Travelers Across America: Building Community Resilience in New Orleans
Published 5/21/2026
This special edition of the Travelers Institute Risk & Resilience podcast is the first episode in a four-part series highlighting Travelers Across America – a new initiative by Citizen TravelersSM that reflects Travelers’ long-standing commitment to strengthening community resilience.
Host Janice Brunner, Head of Civic Engagement and Corporate Affairs at Travelers, was joined by leaders from the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans and the Louisiana Department of Insurance to discuss Travelers’ partnership to deliver critical repairs that strengthen historic homes against hurricanes and flooding. They explored how cross-sector collaboration both protects historic landmarks and strengthens neighborhoods that have weathered generations of storms.
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Speakers
Kristin Gisleson Palmer
Executive Director, Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans
Tim Temple
Commissioner, Louisiana Department of Insurance
Host
Janice Brunner
Group General Counsel, Head of Civic Engagement and Corporate Affairs, Travelers
Key takeaways
- New Orleans’ historic neighborhoods, walkable and passed down through generations, are where the city’s music, cuisine and identity were built. Preserving them means preserving the communities and culture that make them irreplaceable.
- Upgrading roofs to Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety FORTIFIEDTM standards is widely seen as a path to long-term insurance affordability in Louisiana.
- The state grant is capped at $10,000, but a FORTIFIED roof in New Orleans can cost well above that. Closing that gap requires layering funding sources, which is where partnerships between the public, private and nonprofit sectors become essential.
- Louisiana’s dedicated annual funding stream for FORTIFIED roof grants, combined with private and nonprofit partnerships, points toward a model where limited dollars can go further and more homeowners can access the protection they need.
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Related content
Travelers Across America (Opens in a new window)
A Travelers and National Trust Partnership dedicated to restoring and protecting historic places across the nation that face increasing threats from natural disasters.
How a New Orleans Home Repair Program Helps the City’s Historic Fabric (Opens in a new window)
Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans repair programs demonstrate that strengthening older homes against storms can also strengthen community continuity in New Orleans’ most culturally significant neighborhoods.
