- The Idea Village and Tulane University formed "IDEAcorps," a Peace Corps-like initiative for civic and business-minded college students and graduates. A generous $20,000 donation from George Cloutier seeded the idea that originally developed in Professor John Elstrott’s Rebuild New Orleans class, at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. In July 2006, IDEAcorps officially launched with a $150,000 grant from the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation which was provided to distribute $100,000 in "triage relief" grants and technical assistance to 20 tourism-based businesses. Learn more about this program.
