I first traveled to New Orleans for the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference and had the privilege of exploring the Lower Ninth Ward with two peers and my adviser. When I returned four months later, I was amazed by the community’s progress. They had formed farmers’ markets and community gardens, and the number of blighted and abandoned homes had decreased. But the community lacks an identity and lacks anchors that will stabilize the area for sustainable repopulation.

Prior to traveling, we spent months conducting research to understand the history of New Orleans and how the hurricane changed the dynamics of the Lower Ninth Ward. Despite this, I was shocked by how little we understood the community’s deep political, social, racial, and religious layers. After recognizing this, we spent days speaking with residents, community leaders, and government officials. This allowed us to understand the complex interworkings of the district and aided our understanding of how to best facilitate residents’ ambitions without being prescriptive. I realized that sustainable economic development must be bottom-up, not top-down.

Coming from Colorado, I was continually challenged to view the world through the lens of someone living in different circumstances from mine. It was not only a challenge to understand the experiences of a Lower Ninth Ward resident, but also to see through the lenses of my international fellow student researchers. Each had different experiences, skills, and abilities that allowed different dimensions of the community to surface. It was difficult at times to see their points of view, but the challenge forced me to learn outside the bounds of my personal comfort.

I learned firsthand about what Martha Nussbaum calls “narrative imagination,” which requires us to see ourselves “not simply as citizens of some local region or group but also, and above all, as human beings bound to all other human beings by ties of recognition and concern.” I have a new sensitivity and empathy toward others.

Katie Reeves ’10 of Colorado Springs, Colo., is leader of a student team that has joined forces with citizens of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and others to advance the ambitions of L9W, devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, to rebuild as the first carbon-neutral community in the country. She is pursuing two majors, economics & business and a self-designed, interdisciplinary major in bioenvironmental science.