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GIVING HOPE
Youth Empowerment
Projectturns 20, grapples with future challenges
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
Thecluster of buildings forms acommunityuntoitself in the heart of New Orleans’ Central City Shoppers ambleinand out of athrift shop that provides job training for teens. Kids refurbish bikes at ashop next door, learning atrade and practicingcustomerservice skills. Across the street, outside an old bank-turned-childcare center,youngsters shoot hoopson ashaded court under the eye of Darren Alridge, 33, who first found refugehere from Central City’sstreets some15 years ago.
The Youth Empowerment Project, or YEP,didn’talways have this much space.
Formed just under ayear before Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans in August of 2005,the nonprofit firstoperated out of asingle office on the corner of Oretha Castle HaleyBoulevard and Terpischore Street, helping kids in afar less-prosperous Central City piece their lives back together after returning from Louisiana’s youthjustice system.
Katrina unleashed an explosive need for schooling, counseling and support for navigating dailychallengesin the rebuilding city.That landscape —and ascourge of violence affecting New Orleans’ young people —empowered YEP’sfounders, with thehelp of donors, to deepen its roots and grow its services.
“This country has too many resources, and we have too much responsibility, to not do all we cantogivekidsa sense of hope, to provide them with safety and security and love,” said Melissa Sawyer, one of YEP’sfounders andthe group’sCEO.
Over the past two decades, YEP has added the bike shop, thrift storeand theafterschool building, joining several developments that have risentobrighten aonce-ec-
onomically stagnant neighborhood. Its adult education classes,job training and free after-schooland summer programs forkids ages seven to 16are available not just in Central City,but in classrooms from New Orleans East all the way to Algiers.
Theorganization now serves not justyouth returning from the custodyofLouisiana’sOffice of Juvenile Justice, but practically anyone who needs its services. Its programs reach about1,000 people each yearacrossits locations in five partsofthe city
Last week, YEPcelebrated its 20th year in New Orleans. Those who’ve received YEP’sservices —many of whom,like Alridge, later come back to work at the organization —say YEPoffered asense of community and direction when they needed it most. Manymadetheir way to YEP’shigh school equivalency programs during periods of upheaval after Katrina or following brushes with the law Mentor programs
Alridge came to YEPona referral from ajudge in 2009. At 18 yearsold, he was facing decades in prison on acar theft charge, he said. He knew it was time to make achange. After growing up in New Orleans’ Calliope projects, Katrina set him on apathofinstability, bouncing him around from St
“Weall know the challengesweface, yet, there is stillsomething absolutely unique that will alwayshaveNew Orleans and her people fighting outside her weight class. We just put our heads down and do the work. We’re trying to help kids.”
MELISSA SAWYER,
one of YEP’s founders and the group’sCEO
James Parish to Baton Rouge to Texasand ultimately landing him in trouble with the law
Going before that judge in 2009, Alridge feltaneed to make achange as he contemplated how he would begin providing for his then-1-yearold son. At YEP,hesecured his GED in just afew weeks.
Alridge’s infectious energy andrelentless optimism so inspired the organization’s staff that they hired him as atutor in theadult education program soon after he secured his diploma.
Now,asa sitecoordinator of thechildcare center,Alridge mentors young men andboys whoface manyofthe same challenges he once did. Pressures to taketothe streetsare much the same now as they were then, he said,though social media sometimes inflames tensions for kids these days.
“I alwayswas aleader,” Al-
ridge said as he waited for kids to start streaming into theyouth center one recent afternoon. “I just needed to find aplace where Icould be a positive leader,and apositive role model to people whowant to be led.
‘Not allI am’
Wanda Rogers stumbled upon YEP one day in 2012 after wandering out of Orleans Parish Criminal Court at Tulane and Broad. She was therefor her son, who’d gotten into some trouble. Buthis court hearing was his ordeal to navigate, so Rogers wentfor a walk.
