NY2NO

New York 2 New Orleans Coalition

How To Help

Because of our Government's failure to properly aid, protect, and rebuild the city of New Orleans, it has been left up to students and Volunteers from across the nation to fill the gap and complete the necessary work. Now, we are following the leadership of the residents and organizing around the mandates that the locally led movement have put forth. We are working in solidarity with those most affected towards getting the City back on its feet and bringing everyone home.

Plan Your Own Trip

While donating money and materials to New Orleans is great, what the city truly needs now are people who can help hands on. There are a number of organizations currently working in New Orleans who desperately need volunteers to help; gut and rebuild homes, door to door canvas and organize, make and distribute food, help in day care centers for young children, and do a number of other assisting jobs.

One of the New York 2 New Orleans Coalition's primary jobs is to help people plan trips down to New Orleans. If you wish to plan a trip of your own (individually or within a group) please contact us and we will be more than happy to help you set one up. Or, if you would prefer, you can contact one of the Local Organizations (that we have described and suggested below) on your own and deal directly with them.

Suggested Organizations

In the past, a number of members of our group have worked closely with organizations such as; Emergency Communities, Project Lower 9,  Project Nehemiah, and the New Orleans Survivor Council. These organizations work closely with the people of New Orleans and we strongly suggest that you work with one of these groups if and when you go down to New Orleans. Below we have provided information about each group as well as their contact information and links to their websites so that you can contact them if you want to learn more information. If you decide to go work in New Orleans, we would be more than happy to help you coordinate with these groups and plan your trip.

Lowernine.org

Lowernine.org is dedicated to training residents of, and volunteers in, the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, LA, in the skills necessary to bring this century-old historic neighborhood back to life after the devastation wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. These skills include basic carpentry, roofing, plumbing, electrical wiring, sheetrock finishing, etc., which are needed if houses are going to become habitable once again; but, we include counseling services, social outreach, medical care, youth programs and advocacy, resident rights advocacy and sustainable economic development as being every bit as necessary as physical rebuilding to the success of the revitalization of the Lower Nine.

To learn more about Lowernine.org, you can visit their website at: www.lowernine.org , or contact them by e-mail at: rick[at]lowernine.org or by phone at: (207) 380-9636

Emergency Communities

Emergency Communities is a volunteer based organization that has been set up to help rehabilitate disaster-stricken areas through the creation of temporary community centers based on service, compassion, and creativity. They have set up a number of cites around the city of New Orleans and help hundreds of residents survive on a daily basis. Their primary objective is to serve food to people within the community, while also providing a community center where people feel welcome to stay and spend their day. They serve over 300 people and 1,500 meals a day to volunteers and residents alike, they have started a day care center for the children of the community, and they have helped to gut and rebuild a number of homes throughout the devastated areas of New Orleans. The ultimate goal and vision of Emergency Communities is to eventually turn their Community Centers over to the residents themselves so that they can expand and self sustain.

Emergency Communities was started in December of 2006 by a number of volunteers from across the county. Over the past year and a half they have served over 400,000 meals and 35,000 resident and they encourage volunteers from all over the nation to help join their efforts towards rebuilding New Orleans. They have had people of all ages, including students from dozens of high schools and colleges across the country, volunteer with them and as they continue to expand and serve more people, they will need more and more help from volunteers like you. 

To learn more about or contact Emergency Communities Check out their website at: http://www.emergencycommunities.org/ or call them at: (917) 442-8900

 

 

Other Organizations

In case these organizations don't appeal to you, here is a list of a few other organizations that are doing volontere work in New Orleans that you can look into:

St. Bernard Project: www.stbernardproject.org

ACORN : www.acorn.org

Habitat for Humanities: http://www.habitat-nola.org/

Common Grounds: http://www.commongroundrelief.org/

Catholic Charities: http://www.catholiccharities-md.org/