The Last of '08, the first of '09!

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Community Voices Orchestrating Change Winter 2008

Issue #5 Volume 2

Happy Holidays!

What’s Inside: New Orleans Urgent Care Clinic, pg. 8

An inside look at the Ogden, pg. 12

Project Comeback Brings New Homes to Holy Cross, pg. 7 Plus: Meet the New NPN Board!

Neighborhoods Partnership Network’s (NPN) mission is to improve our quality of life by engaging New Orleanians in neighborhood revitalization and civic process.

3500 Canal Street, Second Floor, New Orleans, LA 70119 • Office 504-267-4672, Fax 504-940-2208 • thetrumpet@npnnola.com

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NPN’s The Trumpet

Letter from the E.D.

Get Citizen Participation, Master Plan with the “force of law,” Comprehensive Zoning Ordinances (CZO), civic engagement, accountability, resilience, sustainability, capacity building, adjudication, land-use planning strategies, CBDG funding, transparency and the list can go on into infinity. But what does it all mean? Has anyone taken the time to invest in civic education? Who really understands this whole picture, and how we are applying this information to plans set by engaged citizens in the early months after Katrina and the breaks of the levees? I know I have spent several evenings and weekends on my laptop Googling words and phrases trying to learn about various topics before attending big meetings or forums.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.” In order for one to feel that they have a stake in our society, our community, our government, they MUST first understand it. To comprehend, analyze and identify with these leaders is the basic component of civic education.

If any one of these three is missing, then the process of connecting to citizens has failed.

I have observed and spoken with many community members who devote their time and enthusiasm to meetings filled with passion and energy, only to leave feeling frustrated and more confused than when they first arrived. Citizens have time and again come in contact with speakers who regurgitate information directly from textbooks or advice from websites, utilizing acronyms and phrases that would only be used amongst colleagues from the same or similar disciplines. So why don’t citizens educate themselves before going to the meetings, you may ask?

There are communities that still do not have access to the information or resources to question the various processes – instead, they would rather walk away uninformed than participate in and propose project implementations with possible, serious impacts on them as a community.

I’m not sure of personal preferences and citizens’ reasons for taking time out to improve their communities. I was always taught that it was not only my right but my responsibility to hold leadership accountable, but it is not easy to hold someone accountable in activities when you don’t truly know what they do or how it affects your life. I would encourage everyone to spark conversations that reflect the desire to engage the whole citizen body.When we neglect to educate everyone on the issues, both the pros and cons, we lower everyone’s quality of life.

-Timolynn Sams

to the Network

Neighborhoods Partnership Network To receive weekly updates or to find out who your neighborhood liason is,

Meghan@npnnola.com

Winter 2008

3

Letter From The Editor

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2004.

The night before was a confusing and exhausting mess for the angry residents of Gambier, Ohio. The majority were college students who had voted in their first presidential election, but had had to wait for upwards of ten hours to cast their ballots in the longest line in America. It was a frustrating introduction to the political process and one that, for many, seemed to confirm their worst fears about their voices not being heard. It was soon learned that the cause of the delays was that four machines had been set up for more than 5,000 people . . . and two of the machines broke down that morning. The immediate moral from the episode was just that you cannot always trust things to go as they should. Of course, the real encouragement was seeing that nearly everyone kept waiting to cast their votes. Voting officials could not even give them a rough estimate of when they would leave the polls, but they stayed.

Four years later, on a quiet and sunny Tuesday in New Orleans, I was in and out of my polling station in fifteen minutes. My friends and I decided to canvass for the candidate we were endorsing and explore the city. We also got free pizza. More importantly, I was delighted and staggered by the commitment that I saw and heard New Orleans citizens express to the election and to making their voices count, as almost everyone in the neighborhoods that I visited to encourage to vote had already gone and voted.

I confess that I was slightly anxious about peoples’ potential for disenchantment with American politics, but the enthusiasm forced me to question my own skepticism about the electoral process. And, of course, gave me plenty to celebrate the next morning. It was an immediate lesson in civic engagement and a reminder of what we strive for every day in New Orleans.

-Edward Hornick Editor-in-Chief

The Trumpet An Apology

Staff

We at NPN and The Trumpet have prided ourselves, since The

Trumpet’s beginning in 2007, on promptly and accurately conveying the information that matters most to our readers and communities. While we have been fortunate in the range of quality content that we’ve been able to circulate, we have also had to be careful in evaluating and preparing material while addressing other inter-office essentials. Unfortunately, this can have consequences in terms of the effectiveness with which we are able to present fresh issues to readers. The newspaper cannot last without delivering the material we insist that we will when we insist that we will.

