Prepress

Valassis Data Aids in Rebuilding New Orleans Neighborhoods

Tuesday 19. August 2008 - Pre- and Post-Katrina Address Lists Provide Clear Snapshot of Rebirth

Valassis (NYSE:VCI), one of the nation’s leading media and marketing services companies, has entered into a partnership with the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center (GNOCDC), a nonprofit agency, to provide resources to further rebuild New Orleans. Valassis will provide database services that track household population growth at the parish level in pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans.

Valassis owns the pre-Katrina household data files and is gifting this to the GNOCDC. This data is an important measurement by which to gauge repopulation progress. Valassis is the single source provider to New Orleans for pre- and post-Katrina address lists. No other organization in the country has access to this data.

“While Aug. 29 marks the third anniversary of this devastating hurricane, New Orleans is not forgotten,” said Alan F. Schultz, Valassis Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are very pleased to contribute to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Valassis will continue to look for ways to support these outreach efforts and make a positive impact.

“Working closely with the U.S. Postal Service, Valassis owns the most comprehensive mailing list in the country and updates its data files weekly. The data is accurate, handled with the utmost security, and can be mapped on a census block level, which consists of approximately 25-40 homes. Valassis interacts weekly with the USPS whose carriers have expert knowledge of their delivery areas.

This clear snapshot of areas of rebirth is valuable to New Orleans and its neighborhoods. After the storm, many neighborhood groups laboriously surveyed their areas house by house to gauge the rate of return of their residents. With the Valassis data, neighborhoods like Holy Cross in the Lower Ninth Ward can focus more on helping their neighbors rebuild and come home, and less on collecting statistics themselves. Other nonprofit agencies are using the Valassis data in their daily work. Kingsley House’s Health Care for All program uses the block-level data to identify repopulated parts of the Central City neighborhood for their outreach to enroll children in health insurance.

“The city of New Orleans wants to maximize the federal assistance funds they receive and ensure they continue to be appropriately represented in Congress,” said Denice Ross, GNOCDC Deputy Co-director. “In order to do this, it is important to accurately track repopulation and Valassis is at the heart of this success.”

The GNOCDC’s mission is to build sustainable sources of data and information to support nonprofit planning in the rapidly changing post-Katrina environment. With the help of the Valassis data, the GNOCDC created a mapping system on their Web site, www.gnocdc.org/repopulation/ using Google Maps. The result is a powerful tool that allows users to see how many active households are in any neighborhood block compared to how many were there before the storm — all in the context of Google’s satellite and Street View imagery. The block-by-block data can be downloaded by qualified, nonprofit organizations and local neighborhood associations to create brochures and materials to attract much needed, new businesses back to the city.

“We work directly with many local organizations to help interpret indicators of the recovery process. We are then able to take action to identify recovery opportunities, prioritize local needs that align with available resources and advocate on behalf of much needed rebuilding projects,” adds Ross.