the United Houma Nation is currently conducting a community needs assessment that consists of a written survey to be circulated to every tribal citizen registered as well as a series of community meetings to gather input directly from members of the Tribal community. Once complete, this tool will help the Council and administration of the UHN to pinpoint the specific needs of each community and create future goals and objectives to be addressed by the Tribe. In particular, this assessment is specifically targeting the identification of pressing issues for the Nation post-Katrina and Rita. In addition, member input is sought at regular Tribal Council meetings.

Due to historical discriminatory practices and tribal isolation, many United Houma Nation tribal citizens lack the skills to be assertive and assume leadership roles. In looking at the long-term leadership development, the majority of the United Houma Nation’s leadership efforts are focused on youth. Tribal youth development projects are focused on including the family in the development of young leaders. Consequently, at many tribal leadership activities whole families are actively engaged in the leadership development. Youth initiatives offering support and resources needed to help young people through college, preparing for their future and any other issues facing youth of today continues to be a focus of the Houma Nation. By ensuring that the next generations of tribal citizens are skilled leaders will ensure that the tribe will break the cycle of dependence and create a generation of confident, proud tribal leaders.

Women of the Houma Nation have had considerable influence in tribal government and have historically held formal leadership positions. The Houmas have a long-standing tradition of having women leaders dating back to the 1700’s. This tradition continues to this day, as two of the last three tribal leaders have been women. United Houma Nation tribal government and United Houma Nation staff are motivated to help their people and improve the quality of life in tribal communities. The United Houma Nation is actively working with numerous boards, committee and organizations to ensure that we are represented when policy decisions are being made.

Two additional projects in the early stages of planning are economic development options for the Tribe and citizens and a community-based radio station. The Tribe is in the early stages of developing a Community Development Financial Institute (CDFI) to assist citizens with financial literacy and implement a revolving loan fund to assist the community with micro-enterprise.

All of these initiatives are considered to be the ground work of assisting UHN communities’ recovery, both long term and short term. The intent is to develop stable programs that provide additional resources to tribal members, while maintaining the communities’ unique culture and individual citizens’ sense of independence and dignity.