For instance, after Hurricane Katrina, LaToya Cantrell, the then-president of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, helped her neighborhood prove their vitality and marketed their neighborhood as one worth investing in. As a result, the "Broadmoor Lives" effort not only encouraged residents to return and rebuild, but it caught the attention of many generous funders, such as the Clinton Global Initiative, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Harvard University's Belfer Center. These organizations funneled needed resources to the neighborhood that helped track the status of rebuilding as well as provide funds to build a new charter school, library and community center.
Local entrepreneurs like LaToya can assess needs on the ground to provide critical goods and services, can help to restore disrupted social networks and can rally the community to recover. Often these local business and civic leaders use their connections on the ground to funnel goods, funding and support from outside sources.
In the coming days and weeks, government officials in Mexico and Texas should seek to give entrepreneurs the space and freedom to act. That means getting out of the way of local leaders and encouraging residents to reopen their businesses and find ways to work together without needing approval or waiting on official plans.