Mitigation in Houma, LA

March 8-10, 2023 I will be traveling to Houma, LA for a mitigation. I'm excited to facilitate with my fellow crisis analysis & mitigation coaches. We use Air Collaborative’s Creative Economy Growth Process that inspires community

resilience, local investment, diverse economies, and hope. Air Collaborative is a national creativity-focused economic development nonprofit that provides rural and under-resourced communities with programming that inspires new connections and ignites the creative economy. Creative people expand business skills, businesspeople get more creative; they learn to collaborate, adapt, and thrive together.

CAM Coaches support communities in addressing disaster preparedness with creative solutions that include the surrounding creative economy. CAM coaching builds deep relationships and trust between the emergency management and the arts and creative sectors to build stronger, more resilient, ready communities that serve everyone well.

About the Partners

The Ella Project: We believe in the importance of the culture of New Orleans and Louisiana and we empower the creators of their culture in a way that is just, equitable, and serves the artists, patrons and our diverse community.

Bayou Regional Arts Council: Our vision is a community that works together in support of the Arts, where opportunities to participate in the arts are readily available to all and individual artists are valued. Our mission is to improve the accessibility and quality of the arts in our region.

South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center: The South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center is revolutionizing how we think, teach and learn about Louisiana’s disappearing coast. The South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center will serve as a hub to increase awareness of the plight of Louisiana’s wetlands so that this valuable resource may be preserved for future generations.

About Houma, LA

At the convergence of six bayous, Houma provides access for commerce and development in Terrebonne Parish, as most transportation and shipping was by water. Visitors to Terrebonne Parish generated over $203 million in spending, which produced over $25 million in State and local taxes. Visitor spending in Terrebonne Parish created $72 million in direct earnings and 2,740 direct jobs. Over 60 films have been filmed in Terrebonne Parish including The Butler, Greenbook and Fletch Lives.

Just 55 miles from New Orleans, Houma is known as Louisiana’s Bayou Country contains over 2500 sq. miles of mysterious swamps and vast wetlands. Terrebonne Parish offers unique attractions, affordable lodging and delicious dining that’s influenced by our Cajun culture and hospitality. Come experience all the exotic, the mysterious and flavorful excitement that’s found only in Louisiana’s Bayou Country.

Settled by the Chitimacha and then the Houma Indians prior to European colonization, Houma was soon named for the Houma Indians who were at Ouiski Point. Land claimed for the Houma Indians by the Spanish was not recognized by the United States after the Louisiana Purchase.

Present-day Houma was formed in 1832; the city was incorporated in 1848. The area was developed for sugar cane plantations in the antebellum years. Plantations were sited along the rivers and bayous in order to have access to water transportation.

Sugar Cane Plantations

Southdown Plantation was founded in 1828 by the Minor family. They forced labor from Africans for sugar cane cultivation and processing. Stephen Minor had served as the Secretary to the Spanish Governor Gayoso of Louisiana. Today, the Minor family home, built in 1858 and enlarged in 1893, serves as the parish museum. The Terrebonne Historical & Cultural Society (THACS) was founded in 1972 by a group of citizens interested in preserving the history and culture of Terrebonne Parish and Southdown Plantation. THACS was incorporated as a non-profit corporation on March 12, 1973.The sugar mill was sold in 1979, dismantled and shipped to Guatemala, where it was reassembled. It is still in use today.

The Shift Mitigation Purpose

Development of oil and gas resources in the parish began in 1929, bringing a period of economic development and prosperity unparalleled anywhere in the state. The industry grew into enormous dimensions with the discovery of offshore oil. Houma is more directly affected by climate change than other communities. The water level is rising faster and the wetlands are receding. Many arts and cultural institutions in the Bayou Country have been deeply impacted by storms as well as the human made disasters that come with economic boom in certain industries.

Our goal for coaching communities through crisis mitigation is to make an impact, but we know that the problems we face in emergency management and cultural preservation require more than short term solutions. Setting a short term goal to move closer to resilience in response is just the development communities need to advance their vibrancy. Is your local community ready to shift with support from CAM coaches? Feel free to contact us and we will connect you with our partners at the AIR Collaborative!