On Friday, August 29th, 2025, SCIPP’s Dr. Cassandra Jean and Celine Rendon hosted the Shreveport Disaster Resilience Community Network Workshop in Shreveport, Louisiana. This workshop is part of SCIPP’s larger effort to engage with the city of Shreveport, LA, and identify weather-and-climate-related challenges. Community members, organizational leaders, and neighborhood representatives gathered to share lessons from past disasters, identify resilience priorities, and co-develop strategies for a stronger, more resilient Shreveport. Fourteen participants attended the workshop, which included representation from Mooretown/Morning Star Baptist Church, the MLK neighborhood (with Willow Chute as a hub), the Highland Center, Shreveport Green, and LSU Institute for Nonprofit Admin and Research. Community members emphasized the need to develop adequate responses to extreme weather events and power outages, and shared suggestions to invest in workforce development and resilience hubs across neighborhoods.
Moving forward, key priorities for the Shreveport community include building and strengthening disaster resilience hubs, and addressing public safety and preparedness needs. Next steps for Dr. Jean and Rendon involve developing both a toolkit and a paper/brief based on their findings.
Read more about the workshop in the summary document below.