City of Monroe, LA

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo, Chief Administrative Officer Mike Vining, and Chief Operations Officer Jimmie Bryant are in Lafayette, Louisiana, today, attending the Louisiana Symposium on Recovery and Resilience.  The event is taking place from 8:30 am until 7 pm today at the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise facility. 

The Louisiana Symposium on Recovery and Resilience is an event designed to provide parishes and municipalities that were impacted by the 2016 flooding with an opportunity to learn and share best practices and tools on risk reduction and long-term community planning and recovery.  A broad section of the state; and, therefore many of our communities, is facing extraordinary challenges in the aftermath of the flooding in March and August, requiring local leadership to combine and coordinate efforts as they rebuild, strengthen and safeguard their housing stock, infrastructure and quality of life for residents.

Mayor Jamie Mayo comments, “This is about information, engagement and implementation.  This networking opportunity is priceless.  Hearing and learning from those with first-hand experiences will allow us to better shape our current and future response, recovery and rebuilding efforts in the wake of natural disasters.” 

The symposium will provide an opportunity to hear from and dialogue with experts in recovery and resilience from Louisiana and other parts of the nation.  The Symposium’s central focus will be regional and state watershed management in Louisiana, including targeted discussion about implementation.  In addition, attendees will be establishing the Restore Louisiana Task Force under Governor Edwards’ leadership, and implementing the National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) in conjunction with FEMA and other federal partners.

Breakout sessions reflecting the state’s structure around the National Disaster Recovery Framework, will include the following topics:

• Community Planning & Capacity Building
• The Economics of Recovery & Business Issues
• Health & Social Service Needs relative to the Health, Independence & Well-being of the Whole Community
• Housing:  Successful Planning & Design for Resilient Communities & Neighborhoods
• Infrastructure Systems:  Public Facilities & Infrastructure
• Natural and Cultural Resources & Mitigation of the Floodplains
• Philanthropic & Non-Profit Resources:  Other Pieces of the Funding Puzzle