The foundation that played a key support role in fashioning rebuilding plans for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is setting up a fund that can easily accept and distribute relief money if another disaster strikes.

Leaders of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, which covers 13 parishes in the New Orleans region, said Thursday they are well positioned to help the community prepare.

"I think a community foundation is very much in touch and knowledgeable with what's happening on the ground, " said Albert Ruesga, the foundation's president and chief executive officer. "We know the community and we know the organizations that are doing the best work."

The foundation's partnership with more than 700 donors and its intimate knowledge of the local nonprofit community give it the credentials to manage funds during and after an emergency, leaders said.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, public and private organizations from around the country were donating money and other material support for relief and recovery work, but many didn't have the direct contacts needed to know the community's needs.

The New Orleans foundation worked with national organizations such as the Kellogg Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop short- and long-term recovery programs.

In partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bush-Clinton Fund, the foundation led an effort to create a comprehensive recovery blueprint for the city of New Orleans known as the Unified New Orleans Plan.

Once the citywide plan revealed that a shortage of affordable housing was a major obstacle to recovery, the Greater New Orleans Foundation launched the Community Revitalization Fund, a five-year, $25 million effort to spur development of housing for people without homes. To date, the foundation has allocated $41.4 million to recovery efforts linked to the 2005 storms.

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