Yesterday was not President Obama’s first visit to New Orleans after the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, but it was his first time as the head of federal agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security who came under criticism for their response in the immediate aftermath of the crisis.

At a town hall meeting at the University of New Orleans, the president acknowledged that the U.S. federal government “wasn’t adequately prepared and we didn’t adequately respond” in late August 2005, and there is still “a long way to go” towards a full recovery. “There are sewers and roads still to repair. There are houses and hospitals still vacant. There are schools and neighborhoods still waiting to thrive once more,” he said.

But progress has been made in getting more federal assistance to the city, reducing the number of residents living in emergency housing, and moving forward on stalled infrastructure, education and health projects, he said, and the Recovery Act has “put thousands of Gulf Coast residents back to work.”

“We will not forget about New Orleans,” he promised. “[T]here are too many folks out there who are having a tough time — to get tired,” and who are still working hard to rebuild their unique community.

“The story of this city’s resilience begins with all the men and women who refused to give up on their homes; who stayed to clean up and rebuild — not just their own homes or their own yards or their own lives, but their neighbors’, too,” he said.

The people of New Orleans “have reminded the rest of America what it means to persevere in the face of tragedy, to rebuild in the face of ruin,” Obama said.