Post-Katrina Small Business Help for Delta's Poor

A Trickle up success story…

“I had to be strong for my mom,” Terry Ann Williams explained as she described the horror of her escape from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. “As we left the house the brick overhand collapsed. It took us thirty minutes to get around the house [through the surging water].” She made it to the third floor of a neighboring building with her mother and son. The family went three days without drinking water, surviving on a can of creamed corn, some beans, and crackers until they were evacuated and temporarily relocated to Houston.

Upon returning to Louisiana, Ms. Williams found that her job no longer existed. However, with the help of Trickle Up, she started her own business a year later: “Look of Beauty Bridal” in Kenner, Louisiana – just down the road from New Orleans. Ms. Williams invested her Trickle Up seed capital in used wedding gowns, which she rents to brides on a budget.

Ms. Williams now operates a successful formalwear store. She attributes her success to the business training provided through Good Work Network, a Trickle up partner organization. Ms. Williams knows that people in New Orleans “like to celebrate;” the affordable formalwear and customized fitting and tailoring she offers help them do it in style!

Updates:

Trickle Up works with nine local partner agencies to serve low-income entrepreneurs in the Delta/Gulf Coast area. Our outreach efforts target people affected by Hurricane Katrina and others that meet our poverty assessment criteria.

Trickle Up is pleased to announce the arrival of our new U.S. field officer, Tessa Jackson, who will represent the organization in the Delta/Gulf Coast region. A New Orleans native, Tessa briefly relocated to Washington, DC following Hurricane Katrina. There she worked as an assistant to the chairperson of the U.S. HELP Commission. Tessa returned to Louisiana six months later to repair her home and participate in community rebuilding efforts. She brings more than more than ten years of entrepreneur coaching and business strategy consulting experience to Trickle Up.

Our new field representative will visit partner agencies on a regular basis to conduct training workshops and monitor progress. She will also be able to provide direct coaching to entrepreneurs. Her presence will be critical in helping Trickle Up accomplish its goal of program expansion through new partnerships and additional services in the coming year.