Enterprise Corporation of the Delta

Clara’s Little Lambs, New Orleans, LA

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Sonjia Brown-Joseph and her mother, Clara Washington, spent almost 20 years developing Clara’s Little Lambs into one of the finest preschools in New Orleans. But in a few short hours in August 2005, Hurricane Katrina wrecked their building, leaving the future of the school in doubt.

Once she got over the initial shock, Ms. Brown-Joseph got busy. She contacted Dennis Manshack at the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (ECD) and told him she needed financing so she could make repairs and pay her employees. “No problem,” Mr. Manshack said. “We can do this.”
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Even before Katrina, ECD had been accustomed to taking on big challenges. Since its founding in 1994, the organization has worked to break the cycle of poverty in the Delta regions of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Through its network of 10 offices, ECD offers loans for small businesses and community facilities, affordable mortgages, technical assistance programs, and through Hope Community Credit Union, an array of consumer financial services.

Although Ms. Brown-Joseph had also applied for an emergency bridge loan through a state-sponsored program to assist small businesses affected by Katrina, Mr. Manshack realized that the limited funds in the program would quickly be depleted, so he processed Ms. Brown-Joseph’s loan application immediately. Two weeks later, she had the money.

It was just one of many loans ECD made in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As the primary financial institution serving low-wealth residents in areas devastated by the storms, ECD/HOPE has provided more than $10 million in financing to consumers, homeowners, and small businesses.

Just seven weeks after Katrina struck, Clara’s Little Lambs reopened with about 25 children attending. By 2006, enrollment was approaching 150, almost as many as before the hurricane. In the faces of those children, Ms. Brown-Joseph sees a bright future. “This city is coming back,” she says. “I really believe that.”

Ed Sivak is Director of Policy and Evaluation at the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta (ECD). In that position, Mr. Sivak runs the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, a public policy initiative that produces rigorous, accessible, and timely analysis to inform the policy debate...
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