Alexis Patell grew up just north of Syracuse, New York, where she first developed an interest in social and climate justice. In 2017, she began attending the University of Vermont with plans to become an environmental attorney. However, after traveling to Dunedin, New Zealand in February 2020 for what was meant to be a semester abroad, she found herself unable to return home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In New Zealand, she discovered a new interest in disaster response, and she went on to receive her BA and MA from the University of Otago, majoring in Human Geography with a focus on emergency management and community resilience.
In August 2023, Alexis relocated once again to New Orleans to complete research in fulfillment of her graduate degree. Exploring how to best prepare and support people with disabilities during hurricane season, Alexis met dozens of people who had endured significant hardships during storms such as Hurricane Katrina, Rita, Ida, and most recently, Francine. She discovered a significant overlap between people with disabilities and people facing homelessness. This inspired her to pivot into a more comprehensive focus, seeking to find answers on how to best account for people of all different backgrounds and circumstances during hurricanes.
Since completing her education (for now), Alexis served a term with Americorps, where she acted as a Client Preparedness Coordinator with SBP. In this role, she aided people whose homes had been affected by natural disasters by assessing their levels of personal preparedness and providing tailored materials to ensure increased capacity for future events. It was during her term with SBP that Alexis first came in contact with Grace at the Greenlight, where she began administering disaster preparedness materials to patrons of the daily breakfast service. She then went on to manage the Free Pantry with Common Ground Relief, where she handled logistics and operations for the pantry every week, assisting hundreds of households in the Lower Ninth Ward access fresh produce and baked goods. She has recently accepted a position with The Water Institute, where she will continue her research efforts on community resilience in the Gulf South.
Alexis is excited and honored to begin working with Grace at the Greenlight in a greater capacity, and she is hoping that her background in functional-needs approaches and experience working in shelters across the world will help inform Grace at the Greenlight’s mission in serving those here in New Orleans. When she’s not working towards a more equitable future, Alexis enjoys spending time with her partner and five cats, playing tennis and rugby, perusing art markets as they pop up around the city, and training tirelessly for her upcoming first 10k at the Crescent City Classic.
