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The Gulf Coast is slowly recovering from the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.  Many people and some institutions are contributing to the rebuilding effort.  We hear a lot about some of those people and a few of those institutions, but there's one critical group in this effort about whom most of us hear little: the entrepreneurs.

This issue of Local Knowledge seeks to change that by focusing on the role of entrepreneurs in rebuilding the Gulf Coast.  In this issue you can read research articles that explain what entrepreneurship is; that discuss how entrepreneurs and their businesses play a critical role in the response to and recovery after disasters; and that detail where and when entrepreneurs have played key parts in rebuilding.

In this volume, you will also meet a few of these entrepreneurs—six people who are using their business acumen and talents to rebuild their communities.  In short case studies and an investigative report, the entrepreneurs themselves explain who they are and why they do what they do. They are people on the ground. They are the people who must live and work with their decisions everyday. They are our guides to and fount of Local Knowledge.