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History of New Orleans’ Desire Area: misconceptions, mistreatment and mobilization

The Desire Public Housing development, seen from above
The Historic New Orleans Collection
The Desire Public Housing development, seen from above

It’s been nearly 20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall, destroying countless communities in its wake. One neighborhood that suffered the wrath of the storm and never fully recovered is the Desire Area in the Upper Ninth Ward.

Back in 2018, NPR’s Laine Kaplan Levinson reported on the history of this neighborhood and misconceptions about an area known for its public housing. Today, we give that story a second listen.

WWNO and WRKF have partnered with the producers of the PBS documentary, Caregiving, to shine a spotlight on America’s caregiving crisis. We talked to people in south Louisiana about the unique challenges the region brings when caring for others.

Today, we hear from Barbara Youngblood, a dedicated caregiver for her community and family for over 20 years. Now that she is the recipient of caregiving, she has seen the process from both sides of the relationship and considers the lessons she has learned.

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Today’s episode of Louisiana Considered was hosted by Alana Schreiber. Our managing producer is Alana Schreiber. Matt Bloom and Aubry Procell are assistant producers. Our engineer is Garrett Pittman.

You can listen to Louisiana Considered Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. It’s available on Spotify, Google Play and wherever you get your podcasts.

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Alana Schreiber is the managing producer for the live daily news program, Louisiana Considered. She comes to WWNO from KUNC in Northern Colorado, where she worked as a radio producer for the daily news magazine, Colorado Edition. She has previously interned for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul.