Andrew Wolk

New Orleans in the Spotlight

Posted on 08. Feb, 2010 in Public Innovation, Role of Government, Social Innovation

This past weekend was a big one for New Orleans – not just because of the Saints’ Super Bowl victory over the Colts but also the landslide victory for Mitch Landrieu in the election for mayor that took place on Saturday.

Landrieu’s job will not be an easy one, to say the least. As we approach the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans still faces many of the challenges that the destruction of the city exposed and exacerbated. Add to that the burden of our nation’s current economic situation, and New Orleans appears as a microcosm of the United States and the issues we are currently confronting. When Landrieu walks into New Orleans City Hall, he will encounter, on the city level, a similar situation to that which President Obama found when he took office.

There are a number of reasons to be hopeful about what Landrieu can do. First, the overwhelming victory of the first white mayor in 30 years in a city where 67% of the population is black suggests that New Orleans is moving past the racial divisions that it has experienced in recent decades. Landrieu and the city’s population appear eager to work with leaders representing all backgrounds and colors to build a better New Orleans.

Additionally, the election of Landrieu provides an important opportunity to see up close how forward-thinking government leaders throughout the United States are taking on new roles in order to move the bar on our most pressing challenges in economic development; education; the environment; health and health care; and youth, family, and elderly issues. Landrieu represents this new breed of government leader who is taking bold steps to identify and help to spread the most effective, efficient, and sustainable solutions to social problems. Through the Office of Social Entrepreneurship that he founded while serving as the state’s Lieutenant Governor, Landrieu has demonstrated a commitment to ensuring that government resources for solving social problems go to organizations with proven results, facilitating public-private partnerships that maximize resources for addressing social problems, and creating a policy environment that encourages social innovation. Last April, we awarded the then Lieutenant Governor the first Root Cause Public Innovator Award precisely for this new style of leadership and his practical approach to the state’s social problems.

Now, as New Orleans enters a new chapter in its efforts to rebuild after Katrina, it is time for the nation to re-engage with New Orleans as well. With its new mayor, New Orleans is poised to provide us with a great American story of a city that pulled itself out of a state of dismay and distress to become a shining example of American social innovation. And that story will include many crucial lessons for other American cities as well.

Tags: mitch landrieu, office of social entrepreneurship, public innovators