On behalf of the staff of Neighborhoods Partnership Network and our faithful reading/writing public, I would like to apologize for the delay in delivering this issue. It will not happen again – we have already taken measures to ensure that we have a new schedule and staff in place to make sure that we can organize and deliver the next Trumpet by its drop-date.

For future reference on the status of both future issues and past ones, please visit http://npnnola.com/trumpets/ or contact us. If you’re not already a subscriber to our online newsletter, The Trumpet Tidbits, it’s an excellent companion to the material we’re printing here. However, it’s only a companion, not a replacement.

Thank you.

-Edward Hornick, Editor-in-Chief, 12/2008

Copyright Copyright 2008/2009 Neighborhoods Partnership Network. All Rights Reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of any of the contents of this service without the express written consent of Neighborhoods Partnership Network is expressly prohibited.

Edward Hornick Editor-in-Chief Editorial Team Erica Johnson Meghan Daniels Special Thanks to: Alethia Picciola, Elizabeth Falcon, Mia Partlow, Shawn Chollette

NPN provides an inclusive and collaborative city-wide framework to empower neighborhood groups in New Orleans.

Find out more at NPNnola.com EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Timolynn Sams COMMUNITY PROGRAMS MANAGER Gill Benedek BUSINESS MANAGER Mario Perkins FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS Julius Lee, Board Chair River Timbers Victor Gordon, Vice President Pontilly Neighborhood Association Latoya Cantrell, Board Secretary Broadmoor Improvement Association Patricia Jones, Board Treasurer NENA Lower 9th Ward Megan Langhoff Lake Vista Neighborhood Association Benjamin Diggins, Melia Subdivision Dorian Hastings Central City Renaissance Alliance Tilman Hardy Leonidas/Pensiontown Neighborhood Association Sylvia McKenzie Rosedale Subdivision Nikki Najiolia Oak Park Neighborhood Association Katherine Prevost Lower 9th Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association Bill Waiters Holy Cross Neighborhood Association Wendy Laker Mid-City Neighborhood Organization Board

Third Party Submission Issues Physical submissions on paper, CD, etc. cannot be returned unless an arrangement is made. Submissions may be edited and may be published or otherwise reused in any medium.

By submitting any notes, information or material, or otherwise providing any material for publication in the newspaper, you are representing that you are the owner of the material, or are making your submission with the consent of the owner of the material, all information you provide is true, accurate, current and complete.

Non-Liability Disclaimers The Trumpet may contain facts, views, opinions, statements and recommendations of third party individuals and organizations. The Trumpet does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information in the publication and use of or reliance on such advice, opinion, statement or other information is at your own risk.

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NPN’s The Trumpet

Table of Contents

page 2: Letter from the Executive Director of NPN

Page 10-11: Ogden Art Inspires Reflection

page 3: Letter from the Editor

Page 12: Busy Summer for Dryades YMCA

page 13: An Uncomfortable “Yea” page 4: Table of Contents, NPN Roundtable Write-up Page 14-15: A “Spork” in the Road page 16: The Documentary of the Year page 5: Recovery Experiences Differ by District Page 17: Community Events page 6-7: The New NPN Board page 18-19: Angel Food Ministries in Broadmoor page 8: New Clinics and New Needs page 9: Project Comeback builds new homes Page 19: Poems by Emma Birdie Brown

NPN Roundtable discussions engage

Photo: Erez Horovitz

Photo: Gill Benedek

Since its start in 2006, Neighborhoods Partnership Network has depended on the engagement of the community. In late 2008, that participation manifested as a pair of roundtable discussions to address “Hot Topics” in the recovering New Orleans. September 10 brought us the first discussion, a collection of thoughts and responses to the evacuation during Hurricane Gustav – what worked and what did not. In addition to NPN members, the event was attended by valued community presences such as members of the Louisiana Justice Institute and Councilmember Arnie Fielkow. Within a week of the discussion, NPN was able to present its notes on the event to New Orleans City Council.

