Page 14 - Mark Morial News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Government has gotten smarter at preventing and recovering from disasters. we have data that shows before the storm, the high school graduation rate was 54%. today it's up to 73%. [ applause ] before the storm, college enrollment was 37%. today it's almost 60%. we still have a long way to go, but that is real progress. new orleans is coming back better and stronger. >> new orleans is coming back better and stronger, the president says. but he also went out of his way to say basically it's coming back up evenly too. joining us now is mark morial. he's president and ceo of the national urban lea...

League put out a report called "the state of black new orleans" which documents the uneven nature of the recovery in new orleans since the storm. mr. morial, it's great to see you. thanks for being here with us. >> thanks, rachel. thanks for having me and i really appreciate listening to those clips from ten years ago. >> yeah. i feel like -- i'm 42 now, i was 32 then. it's not like i was so young then that i can't remember it, but i was newly shocked, newly very emotional not just about the toll but about the governmental failure that happened at that time. i wonder if you feel like that's be...

Excited when there are disasters, because he gets restless if everything is just quiet. but we under -- under his leadership, we've revamped fema into a stronger, more efficient agency. in fact the whole federal government has gotten smarter at preventing and recovering from disasters. we have data that shows before the storm, the high school graduation rate was 54%. today it's up to 73%. [ applause ] before the storm, college enrollment was 37%. today it's almost 60%. we still have a long way to go, but that is real progress. new orleans is coming back better and stronger. >> new orleans is c...

Disturbing, you know, he gets excited when there are disasters, because he gets restless if everything is just quiet. but we under -- under his leadership, we've revamped fema into a stronger, more efficient agency. in fact the whole federal government has gotten smarter at preventing and recovering from disasters. we have data that shows before the storm, the high school graduation rate was 54%. today it's up to 73%. [ applause ] before the storm, college enrollment was 37%. today it's almost 60%. we still have a long way to go, but that is real progress. new orleans is coming back better and...

Many people have worked to come back, but new orleans still has affordable housing crisis, a housing shortage, still has grave inequities in a number of areas. but that shouldn't take away from some of the important progress that's been made. but let's understand there were federal, state and local decisions that were made in the earliest of days that really, really sent a message to people. unfortunately, we don't want you to come back. >> marc morial, president and ceo of the national urban league, also former mayor of new orleans. thank you for your time tonight, sir. i know your time is pr...