September is Disaster Preparedness Month, a time where U.S. residents are encouraged to take steps – both big and small – to prepare for emergencies and disasters, which are increasing in both cost and scope. This year’s theme is Preparedness Starts at Home, with organizations, including the federal government, offering ideas about creating a family emergency plan and more.

It’s not difficult in parts of New Orleans where people earn the lowest incomes to figure out which houses were built after the flooding and devastation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They’re often built higher, an extra layer of sustainability. They have hatches on the roofs, should residents need to climb to higher ground from the attic – something homes didn’t have during unprecedented flooding when the levees broke.

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?

On Season 2, Episode 1 of The Community Effect, NeighborWorks® America's podcast, we revisit Hurricane Katrina two decades later, and the communities and leaders who rose from the disaster to rebuild stronger than ever. Host Marietta Rodriguez, NeighborWorks® America's president & CEO, sits down with: