More than a decade after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is experiencing something of an economic renaissance, with new business starts out-pacing national averages for years. The benefits of revival haven’t been shared equally, however, with many local businesses, particularly those with founders of color, left on sidelines.

Andrea Chen and the Propeller accelerator want to change that. In the aftermath of Katrina, in 2009, Chen and a group of friends took over and rebuilt the volunteer-run Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans. By 2011, as executive director, Chen and her co-founder transformed the organization into Propeller, supporting nonprofit and for-profit entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental issues across the city.

Propeller has supported close to 180 ventures and helped to create over 360 full and part-time jobs through its venture alums. ImpactAlpha caught up with Propeller’s Catherine Gans, head of marketing and communications, to talk about shaping New Orleans entrepreneurial ecosystem:

ImpactAlpha: How does Propeller fit into the recovery underway in New Orleans?

Catherine Gans: There has been a lot of bubbling up of innovation for a long time, but especially for the past decade since Katrina. As the founder tells it, Propeller was an effort to capitalize on both civic engagement and grassroots initiatives and all of the energy around rebuilding that was happening after the storm.

ImpactAlpha: How has Propeller evolved since its launch in 2009 and first accelerator class in 2011?

Gans: We separated into a startup accelerator and the growth accelerator so that we could serve both of those needs. There are people who are beyond idea stage who need support.

Read the full article about social entrepreneurship in New Orleans by Sherrell Dorsey at ImpactAlpha.