Founded in December 2006, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) is devoted to restoring New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward as a safe, environmentally just, and economically vibrant community – and one of the first to become carbon-neutral in North America.
The CSED began as a project of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association with start-up funding and support from Mercy Corps, Blue Moon Fund, Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, the Sierra Club among others.
CSED benefits residents of the Lower Ninth Ward. Data from 2006 indicates that 100% of Lower 9th (L9) homes and businesses sustained significant damage or destruction and 100% of the population was displaced by Post-Hurricane Katrina flooding due to the failure of the federal levee system.
The 2010 Census data indicates approximately 5,556 of 17,000 pre-flood residents have returned to live in the community.