"Leaving The Island" investigates the first-ever resettlement of an entire community by the U.S. government due to climate change.

It took Albert Naquin, the Chief of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, over 20 years and two failed attempts to move his tribe from Isle de Jean Charles, a tiny barrier island at the tip of Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish. Since the 1950s, the Isle has lost 98% of its landmass. And with a federal grant of over $48 million awarded to the state of Louisiana in a national competition, Chief Albert’s plan started to become reality. The Isle de Jean Charles resettlement was positioned as a pilot program for other US communities in need of climate relocation. But then, a letter landed on the Governor’s desk and changed everything.

Upon the receipt of the $48.3 million award, the state agency administering the grant, Louisiana’s Office of Community Development (OCD), learned that members of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation were not the only people who called the disappearing Isle home — a fact that forced the OCD to change the resettlement plans. The Jean Charles Choctaw Nation fought back to restore its original vision.

In August 2022, a year after Hurricane Ida had devastated Isle de Jean Charles, the first families moved to the resettlement site, The New Isle. As challenges over construction issues and affordability threaten the sustainability of the new settlement, a new state agency takes over management of the subdivision, bringing its own vision of what success will look like there.