New Orleans’ post-Katrina citizen retention issues are problematic not only for their detrimental impact on the NOLA economy (both the monetary kind and of good ideas), but also for their damaging affects on cultural history. According to a recent story in the LA Times, the Jewish community in NOLA is using their own brand of “green marketing” to sell the concept of their struggling city and encourage the greater Jewish community to move there.

Jewish New Orleans has cooked up a novel solution: a recruitment drive. With an ad campaign crafted by an Israeli public relations firm, the city’s Jewish leaders are hoping to attract at least 1,000 Jews to the city over the next five years. They will appeal to potential pilgrims’ better natures, stressing the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, Hebrew for “healing the world” — or, in this case, healing a broken city.

They’re also offering cash incentives — but it’s interesting to think about this recruitment drive as part of the larger trend of using “green” to sell a product. See THIS interesting post at The Eight Fold for another opinion on the viability of such strategies.

**Photo credit: Lee Celano, LA Times