20 Years Later: What Have We Learned from Hurricane Katrina - Environmental Disruptions of Communities in Need

Hurricane Katrina is known as one of the nation's deadliest and costliest storms to hit the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that the storm was responsible for roughly 1,833 fatalities and $108 billion in damage. However, what was most catastrophic about the event was not the hurricane. The actual disaster was the failure to aid thousands of low-income residents following the storm. In reality, this was only a symptom of decades of disinvestment, fraud, and oppressive policies that hindered the community long before Katrina even made landfall. Dr. Davis will offer a more complete diagnosis of the problem, address similarities today, and offer solution-oriented policy recommendations on how to address such inequities for future events. Cassandra R. Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy and a fellow at the Carolina Population Center and the Institute for the Environment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Davis is an expert in the field of environmental disruptions to marginalized communities. Her research exposes the extent to which groups who are already more susceptible to disasters are made more susceptible to lower outcomes and achievement rates. She also conducts research to identify the best practices that support marginalized populations around an event to assist policymakers in creating policies.