Pamela Jenkins

Pamela Jenkins is a professor of sociology and faculty in the women’s studies program at the University of New Orleans (UNO) (Emerita). She is a faculty member of UNO’s Center for Hazards Assessment, Response, and Technology (UNO-CHART). Her research interests post-Katrina included documenting the response to Katrina as part of a national research team. She has written about first responders, faith-based communities’ response to the storm, and the experiences of domestic violence survivors during and after Katrina. Jenkins' book with Steve Kroll-Smith and Vern Baxter, Left to Chance, documents the recovery of two African American neighborhoods after Hurricane Katrina. Since retiring from UNO, she has been involved with several projects that document the sea-level sea level rise and the Louisiana coast including several reports, View from the Coast and Making Sense of a Place at Risk. As the Louisiana Office of Community Development implemented their Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environment Project (LA SAFE), she, with other faculty at UNO-CHART, designed and conducted the evaluation. The LA SAFE program, a partnership between the State of Louisiana and the Foundation for Louisiana, supported an inclusive public process to identify adaptation strategies to enhance the resilience of coastal Louisiana. Currently, Jenkins is working on projects involving communities understanding of the value of freeboard to enhance flood resilience, the capacity of communities to receive individuals moving because of the climate crisis, and how individuals and families living in vulnerable areas make decisions about relocation.