Unisa Barrie is a Project Manager at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA). NORA is the arm of local government that has taken a lead role in rebuilding the City of New Orleans. Mr. Barrie is responsible for overseeing and managing NORA’s redevelopment plan in selected areas of the City. He is the primary liaison with master developers assigned to develop real estate projects, works with neighborhood and community groups to implement projects that will catalyze the recovery, and ensures that development is consistent with New Orleans’s citywide recovery plan. Mr. Barrie also coordinates key functions of city government and agencies to acquire blighted properties in targeted areas and make these properties available for redevelopment.

Mr. Barrie has years of experience in the urban redevelopment/community development fields. Prior to joining the NORA, Mr. Barrie was a Housing Development Specialist with the Mon Valley Initiative in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where for five years he provided project management to member neighborhood organizations developing single family homes targeted to low and moderate income families. He also managed the Mon Valley Initiative owner occupied Home Rehabilitation Program. This rehabilitation program was part of a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plan that complemented the development of new, single family homes. While pursuing his graduate studies, Mr. Barrie worked with the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh as a research and development assistant, as well as with the Northside Leadership Conference as a housing development intern. Mr. Barrie worked briefly in the private sector. In his capacity as Director of Import/Export operations at Gamut International, he managed a number of international trade projects, working specifically with clients in sub-Saharan countries. Mr. Barrie also enjoys volunteering his time to the Cotton Tree Association of Sierra Leone, a Pittsburgh based non for profit organization that sends humanitarian relief to his other home country, Sierra Leone.

Mr. Barrie holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Political Science, State University of New York at Oswego and a Masters Degree in Public and International Affairs from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.