Donald R. Phoenix worked at NeighborWorks® America for more than 26 years. He was regional vice president of the Southern Region at the time of Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, and was part of the NeighborWorks support team as the region began to rebuild. Isaac Igbonagwam, a relationship manager in the Southern Region, asked Phoenix for some of his reflections from that time.

NeighborWorks: How did the impact of Hurricane Katrina affect you personally?

When Peacock was preparing to film “Long Bright River,” the TV series based on Liz Moore’s novel of the same name, Bill McKinney, executive director of New Kensington CDC (NKCDC), and a long time resident of Kensington got a call from the author. Soon, he was talking to Moore and the show’s producers, telling them about the real Kensington.