My Life. My neighborhood. My world. Mike Richards.

Rebuild and Grow is a community self-help initiative that combines a grassroots hands-on action program with a supportive and 'action-amplifying' on-line web community.

Founded by New Bohemia, Cedar Rapids' residents Mike and Lynette Richards and affiliated with Beacon of Hope Resource Centers of New Orleans, our mission is to help people and organizations rebuild – to what was before and to what can become - our lives, our neighborhoods, and our beloved city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa following the Great Flood of 2008.

The Beacon of Hope Resource Center is a grass roots organization taking pro-active measures to rebuild neighborhoods in the City of New Orleans. While millions of government dollars have been spent in planning meetings and on problem studies, the Beacon of Hope grassroots organization – on a shoestring budget from donations and with an army of dedicated volunteers – "have put boots on the ground" to help rebuild and improve their unique American city, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block. When the Beacon of Hope leadership learned of the devastating floods in Iowa, they reached out with compassion and support to help Iowans just as Iowans had helped them in their hour of need. The result of this outreach to Cedar Rapids has taken the form of establishing a mentoring affiliation between Rebuild And Grow and Beacon of Hope Recource Centers.