This past December has seen our second Roundtable, on the Office of Neighborhoods. Thirty people attended the conversation and were invited to share their “questions, concerns and recommendations” for the potential new office. Perhaps the most important moment, from an internal perspective, was NPN Executive Director Timolynn Sams’ announcement that this event marked the beginning of NPN’s Capacity College, a new and open discussion in which people would be able to share any and all thoughts without fear of judgment.

Thorough citizen engagement in New Orleans still has a long way to go, but this is an important step in furthering these and other

“A lot of these issues will tie into larger themes” -Tilman Hardy

Winter 2008

5

Recovery experiences differ by planning district Elaine Ortiz

Research Assistant, Greater New Orleans Community Data Center

Three years after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures, Greater New Orleans has recovered 87 percent of its population and 86 percent of its jobs. The regional economy is in a relatively strong position. Unemployment rates are low and job growth is high compared to both the U.S. and preKatrina levels. In addition, more than $3.5 billion in federal FEMA infrastructure dollars is in the pipeline for Louisiana applicants and another $2 billion in Road Home checks are still to be issued.

Yet, high housing costs remain a challenge for workers and their families. Rents have increased 46 percent since Katrina. Many workers essential to the recovery, including health care, construction and maintenance and repair workers, cannot afford to rent apartments in the New Orleans area. As of June 2008, the number of habitable public housing units was only 2,097 for Orleans Parish and 637 for Jefferson Parish.

Meanwhile, nearly 14,000 families in the region are receiving Disaster Housing Assistance Program vouchers, which are scheduled to expire in March 2009.

Among these families, 58 percent and 28 percent are living in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, respectively.

In our third anniversary edition of The New Orleans Index, we offer a first glimpse of the recovery of New Orleans by planning district: • By June 2008, the Lower Ninth Ward and Holy Cross neighborhoods in Planning District 8 had recovered only 18 percent of their June 2005 active residences.

Other heavily flooded planning districts had recovered anywhere from 52 to 71 percent of pre-storm active residences. Planning districts that experienced little flooding recovered between 88 and 106 percent of their pre-Katrina active residences.

• As of June 2008, 52 percent of active households in New Orleans were located in planning districts 1, 2, 3, and 12. This represents a significant change in residential patterns compared to June 2005, when these planning districts accounted for only 40 percent of all city households.

• Neighborhoods in New Orleans East have suffered from the loss of major employers, as well as residential housing. By June 2007, Planning District 9 had recovered less than half of its pre-Katrina

Humanity is installing 160 new homes in Planning District 7, with 70 in the Musician’s Village and 90 in scattered sites. Jericho Road Episcopal Housing is building 42 affordable homes in Planning District 2. Several other nonprofit developers are operating in these and other districts, building new homes as well as repairing damaged homes.

• New Orleans may have 65,000 blighted residences or empty lots.

Planning districts 9 and 4, which include Gert Town, Mid-City, the Seventh Ward, Plum Orchard

flooding as they were pre-Katrina.

Since the release of the Index, the Data Center has published repopulation indicators for all 73 New Orleans neighborhoods. Of 50 neighborhoods that flooded after Katrina, 16 have recovered less than half of their pre-Katrina households.

On the flip side, 34 of these 50 neighborhoods have recovered more than half their population, including a 70 percent recovery rate or higher in Broadmoor, Lakewood, Mid-City and Treme. If neighborhood-level data is not fine grain enough, we

Extent of flooding Sep 2, 2005

57%

59% 52%

58%

59%

63% 71% 91%

18%

102%

88%

95% 106%

<www.gnocdc.org>

jobs, a loss of nearly 9,000 jobs.

Much of the job loss came from the closures of Pendleton Memorial Hospital and Lake Forest Plaza Mall.

• New residential construction, that is not a result of tear-downs and reconstruction, is a conspicuous sign of progress in many neighborhoods.

Planning districts 7 and 2 are leading the way, with the help of several nonprofit developers. Habitat for

0

2 Mi

Source: GNO Community Data Center analysis of Valassis Residential and Business Database.

and Read Boulevard East and West, have the largest numbers of potentially blighted residences at 14,106 and 10,864, respectively.

• Hurricane flood modeling shows that some parts of town (such as planning districts 4 and 5) are now at less risk for flooding, while many neighborhoods (for example, planning districts 6, 8, 9, and 12) are essentially at the same risk for

have also updated our repopulation mapper. You can now view the number of households receiving mail for every block in the city as of September 2008, alongside preKatrina data from June 2005.

