The Pitch
Water Block, LLC uses technology to provide a community planning tool for managing storm water, and other development projects, at the neighborhood block level. This culturally sensitive data-driven tool adds weight to community arguments for how open spaces should be used, while creating a process for community driven development.
Atianna Cordova
The Entrepreneur
Atianna Cordova
Atianna Cordova is a designer, researcher and educator that explores the role of art and culture in disaster recovery and community development initiatives. She is recognized as LSU School of Architecture’s first McNair Research Scholar and a 2016 UC Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence Travel Fellow for her participatory design research. This research examined the formal and informal sheltering strategies used by homeless communities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, displaced communities following the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti, and the role of designers in addressing global issues of similar concern. Atianna is also a 2017 Salzburg Global Fellow and the co-winner of Propeller’s 2018 Water Challenge Pitch Competition for her commitment to building a new cohort of design and environmental leaders from black and brown communities and exposing black girls to design and environmental education at earlier ages. Atianna received her M. Sc. in Disaster Resilience Leadership from Tulane University, Bachelor of Architecture from Louisiana State University, and Certificate in Community Development Finance from the University of New Orleans.