There could be a different kind of poverty in NOLA than in some other American cities -- closer to the poverty of the rural South. That means it's not as close to collapse as a city like Detroit was, but that poor people are further from integration into the contemporary workplace than in some other cities.
What may do some good are limited and specifically targeted ideas adapted to local conditions. But what the BBC, the Guardian and the rest have to offer from thousands of miles away is indignation and condescension. They have a lot of that stockpiled, but their opinions really don't count for much.
NO was sort of like Venezuela. The middle class was very thin. And there was very little of the disinterested civic culture down there. You grabbed all you could for your family and clan. The Yankee Protestant ethos was thinner here on the ground than any place else in America, or its cultural derivatives, and just didn't influence the place much at all. But frankly I don't know why blacks in NO were less integrated into the market economy than in other metros areas. I don't pretend to be an expert. All I know is that the black income here was way below the black income in other metro areas, while the white income reflected national norms or above. The white per capita income was 31K, the black 10K. I doubt there is any wider gap in the nation. Class and race were almost synonyms down there. Thank heavens that is no longer true of the nation as a whole.