Campaign Seeks to Bring Jewish Families to New Orleans

A new effort to rebuild Jewish life in New Orleans will encourage Jewish families to relocate there by providing moving grants and loans, reports The Times-Picayune.

The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans says that though much is still undecided about the campaign, it will offer low-interest or interest-free home or business loans of up to $15,000 to Jewish families who move to New Orleans for three to five years, as well as a $2,500 moving grant. The program will also permit families to join synagogues or Jewish community centers and schools for no or discounted fees.

The network of more than 10,000 Jews in New Orleans was decimated with Hurricane Katrina, with as much as 30 percent of the Jewish population moving away. The project hopes to attract and retain up to 1,000 families.

“Face it, we’ve had it pretty easy all our lives,” said Serena Pollack, a Chicago transplant living in New Orleans. “We’ve grown up in places where we’ve never had to struggle. But now my generation has the opportunity to build something up—to do what our grandparents did in their time.”