She came across another part of YEP’sweb of learning centers andcommunity-support facilities: theorganization’s Mid-City Adult Learning Center on South Broad Avenue, which offered free courses for adultstrying to obtain their high-school equivalency degrees. The idea of going back to school appealedtoRogers. She’d been workingasa custodian and had been turned down for multiple promotions because she didn’t have ahigh school diploma, she said. Rogers enrolled at YEP’s adult learning program that sameday.Three months later, she’d secured her GED and earned apromotion to asuper
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In May,Ibought and planted two small basil plants. By chance, Iapparently chose the exact right places to plant them —one of them in particular.The right location paired with asummer that must have been perfect for basil led to agargantuan basil plant more like agarden shrub, really I’m aware that Ihad little to do with its basil mightiness, but that did not stop me fromadmiring its girth and height each morning from my window.Watching something one planted grow is satisfying beyond reason. Throughout the summer,our family has made and eaten all the pesto, bruschetta and anything else basil-centric that we could think of to make. However,even though the heat continues, summer has turned to fall —and the basil knows. Its days are numbered. So, last week, on the spur of the moment, Idecided to host apesto party In retrospect, Ithink this party idea was inspired by the way my uncle usedtohold his annual boiled peanuts party.His party wasexactly as advertised —100 people would gather,and my uncle would boil vast quantities of peanuts in giant vats. People would then stand around and eat hot boiled peanuts. It waswonderful! Whether it’sboiled peanuts or pesto, there’salways areason to have aparty,right?
Within 5minutes of thinking, “I could have apesto party,” Icreated invitations for the event to begin at 3p.m.Sunday afternoon. Ithen texted the invites to 10 friends. (I’m aware that Miss Manners might not approve of invitation by text, but that was the only wayitwas going to happen. Good is better than perfect, right?) About an hour after Isent the invitations, Iremembered that Ihad abook club to go to at 6p.m.that evening —but the pesto party was on. People were excited. Ilet them know that the event would end by 5:30. All waswell.
Iasked the guests to bring their own nuts and cheese for their pesto. Isupplied the kitchen, basil and garlic, food processor and whatever else they needed that Ihad on hand. Another friend brought the olive oil. Other friends brought the lemons.
Some of the people Iinvited were old friends —somewere new.Itturned out to be an intergenerational gathering. We had Gen Zs, Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers hustling round my kitchen, concocting nine different varieties of pesto. Everyone brought what they had to share —various jars, flavored olive oils, wide-mouth funnels and more. One new friend said she appreciated that the task at hand allowed for easy conversations and connections with people she had just met. The commongoal sidestepped the social anxieties or expectations of atypical gathering. Each step of the task, whether tasting or gathering more basil offered adifferent opportunity to connect with someone new
We made pesto with everything from:
n salted mixednuts (it was chunky)
n pistachios (it wasreally flavorful)
n lots of walnuts (it took awhile, but we got it right finally!)
n adairy-free/no cheese version (it was bright and lemony)
n and amore traditional (and expensive) version with pine nuts. One friend said she was amazed to see how afew ingredients could be mixedinsuch different ways and how each person put atwist on her pesto.
Akid plays basketball after school recentlyatYEP on Oretha Castle HaleyBoulevard in NewOrleans.
Kidsget help withhomework after school recently at YEP
La.InspirednextBookClubselection
Staff report
‘TheOptimist’s Daughter’ Welty
The next Louisiana Inspired BookClub selection is “The Optimist’sDaughter” by EudoraWelty.Wewill announce the date and time for the newspaper’sdiscussion of the book soon. The book has also beenselectedasthis year’sLouisiana Book Festival’sOne Book OneFestival selection, to be discussed at the festival on Nov.2 on the State Capitol grounds.
Eudora Welty was an American short story writer,novelist and photographer from Mississippi. She wroteabout the South. Her novel “The Optimist’sDaughter” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973.Welty received numerous awards, in-
cluding the Presidential Medal of Freedomand the Orderofthe South.
This novel tells the story of Laurel McKelva Hand, ayoung woman who growsupinMississippi, moves away to Chicago and returns toNew Orleans to take care of her dying father
“‘The mystery in how little weknow of other people is no greater than the mystery of how much,’ Laurel thought,”Welty wrote.
