United Houma Nation wins nearly $60 million grant to protect six parishes during disasters

United Houma Nation received $56 million to increase disaster resiliency in six parishes.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the United Houma Nation with $56,573,066 on July 26 to implement a plan to increase the resiliency of  Lafourche, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Mary, St. Bernard and Terrebonne parishes.

The United Houma Nation will receive the funds Oct. 1 and is currently looking to hire about seven new employees in the meantime. According to Chaisson, those interested can follow the United Houma Nation webpage , under news, for the postings of the new positions for details on how to apply.

“This is an exciting day for the Houma people,” United Houma Nation Principal Chief Lora Ann Chaisson said. “The development of this hazard mitigation plan will benefit our tribal citizens for generations to come.”

The money will go toward four main projects: a new building, satellite offices in each of the parishes, increasing communication among the United Houma Nation and looking into the communities' desires for migrating away from storm-ravaged areas.

New main office

In 2021, the United Houma Nation received a donated building formerly used as an assisted-living home. The 33,000-square-feet structure is at 400 Monarch Dr., which will serve separate purposes in clear skies and during disaster. The building will function primarily as the tribal office and community center. During emergencies it will be used as a rally point and distribution center.

The building was damaged in Hurricane Ida, and the United Houma Nation is in talks with insurance companies and the Federal Emergency Management Agency about repairs. In the meantime, they have architect renderings of what the future upgrades of what the building would look like.

Twenty-six million dollars of the grant money would go toward updating it with solar panels, catch basins, a water retention pond, archives to store the documented native history, a kitchen, computer lab and a garden of medicinal plants. They also would like to have a warehouse on site, but a different source of funding would have to be obtained for that project.

Satellite offices

Eighteen million dollars of the grant is set to establish six satellite offices, one for each of the parishes. Chaisson is in talks with each of the parish governments about where the most effective location would be. The United Houma Nation recently obtained the Daigleville School in Houma to be used as one location.

The satellite offices will serve as forward base camps to aid their respective parishes in times of need. As an example, after a hurricane, the main office would be the primary point to receive resources, then it would ship those resources to a satellite location to distribute them to the community.

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Communication

About $3 million is set aside for improving communication during disasters.

The United Houma Nation’s radio station in Golden Meadow has been down since Hurricane Ida, and a portion of the funds will go toward repairs.

Chaisson said the multiple ways people from different generations receive information these days poses a challenge to reaching the community as one. She is looking at other ideas to inform the community, such as streaming, podcasts, a newspaper and more.

"One of the things we were thinking about and looking at was an app people could download to their phone," Tribal Adminisrator Lanor Curole said. "It would be contracting a communications firm to come in and look at what are options are for more engagement."

Migration plans

The final portion of the grant money is about $2 million to create community-led migration strategies. Chaisson said the current plan is to look at ways to address helping people when their property value is lost due to disasters.

She said there are times when someone wants to sell their property and use that money to buy a new home, however, the property’s value has diminished due to disasters and the person has become stuck.

Chaisson said she wants to hold town halls to get community feedback on the plan. When these dates are set, they will be posted on the United Houma Nation’s webpage.

"The community should have a say on defining what that is," Chaisson said.

To sign up for news alerts from the United Houma Nation, go to their website at https://unitedhoumanation.org/ , where you will be prompted to fill out an email address for notifications.

This article originally appeared on The Courier: United Houma Nation wins nearly $60 million grant to protect six parishes during disasters