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The Payson Center has managed several contracts targeting disaster management and humanitarian assistance in the developing world, with a specific focus on how to utilize disaster preparedness interventions and post-disaster assistance to further the sustainable development of vulnerable communities and countries. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, researchers from the Payson Center and the University of California/Berkeley collaborated on a study of the working conditions facing laborers in New Orleans. Several Payson Center faculty and students also worked on local relief and recovery projects through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other private organizations.
More than 18 months have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas, but the recovery to date has been slow and uneven. New Orleans provides an ideal laboratory for the application of development theory and practice, especially since the city faces so many problems common to developing countries: economic dependence on natural resources, a low level of manufacturing, high unemployment rate, serious poverty and problems with crime and law enforcement.