Visit www.gnocdc.org to access the third anniversary issue of The New Orleans Index, neighborhood repopulation indicators, and our repopulation mapper of block-by-block data.

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NPN’s The Trumpet

Meet the new NPN board LaToya Cantrell is Secretary to the board of Neighborhoods

Partnership Network and manager of the Greater New Orleans Education Foundation. Additionally, she has over ten years of non-profit management experience. Ms. Cantrell is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana and is committed to volunteer service as President of both the Broadmoor Improvement Association and Broadmoor Development Corporation. She is a board member for the Bureau of Governmental Research, the Arts Council Committee of Greater New Orleans and the National Association of Bench and Bar Spouses. Ms. Cantrell has been recognized in post-Katrina recovery efforts as a Restore America Hero by the National Trust of Historic Preservation, a Young Leadership Council Role Model for 2007, one of New Orleans Magazine’s People to Watch, 2006 and Gambit Weekly’s 40 Under 40.

Victor Gordon is President of Pontilly Neighborhood Association,

Vice President of the GCIA and Vice President of the Board of NPN. He is actively collaborating with NORA to find housing solutions that will allow the repopulation and revitalization of the community. Mr. Gordon has considerable work experience in New Orleans schools as assistant principal at Behrman, Landry and McDonogh #35. As a civic leader, Mr. Gordon also serves on the board of the Dryades YMCA and Total Community Action.

Benjamin Diggins is a resident of the Melia Subdivision in Pine

Village. He is a retired truck driver (owner-operator) of 38 years with interests in real estate. He is active member of his community and is involved in organizations such as ACORN. Mr. Diggins is married to Cheryl W. Diggins, President of the Melia Subdivision. They have three children.

Dorian Hastings is an employee of the Central City Renaissance Alliance (CCRA) since 2003. Through her role as community analyst with the City of New Orleans / Neighborhood one, she participated in the 18 months of planning meetings prior to the development of the Alliance. She purchased a home in Central City in June 2005, becoming a proud and active resident of the neighborhood. Dorian has worked for the Central City Renaissance Alliance since October 2006 and is presently its Research and Development Coordinator. She has served on the board of NPN since 2006.

Tilman Hardy is a resident of the Leonidas/Pensiontown neighborhood. Mr. Hardy is a member of several neighborhood and community organizations, such as the Green Project and the Carrollton Area Network. He takes pride in revitalizing his community through collaboration and is trained in architectural design and real estate development. He has used his skills in these areas in both the public and private sector. Tilman is passionate about finding solutions for people of all means and abilities.

Wendy Laker is a resident of the Mid-City neighborhood and the chairwomen of the Mid-City Neighborhood Organization Board. Ms. Laker is a member of the judicial system, where she serves as a court reporter.

Patricia Jones is the Executive Director for the Lower 9th Ward

Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA). Patricia presently directs the Recovery Center in the Lower 9th Ward. She has 12 years experience in the non-profit sector prior to Katrina, as well as with her own business specializing in bookkeeping and tax preparation.

Since Katrina, Patricia has partnered with many organizations to navigate a strong comeback for Lower 9th Ward. Patricia is presently pursuing a Masters in Business Administration at the University of New Orleans. She has completed a business administration degree from UNO, and also has accounting, tax and paralegal certification. Patricia Jones serves as the NPN treasurer.

Winter 2008

Megan Langhoff was raised in Lake Vista and graduated from Ben Franklin and NOCCA|Riverfront in 2003. She proceeded to Fordham University, where she graduated with honors in 2007. Determined to be part of the New Orleans rebuilding, Megan returned home to New Orleans after graduation and joined her mother’s campaign staff. After a successful run for the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee, Megan is currently a field organizer for the Louisiana Democratic Coordinated Campaign. She was recently elected as Vice President of Membership for Young Democrats of Louisiana.

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Julius Lee (Real Timbers): A retired member of the United States Air

Force, Julius Lee is married with three daughters and one granddaughter.