Afterher father’sdeath, Laurel travels to herhometown in Mississippi for her father’sfuneral. Alone in her old house, shefinally comes to an understanding of the past, herself and her parents.
Here is an excerpt from the book:
WhenLaurel was achild, in this room and in this bedwhere
she lay now,she closed hereyes like this and the rhythmic,nighttime sound of the twobeloved reading voices came risinginturnupthe stairs every night to reachher She could hardly fall asleep, she tried to keep awake, forpleasure. She cared for herown books, butshe cared more for theirs, which meant their voices. In the lateness of the night, their two voices reading to each other where shecould hear them, never letting asilence divide or interrupt them, combined into one unceasing voice and wrapped heraroundasshe listened,as still as if she were asleep. She was sent to sleep under avelvety cloakofwords, richly patterned and stitched withgold, straight out of afairy tale,while they went reading on into her dreams.
RISHER
Continued from page1G
visoryrole at the dental school.
As they had with Alridge, staff at the organization sawsomething in Rogers. They asked her to return as apart-time teacher
Adozen years later,Rogers works full-time as asite coordinator and educator at YEP’sLearning Center on the West Bank, helping adults from that area earn the same certification she did adozen years ago. Through interactions with her students, who range from 16-year-olds referred by juvenile court judges to a77-year-old man Rogers glimpses the myriad challenges New Orleanians face. But she reminds her students that they’re more than those struggles.
“I’m from the Desire Housing Project,” Rogers said, referencing the New Orleans development whereshe grewup, “but that’snot allIam.”
‘Dothe work’
Sawyer,the group’sCEO and cofounder,said YEP faces anew set of questions about whether to ex-
pand even further as it surpasses the20-year threshold.
The organization has pondered its growth as New Orleans continues to grapple with crumbling infrastructure, more-powerful hurricanes and crushing housing costs.
Surely,the pestos ran the gamut. Because we were on adeadline, we were in constant motion. (And yes, Idolove adeadline —even in making nine different pestos for a crowd.)
We worked together. We took turns picking basil because it was hot outside. We tasted each other’s pesto. We said it needed abit more olive oil, salt or more Romano cheese. Eventually,working with each and everypesto, we said it was good. And it was.
Tasting nine variations of the same dish was an incredible reminder of the way each of us has the choice to put our individual spins on things and experiences.
—there was no mis en place.
One friend said that the shared creation felt meaningful. The gathering was areminder that it’s possible to insert anything as the “subject” of aparty —another friend said she’snow planning to host aravioli party
“Weall know the challenges we face,” Sawyer said. “Yet, there is still something absolutely unique that will always have New Orleans and her people fighting outside her weight class.”
“Wejustput our heads down and do the work,” she added. “We’re trying to help kids.” For more information visit www youthempowermentproject.org
James Finn covers politicsfor The Times-Picayune |Nola. com. Emailhim at jfinn@ theadvocate.com.
Once the last food processor stopped, everyone left with enough pesto to get them through the fall —maybe even winter Truth be told, the spur-of-the-moment pesto party was abit chaotic. We had three different types of food processors running —including one on ahigh-top table in my dining room. Even so, there was some wonderfulness beneath it all. Certainly,itdidn’thave the look of apartyfitfor the glitz and glamour social media evangelizes when it comes to entertaining these days
Some things are just easier and not nearly as laborious when you’re among friends, hence the old-fashioned quilting bees. Creating the time and space to gather and reminding each other that entertaining doesn’thave to be frilly or perfect or Instagramable is important. Beyond that, when we have plenty of something, sharing is the way to go. Why not have aparty?
Email Jan Risher at jan.risher@ theadvocate.com.
STAFFPHOTO BY LAUREN CHERAMIE Various pestos dot the tableinJan Risher’sdining room for her pesto party
STAFF PHOTO BY JANRISHER
One of Jan Risher’sbasilplants growsinJuly before it reached its peak.
