Who We Are
 

What is the ACORN Housing/University Partnership (AHUP)?
AHUP is a unique partnership involving leaders of ACORN, the nation's largest citizen organization, ACORN Housing, its non-profit affordable housing division, and three of the nation's most highly respected universities - Cornell University, Columbia University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. AHUP is committed to restoring the environmental, economic, and social health of the City of New Orleans' 9th Ward through resident-led planning, design, and development.
 

When was the ACORN Housing/University Partnership formed?
In October of 2005, ACORN's national staff contacted the faculty from the graduate planning program at Cornell University to request their assistance in supporting resident-led recovery planning. In November of 2005, ACORN, with the assistance of Cornell, LSU, and Pratt Institute, held the "Rebuilding New Orleans Conference" at the Alumni Center of LSU in Baton Rouge. This conference, which was supported by several New Orleans City Council members, including Cynthia Willard-Lewis and Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, established "the right to return" as the primary objective of 9th Ward planning.
 

What have been the major activities and accomplishments of the AHUP?
In January of 2006, students and faculty from Pratt, Cornell, and LSU were joined by others from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of California at Berkeley in carrying out more than a dozen planning and design projects in the Gentilly, New Orleans East and 9th Ward neighborhoods while also mobilizing campus volunteers to advance ACORN's house-gutting activities.

In the summer of 2006, nine graduate planning students from Cornell University worked with six graduate planning and architecture students from Pratt Institute as they participated in a jointly funded summer internship program to support ACORN's ever-expanding community planning and development efforts in the Gentilly, New Orleans East, and 9th Ward neighborhoods. Among the projects completed by these students were:

• An analysis of the role adjudicated (tax foreclosure) properties might play in the initial phase of the city's recovery process
• An exploration of alternative designs for low-density and energy-efficient affordable housing for the 9th Ward
• An investigation of emerging "Principles of Good Practice for Participatory Neighborhood Planning"

The development of a new comprehensive plan was viewed as a necessary requirement to attracting the significant public and private dollars needed to rebuild the city.

With the encouragement of staff from the Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP), the quasi-public entity established to manage the development of the comprehensive plan, ACORN Housing asked their university partners to work with them in submitting a response to this competitive RFQ. Just days before the submission deadline, ACORN Housing was joined by Cornell University, Pratt Institute, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Columbia University, and Louisiana State University to form the ACORN Housing and University Partnership which submitted a formal proposal in response to the RFQ.

The ACORN Housing and University Partnership's major arguments for its selection as neighborhood planners and district consultants were: (1) The richness and depth of the network's community organizing, neighborhood planning, architectural/urban design, disaster planning, and project management experience; (2) ACORN's significant membership base within the city's more heavily flood-damaged areas; (3) ACORN's extensive network of 109 offices in communities serving as so-called "receiver" cities for displaced New Orleanians; and (4) the Partnerships committed to and experienced in highly participatory forms of resident-led planning, design, and development.
 

What faculty have participated in the AHUP's activities?

How is the AHUP funded?
Each of the participating institutions involved in the partnership have shared the costs of supporting its field-based research, planning, and design activities. Resources provided by the National Science Foundation have supplemented these funds.
 

Can other higher educational institutions join AHUP?
Absolutely! Any institutions willing to engage in collaborative research and reciprocal learning with community-based organizations in New Orleans are cordially invited to show up for work - with the color markers in hand!
 

How are students involved in AHUP?
Most of the work carried out through AHUP is done through regular courses offered by its participating schools and academic institutions. These efforts are supplemented by regularly scheduled volunteer efforts and an organized summer internship program. For information regarding these efforts, interested parties are encouraged to contact Ken Reardon or Ed Anthes-Washburn.

top

Web Site by
RMF Designs