Houstonians have experienced disaster after disaster — from hurricanes and a winter freeze, to chemical plant explosions, to a global pandemic and the resulting economic downturn. Angela Blanchard studies disaster response, and she says we’re experiencing “an era of upheaval” in our region. “Part of what we’re seeing now as people come to this kind […]

Angela posted a dramatic open letter to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. She wrote that unless they begin bringing more of Houston’s other leaders into a disaster-recovery council, they risk facing a rebellion by business people and others around the region. “You ordered us home to save lives,” Blanchard wrote. […]

Houston has endured the oil bust of the 1980s, the fraud and collapse of energy trading company Enron and multiple storms and floods that come year after year. But the novel coronavirus has unnerved even residents who’ve weathered other disasters. “This is territory both familiar and unfamiliar,” said Angela Blanchard, a disaster and recovery expert. […]

Disaster expert Angela Blanchard on COVID-19 and the Houston economy. Click here to read the interview which has been edited for clarity and length. You can hear a longer version — as well as Blanchard’s Cajun accent — in the Chronicle’s new podcast, Coronavirus Chronicle.

Angela Blanchard is a globally recognized expert practitioner in community development, disaster recovery, and long-term integration for immigrants and refugees, as well as an award-winning crisis management leader. Blanchard shares words of wisdom from disasters for leaders who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for the full story.

Earlier this week, we asked her about the Houston area’s response to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Shortly after the Q&A originally published, the city of Houston issued a emergency health declaration. Now, with the situation changing quickly, The Houston Chronicle asked Angela for this update.

This weekend, Blanchard shared her thoughts on Houston’s need to shelter in place — a move city and county officials have not yet made — with journalist Lisa Gray. Click here to read their conversation.

Angela Blanchard, one of Houston’s leading experts on disasters, wrote this list of things that everyone should remember during large-scale emergencies several years ago. It’s especially relevant now. Click here to read that list.

As the world struggled to slow the spread of the fast-moving COVID-19 coronavirus, Houston leaders and individuals were asking: What’s our area’s plan? Who’s in charge? With a situation that changes by the hour, who’s telling us what to do? Here are Angela’s thoughts on the Houston area’s coronavirus response.

Angela Blanchard, president emerita of BakerRipley, is one of Houston’s leading experts on disasters. She has been a player in helping Houston recover from multiple disasters, and at Brown University now teaches graduate-level public-policy courses on Disaster and Displacement. We asked her about the Houston area’s response to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. Shortly after the […]

Excerpt: When I desperately wanted to save my family from the ravages of the disease of alcoholism, I would have gone to any lengths to force solutions, would have said anything, done anything. And I tried in all the ways I knew how, to adjust, to shape shift, to mitigate what was happening in our […]

Angela Blanchard, an elegant, straight-talking force of nature in this part of the world, has been at the helm of the organization for the past two decades. Under her direction, Neighborhood Centers’ annual budget has swelled to $260 million, placing it in the top one percent of nonprofits nationwide. Blanchard has spoken in places as […]