Ten years after Katrina, New Orleans remains 30 percent smaller than before the disaster. But the young and educated have flocked to the city, creating new opportunities in the process. “You can come to this place that has this history where you can have a real impact,” says Michael Hecht, president of the economic development organization Greater New Orleans Inc. “You can help the world, have a great time doing it, and not feel like you’re in the rat race that you’d be in the New York or San Francisco.”
Between 2007 and 2012, over 44,000 college graduates moved into New Orleans, a 25 percent increase for the city, according to Forbes. Meanwhile, the city has launched myriad programs to attract first-time entrepreneurs, and tax breaks have attracted a growing number of tech startups, including the education company Kickboard and big data company Lucid. This creates not only new jobs but new possibilities. Years after leaving the city, some are even coming back. Keeping his promise, Brent McCrossen returned in 2011, bringing his digital music company, Audiosocket, along with him.
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