Julius has served six years in the Louisiana Army National Guard and seventeen years in the United States Air Force. Mr. Lee is currently Vice President of New Orleans Rollin’ Rhinos Wheelchair Athletic Association and the Founder/CEO of S.M.C.L. Foundation & Associates Inc. As a leader in the community, Mr. Lee serves as Vice Chair on the NPN Sylvia McKenzie: For over 42 years, Sylvia has been a resident of Board of Directors and the Paralyzed Veterans of America Bayou-Gulf the Rosedale Subdivision, located in New Orleans East. Currently, she States Chapter Board of Directors, as well as President of Real Timbers serves as the Vice-President of her neighborhood group. As a citizen her Neighborhood Association (Algiers) and Deacon/Trustee of Greater New goal is to always try and do positive things in and for her neighborhood and Saint Luke Baptist Church. Julius serves as Chair of the Board of NPN other neighboring subdivisions, based on her belief that “together we stand and divided we fall.” Her professional work is in the area of residential and commercial cleaning.

Katherine Prevost: A caseworker with the Lower 9th Ward Neighborhood Empowerment Network Association (NENA), Katherine was born to working-class parents and has three children of her own. She is a graduate of Southern University of New Orleans, President of Bunny Friends Neighborhood Association Inc. and a Senior Festival Volunteer.

Bill Waiters has been a Lower 9th Ward resident for the last 30

years. He is currently in his 2nd term as Vice President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association. As a member of the association, he is the Chairperson of all big events for Holy Cross (such as the Christmas party, 4th of July Bash and Labor Day events). He also serves as the Chairperson of the Lower 9th Ward Education Advisory Board and is a member of the New Israel Baptist Church, where he serves on the Deacon Board. Mr. Waiters is passionate about his goal of seeing New Orleans return to be the Queen City of the South. As the grandfather of two, his desire is to make this area a safe place for his grandchildren to return. Mr. Waiter has been an employee of Domino Sugar for 34 years as Bulk Supervisor.

Nikki Najiola is actively involved in a number of civic endeavors,

including the Citizen Participation Process. She is the incoming President of the Oak Park Civic Association, was a founding Board Member of the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association and is standing President of the Mid-City Business Association. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, Ms. Najiola worked as a housing specialist with a focus on the individual investor.

Currently, Nikki Najiola is employed by a non-profit homebuilder. She is Secretary of the Board of NPN

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NPN’s The Trumpet

The People in your

New clinics and new needs David L. Bowser, Corporate Communications Specialist Three years have passed since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita seriously affected Louisiana’s health care system, particularly in the southwestern and southeastern sections of the state. In Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard parishes alone, Katrina was directly responsible for reducing the number of hospitals from 39 to 26. This total includes hospitals of all types, including small rehabilitation facilities.

The storm continues to take a financial toll on hospitals in and around New Orleans. Between 2005 and 2007, five major facilities (Tulane University Hospital and Clinic, Touro Infirmary, Ochsner Health Systems and West and East Jefferson Hospitals) lost a combined $386 million.

Skyrocketing personnel costs, rising insurance rates and an increasing number of uninsured patients have all contributed to the deficient. Hospital administrators hope the Government Accountability Office report will persuade Congress to approve a $350 million package to assist hospitals in Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi deal with post–Katrina cash flow problems.

Emerging from this challenging situation, however, are several specialty clinics that have opened since Katrina. One, in particular, offers medical services to patients in New Orleans who live and work in close proximity to the still shuttered Charity Hospital.

“As a physician, you always look for a challenge and a way to make a difference,” said Ajsa Nikolic, M.D., the medical director and owner of New Orleans Urgent Care Clinic (www.neworleansurgentcare.com).

“I had an opportunity to leave this area right after Katrina. But I saw

Ajsa Nikolic, M.D. treats walk-in patients at the New Orleans Urgent Care

a chance to help people, especially those living and working downtown.

We have to succeed because there’s nothing else here for quick and convenient out-patient care.”

Dr. Nikolic was born in the U.S. and raised in Austria, where she graduated from medical school. In 2003, she returned to America for a family practice internship at the East Jefferson After Hours Clinic, a well-known, physician-owned, urgent care center in Jefferson parish founded by Gerry Cvitanovich, M.D. “Dr. Cvitanovich is my mentor to successfully run an urgent care clinic,” Dr. Nikolic said. “Everything we do here - from treating patients to running a business - I learned from him and the terrific people working there.”

Immediately after Katrina, Dr. Nikolic weighed her options to stay in Louisiana. “I had several job offers to leave; more to improve my quality of life than anything else. But soon after the storm, I had a feel, and the energy, that I was needed right here. This

place came up for sale and I took a risk to really invest in this community.”