STAFF PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER Nova Pena tidies up clothingracks recently at YEP Thrift Works.
Tropical paradise brings luxury glamping to swamp
Camp Margaritaville in Breaux Bridge sets stagefor fun
BY JOYHOLDEN Staff writer
The goal is for travelers toenter the gates of Camp Margaritaville
RV Resort Breaux Bridgeand forget that they are acouple miles off the interstate in south Louisiana.
Palm trees, pools, live music,party tunes and tropical camp vibesset the stage for fun —beitagirls’ trip, afamily getaway or even abachelorette weekend.
During the nonpeak seasonwhile pools are still open,Aug.11toOct. 26, Camp Margaritaville offers multiple package deals as well as reduced rates.
South Louisiana’swarm temps mean guests can enjoy outdoor activities and pools through October.Inoff season, the property is calmer than the bustle of summer Groups have room to spread out and enjoy the amenities.
In October,Camp Margaritaville is offering aGirlsTrip Package that includes acomplimentary margarita making class, afree
TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTER
By ChristopherElliott
I’m an American Airlines frequent flyer, and Irecently booked an award ticket with Japan Airlines, an American partner, from NewDelhi to Haneda, Japan, andontoSan Francisco.
margarita, aVIP tablereserved at the live concerts, afree adult pool cabana and acomplimentary pair of Margaritaville sunglasses. The pool and cabana’slargebar boasts an extensive drink menu with burger and sandwich options
Themargaritas, frozen drinks and specialty beachy cocktails offer plenty ofoptions forapartyweekend
Thepark’s wateramenitiesare open from March 29 to Oct. 26.
Camp Margaritaville RV Resort
Breaux Bridge has 452 RV spots, 91 total cabins,threeswimming pools —including awaterplayground for childrenand an adultpool for adults, children’splayarea, recreation courts, dog park and several food and beverage options.
Cabinsrange from “petite cottages”that sleepfourtolargeresort homes that sleep up to 12. Coming in at affordable costs, the cabins vary from $150 per night to $300 pernight.
Thepark has three phases of accommodations: cabins near the pool, motel-stylerooms and Latitude Lofts, newluxury tiny homes.
All accommodations have been updated within the past year.Cabins featureabeachyaesthetic with white walls, teal tiles, granitesur-
Camp Margaritaville
facesand comfortable yetmodern furniture. The Latitude Lofts, tiny beach-style homes,provide an escape for agroup looking to relaxor celebrate.
In 2022,Northgate Resorts purchased the property,formerly CajunPalms RV resort,which had been alocal favorite campsite for years. After the acquisition,the global lifestyle brand Margaritaville joined in to update andreno-
PROVIDED PHOTO
vate the large campgrounds. JeannyNguyen, retail supervisor and manager whohas worked at the park for 11 years, hasseen adifference in thequantity of visitors as the renovations andadditions have changed the property She mentioned that in additionto familiar locals, theluxury campsite is alsoattracting fans that travel to every Margaritaville resort.They cometoBreaux Bridge, buy collect-
iblesfrom the gift shop andsample the Cajun fare nearby at Crawfish Town USA
To getaround the massive property,guests can check out golf carts. Guests can drive the carts along aprivate path to CajunFast Track, the entertainment spot for GoKarts, arcadegames,laser tag and athrowback diner,and Prehistoric Park,apark full of dinosaurmodels perfect forcuriouschildren, which are located nearbythe camp resort. Camp Margaritaville RV Resort
Breaux Bridge also offers arts and crafts forchildren, plannedfamily events forHalloween,recreation spots forcornhole andpickleball andstocked ponds forfishing. Fishing poles, pickleball paddles and pool toys are availablefor purchase in thegift shop. During October,the park has spooky themed weekends that include costumecontests, decorating contests,pumpkin activitiesand trick-or-treating
The surrounding Henderson and Breaux Bridge area has manyfall events planned including festivals and Halloween activities —followed by holidayevents in December
Email Joy Holdenatjoy.holden@ theadvocate.com.
