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

This sentence captures the overall positive and supportive reply by Mayor Halloran to the Rebuild And Grow August 20th proposal to the Cedar Rapids City Council: "We share your confidence that the citizens of Cedar Rapids are capable of anything we undertake together, and we look forward to working together to help our neighbors." The full letter further explains some of the programs and resources available to our grassroots initiatives.

KGAN talks to Mike Richards

As a companion "human interest" story to the excellent feature story on the Rebuild And Grow petition to City Council and civic leaders, KGAN News talked with me to learn "more about the man behind the petition." This interview gave me an opportunity to drive home the message that each of us, whether flooded or not, need to reach inside ourselves and decide if we want to be pitiful or powerful.

The Green Shirts are coming to – or are already in – your neighborhood! We strongly encourage you to participate in the neighborhood assessments being conducted by the Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition (LALTRC).

Best Practice Recommendation – The Broadmoor Improvement Association Redevelopment Plan is an extensive (335 pages!) document that is a prime example of what a motivated community can do to not just rebuild its neighborhood but to make their neighborhood better than before Hurricane Katrina changed their lives forever.

One of the things that we heard from all six of the disaster recovery groups that we met with in New Orleans was the importance of gutting and sealing up neighborhood buildings, regardless of their anticipated future.

One of the most important goals of Rebuild And Grow is to "help the self-helpers" as we work together to rebuild our lives and neighborhoods in flood-devasted Cedar Rapids. The Neighborhood Self-Help Resource Network will be a strategic program to address this mission.