PAR wins national awards at the annual GRA conference
The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR) recently won two national awards from the Governmental Research Association (GRA). GRA is a national organization of individuals and groups who study and make recommendations on state and local policy issues. The awards to PAR were presented during the annual GRA conference held last week in Washington, D.C.
This year PAR was honored for:
- “GulfGov Reports: Study of the Recovery, Role, and Capacity of the States and Localities Damaged by the 2005 Hurricanes,” Most Effective Education, region-level winner
- “Redistricting 2010: Reforming the Process of Distributing Political Power,” Most Distinguished Research, certificate of merit
The “GulfGov Reports” research series encompasses two-and-a-half years and seven reports that focus on the governmental response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita. PAR and the Rockefeller Institute of Government developed the “GulfGov Reports” research series to provide a broad look at how hurricanes Katrina and Rita changed and continue to change communities along the Gulf Coast across a wide spectrum of areas — economic recovery, housing and labor, education, federal financial aid, the role of nonprofits, rebuilding efforts, and others.
PAR Special Projects Manager Karen Rowley, Ph.D., is the principal author and project manager of the series. PAR Research Director Jennifer Pike researched and wrote the report on federal aid, which won a GRA award in 2008.
“Redistricting 2010: Reforming the Process of Redistributing Political Power,” published February 2009, provides an analysis of redistricting models among the states and develops an independent, nonpartisan commission model that can be used to minimize political interference in the redrawing of the legislative and congressional electoral boundaries that will be used for the next decade. PAR Research Analyst and Staff Attorney Ann W. Heath is primary author of the report.
“It is an honor to be recognized by our peers around the nation for the quality and importance of the work we do,” said Jim Brandt, PAR president. “These awards recognize the contributions of the entire PAR staff and our more than 3,000 individual and corporate members statewide.”