Christopher Elliott
Acouple of days before my flight, Icalled American Airlines to upgrade the Japan-to-U.S legtobusiness class. Unfortunately, the agent canceled my entire ticket without telling me. Igot off the phone thinking my ticket wasstill valid. But when Icontacted Japan Airlinesthe daybefore my flight to check on my vegetarianmeal,a representativetold me that
there wasnoreservation forme. IcalledAmericanAirlines and spoke with asupervisor,who reviewed the notesofmy call.She said that the agent had written that Ihad canceled my flight.This of course was not true. The supervisortried to find me aticket,but the only one available wasafull-fare business class ticket for $3,548.Ibooked theticket, but Iwould likeAmericanAirlinestorefund itsince this wastheir mistake.Afew months ago,AmericanAirlines promised to review my request,but it hasn’tgotten backtome,and it no longer responds to my emails.Can you help?—Satrupa Kagel,Taos,N.M. American Airlinesshouldn’t have canceled your ticket —and it should have quickly refunded the extramoney you had to spend.
Why didn’tit? In reviewing your correspondence withthe airline, Ican find no obvious reason. By the way,great jobonkeeping all the emails. Those are your key to afast resolution. There was one minorproblem, which is thatthe emails you sent contained some ALL UPPERCASE statements (that’sconsidered yelling online) and American’sagents, who have some discretion in which cases get prioritized, might have been put off by them. They shouldn’thave been. The agentsshould not have stopped responding to your messages and emails when you used the assigned case number.There was no written
evidence that American hadpromised to refund your fare. By the way,you can findthe names, numbers and email addresses of all theAmerican Airlines customer serviceexecutives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org. Abrief, politeemail to one of themmight have at least prompted another reviewofyour case. It lookslikeyou tried to reach out to the executives but didn’tget an answer That bringsmetothe main takeaway for the rest of us.American should havefound away of fixing this withoutyou paying another cent.You shouldnever pay fora ticket or ahotel room,hoping the
travel company will refund you. It probablywon’t
Butnot foryou.I reached outto American Airlinesonyourbehalf. Arepresentative calledyou and saidthe reason forthe lack of response was“high turnover” in the customer servicedepartment. (I can only imagine.) Youreceiveda full refundfor yourticketand your miles —a great resolution
Christopher Elliott is the founderofElliott Advocacy,a nonprofitorganizationthathelps consumers solvetheirproblems. Email himatchris@elliott.org or get help by contacting himon hissite.
has four pools.
DINING SCENE
Road
We followed the tracks made by other carsthrough the grass, driving between the vineyard rows, the usual path to eventsat this rolling property justoutside Covington.
‘Special wines’
Ian
McNulty WHAT’S COOKING
This time, though the post at the end of each row was topped by an action figure or collectible toy character,tiny little totems that fit the playful mood of the changes here lately
The vineyards changed to parked rows of mostly SUVs and then we could hear the band playingdown by the tasting room.
This was Jazz’n the Vines, a long-running music series that’s backfor another season at avineyard in the early stages of anew and very different chapter Wild Bush Farm +Vineyard is the new name for aproperty that had been known as Pontchartrain Vineyards. In 2022, Monica Bourgeois and Neil Gernon bought the vineyard from founder John Seago, who made the propertya destination forJazz’n the Vinesand other events through the course of many years. For this edition, the Creole String Beans were on the smallbandstand,playing swamp pop and R&B tunes driven by adeep baritone sax and lyrics from aLouisiana canon that many know by heart.
One of those was “Morgus the Magnificent,” always in heavy rotation in Louisiana each October.Iwas getting some Morgus vibes when Gernon and Bourgeois showedusaround their “lab,” the workshop of aging tanks and barrels behind the Wild Bush tasting room.
“We’re trying to push the envelope with wines that haven’t existed before, which is liketrying to make new music when the Beatles and the Stones have done it all before,” Gernon said.“I don’talways know what’sgoingto happen next here. But it’s goingto
be fun.”
