The destruction of private and public housing in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina was greatest among African Americans due to historic settlement patterns. Data for 13 planning districts within Orleans Parish (the city of New Orleans proper) that document the extent of housing destruction, the distribution of population by race, and the share of returned population at 2 and 5 year points across these planning districts are evaluated using correlation analysis. The finding is that the return of African Americans to New Orleans is significantly less than that of other groups and is associated with the greater housing destruction in neighborhoods with the highest percentages of African Americans. An analysis of the structure and impact of the Road Home program for private housing and of the initiatives of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Housing Authority of New Orleans provides evidence of racial discriminatory policies and practices that contributed to the racial disparity in the African American return to New Orleans. It is suggested that political leaders paid more attention to the interests of developers and big businesses in the restoration of New Orleans than to the interests of the predominantly black working class in the city.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation and effectiveness of community education workshops to change genetics and health-related knowledge, intentions, and behavior of urban African Americans. Eight workshops were held and 183 participants consented to participate in the study. A majority of the participants were African American (97%) and female (84%) and just over half were 65 years and older (60%), and had some high school or were high school graduates (52%). The community-based workshops were standardized and comprised a 45-min PowerPoint presentation that included group discussions and interactive activities. The evaluation used a pre-post design with a 2-month follow-up. The group as a whole (and the subgroups by age and education level) significantly improved their knowledge of race and genetics from pretest to posttest as measured by their scores on the "Race", Genetics, and Health knowledge questions. Findings around intentions showed that the largest number of participants pledged to collect family health history information from family members. Findings around behavior changes showed that, along the stages of change continuum, there were more participants at maintenance (stage 5) at the 2-month follow-up than at the pre-workshop for three health-related activities. Feedback was positive as participants indicated they appreciated the information they received and audience involvement. The article discusses local and global implications for practice and research among community health educators.

Researchers have posited that children generally learn to read in environments that are trusting, comfortable, and offer small group or one-to-one adult support, all of which are characteristics of a high quality early childhood education program. This evaluation research study examines the Pre-Kindergarten Incentive Program, an early childhood demonstration program in Washington, DC designed to study several urban community-based sites. The authors facilitate a discourse on how all early childhood education programs can become high quality programs through standardized observations, evaluations, and constructive feedback. The article describes the demonstration program, highlights general findings from standardized classroom observations, discusses areas needing improvement, and presents strategies for addressing areas of challenge. It will reveal to early childhood educators how evaluation findings can improve teaching and learning techniques and environments in early childhood programs. The goal is to promote overall improvement in reading, reasoning, and literacy for children enrolled in early childhood programs and thereby better prepare them for kindergarten.