Economic Resilience, Recovery Justice & Surviving Beyond Academia with Jeremy Stone

This informal, two-hour discussion covered a variety of topics including the growing area of economic resilience and how communities can and should be breaking down the silos of planning in municipal governments. It delved into the issue of recovery justice in New Orleans, and critically examine the role of disasters in accelerating gentrification. Finally, students were encouraged to ask questions about establishing a career in the disaster recovery field.
 

Jeremy is founder and director of Recovery and Relief Services, Inc. (RRS), a niche consultancy providing economic development and disaster recovery services. Previously Jeremy has worked on Indigenous economic development with Ecotrust Canada, microfinance initiatives with Seedco Financial, and rural economic development as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia. His work in the Louisiana region has included co-managing a $20 million loan and grant program after Hurricane Katrina, developing economic recovery programming for rural industries following the BP Oil Spill, and co-founding Coastal Communities Consulting, a non-profit that supports commercial fishermen primarily in the Vietnamese-American community. Jeremy is also a doctoral candidate at the University of British Columbia in the School of Community and Regional Planning, where his research focuses on applying disaster resilience methodologies to urban crises like gentrification, with a special emphasis on gentrification in New Orleans. Jeremy holds an MPA in International Economic Development from New York University, and a BA in Anthropology from Reed College where he studied the effect of 'cargo cults' on economic development in the South Pacific.