Ayear ago, Wild Bush was in whatthe winemakers considered Phase 1: getting started, getting newvines in the ground. Phase 3will be whenthose vines start making viablefruit for wine.
Right now,it’sphase 2.
We’d samplewhatthat means atthe tastingroom.But first, there was getting hereand as usual when Iplot atrip beyond thegates andmoatsofmyhome in New Orleans, therewould be more stopsalong theway than were technically necessary
Gettingthere,halfthe meal
This trip was aSaturday in midSeptember when there was an aspirational aspect of autumnin theair
The first stop was Madisonville to watch boats and the swing bridge in play along the Tchefuncte River fromthe split personality complex that is Tchefuncte’sand theAnchor
Downstairs, theAnchor is an open-air, all-ages tavern with
dockside daiquiris and kids clamoring on playground gear
Upstairs, Tchefuncte’sisan opulent, high-end restaurant honeycombed with private dining rooms angling for the view, and nestled with deep, cove-like booths. There’salso acurvaceous bar that makes agood stop for a drop-in visit like this,for some effervescent pink Spanish Txakolina wine by the Tchefuncte.
Just up the road, the next stop was chef Pat Gallagher’s flagship Gallagher’sGrill, already bustling shortly after its5p.m.opening.
The glimmeroffall weather had me craving one specialtyhere in particular,Gallagher’smixed grill, pairing lamb chops and quail and carrying acampfire edge to the char over the tender meats. Thetasting room,the lab
At thevineyard, withthe Creole String Beansplaying, all seemed like theold days for this long-running event.Kids toss footballs around, and people tote along camp chairs, and maybe
smallfolding tables. Food trucks provide supper; the tasting room and agarden bar sell bottlesand glasses of Wild Bush wine. Thosewines, though, aremuch different from the old days, and there’smoretocome Wild Bush is nowgrowing newly released hybrid grapes, developed by the viticulture program at University of California, Davis, specifically to be more diseaseresistantand bettersuited to our humid conditions. Theseare said to have characteristicsoffamiliargrapes like cabernetand petite sirah, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay Will they yield European-style wines in St.Tammany Parish? It’sstill too soon to know,but the new plantings areexpected to produce fruit for winemaking next year
Butfor now,intheir Phase 2, Gernon and Bourgeois are making amix of flagship winesunder theWild Bush labeland awhole slate of experiments. Cue the Morgus music
Most of the Wild Bush wines nowinthe marketare made with grapes from Napa andOregon’s Willamette Valley, whichistrucked to Wild Bush,where it’s finished andbottled.They’re immediately identifiable by theirfanciful names andcolorful labels
There’s acute cartoon Pegasus on the labelfor On the Back of a WingedHorse,ared nero d’avola that’sgreat with achill andperfect forpizza
The Deceptacon is ariesling aged in oak formorebody(as if crossedwith achardonnay), andthe Baby Why Don’tWee is a rose that’sdry,but still tasteslike strawberriesand makes agreat appetizerwine,one to go with the cheeseplate.A cabernetcalled Missing YouJust the Same is aged in port barrels fora rich, round complexity
These areall small batchwines, but the experiments here are much smaller, sometimes just a caseortwo. Forone sparkling wine, calledAbsolutely Cuckoo, honeyproduced fromanapiary by the vineyards providesthe sugartomakethe bubbles(the secondary fermentation), andthe labelincludesa scratch-and-sniff stickertogive ateaser whiff of its honeyedaroma. Ablueberry wine fromfruit grown on the property will become awine laterthis year
“I want to make fun wine that’s special,” Gernonsaid, while inspecting some aging barrels.
“If it’s100,000 cases of wine, it isn’tspecial,but whatisspecial is the 27 cases of this petnat I made,” he said, referring to the type of naturalsparkling wine that’sthe darling of many younger wine drinkers now.
“It’sletting wine make youfeel artistic,” he said. “That’swhatit’s allabout.”
For music schedule,tickets and more information, visit wildbushfarmandvineyard.com.
Email IanMcNulty at imcnulty@theadvocate.com.
