Alembic Community Development 

 

“I think resiliency is social. It’s about networks and partnerships, and how everything comes back together,” explains Michael Grote, Alembic Community Development’s Director of Building Programs in New Orleans.

 

Alembic Community Development started in New York 15 years ago to help non-profit organizations realize their mission through real estate development and strategic business planning.

 

After Katrina, Jon and Michael opened an Alembic office in New Orleans and joined the rebuilding movement. Today, the company has projects in the 9th Ward, Central City, Mid-City and other neighborhoods around New Orleans.

 

Jon Leit, the director of Alembic’s New Orleans office, says, "We started a development company here called Alembic Development Company, which acts as an equitable development partner to non-profit organizations on affordable housing, supportive housing, and mixed-used projects in underserved and underinvested neighborhoods."

 

When it comes to building in New Orleans, Jon and Michael are keenly aware of how prone the city is to natural disasters. Jon says this vulnerability “is on everybody’s mind and is exposing us as not being as thorough and practical as we should be." But this is not necessarily a bad thing. "Once those vulnerabilities are recognized, they get thought about, they get talked about, and they get addressed." 

 

Michael and Jon say that the key to long-term resiliency is forging informal and formal partnerships. They tell businesses, “You have to be inclusive in the way that you do your work... inclusive in how you figure out how these projects are going to happen and how they are going to affect the neighbors. If you have residents involved in the process, the project will be better."