On November 1, 2007, Dr. Nikolic, with the help of her father (who possesses a Ph.D. degree) and mother (a long-time private business owner), opened New Orleans Urgent Care on Magazine Street, within walking distance of the city’s Central Business District. She recalled, “I needed my parents to help me. Mom greeted the patients at the reception desk when they walked in and dad took care of the business side. On average we’re treating 20 patients a day; from locals to tourists to professionals in town who are shooting movies – anyone who needs medical care, and many without insurance. Since Katrina, the uninsured population is not being treated. We are a one-stop shop, walk-in clinic. I’m thrilled, one year later, that I’ve learned a lot of things they didn’t teach you in medical school; especially how to run a business. We know we are making a difference. We really feel we are part

David Bowser

of the community by just being here.”

What’s happening at the Urgent Care Clinic is a classic recovery story during a time of crisis that appears to affect two different areas. First, sections of the city continue to lack in-patient care, forcing many New Orleanians to seek services, in many cases, up to 30 miles away from where they are rebuilding their homes. For instance, new satellite clinics like “Crescent City Physicians” have recently opened in the eastern section of the city. Dr. Thanh Nguyen of the facility explained the reason for the clinic, saying, “This location makes us more accessible to our Vietnamese patients, whose culture sometimes makes them reluctant to visit doctors, especially if they have to go outside their own neighborhoods.”

The second involves the area’s large military population. Due to Katrina, the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHSC) still cannot provide in-patient care for the estimated 170,000 veterans living

Winter 2008 in a regional 23-parish system. At present, VA services are carried out by a handful of outpatient clinics in St. Tammany, St. John the Baptist and Tangipahoa parishes.

Despite these and other current challenges, the future looks bright. A recent report from The American Journal of the Medical Sciences shows that more medical professionals return at a rate that has pushed their per-capita number above the national average. Also, the state of Louisiana is behind an ambitious plan to replace the Medical Center of Louisiana New Orleans (MCLNO). The future goal is a new economy for southeastern Louisiana, with New Orleans at the epicenter: A revamped downtown corridor housing a major medical training and research center.

Arguably, it will take years before this multi-million dollar project gets off the ground. Despite the hopes of increased healthcare options, economic development and job creation, state health officials acknowledge the new hospital

complex can only be financially viable if it is large enough to accommodate the region’s uninsured population while, at the same time, it also attracts insured patients who now seek care in the private sector.

While state health officials work out the many complex details to determine how to finance the huge project, clinics like New Orleans Urgent Care are urban pioneers. They are a beacon of light for a patient population that is in need of health care now, while offering medical care to a segment of the community that is traditionally underserved.

Note: The State of Louisiana has already determined that Charity Hospital will not be re-opened as a hospital. However, there are no immediate plans to demolish the building that was ruined by the floodwaters following the federal levee failures caused by Hurricane Katrina.

If it is determined stable, the historically significant structure can potentially be rehabilitated for a variety of uses, including residential and retail.

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To get to New Orleans you don’t pass through anywhere else. That geographical location, being aloof, lets it hold onto the ritual of its own pace more than other places that have to keep up with the progress.

- Allen Toussaint

Homes “Comeback” in Holy Cross Edward Hornick Editor-in-Chief

Housing in New Orleans received an essential boost in 2008, thanks to the support of numerous rebuilding groups working with everyone from local contractors to national non-profits. Among the most promising initiatives with potential to help in 2009 is Operation: Comeback. The Preservation Resource Center, working with the Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Development and the National Trust for Historic Preservation have begun constructing a series of eight single family homes in Holy Cross. At a Friday October 10th Press Conference at the site of the

first unit, 500 Lizardi Street, PRC Executive Director Patricia Gay called the first of the homes a welcome addition to the neighborhood’s “unique, non-replaceable buildings.”

Kevin Mercadel with the NTHP called the home “a design that can be expanded,” saying that “it really stands out as far as their revitalization strategies.”

Director Gray explained that, as this is the first home in the project, it was encumbered slightly by “bureaucratic ropes.” The expected time for construction on future units is three months. She also placed the cost of building at between 38 and 39 thousand dollars, and added that the project has been able to secure an additional dozen lots. Pam Bryan with the Project provided background on it by explaining that they were awarded the site in November

of 2007, in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Landmarks Commission. After that, soil tests and contractor bids took an additional eight months. When asked about

are currently available at $95,000. Learn more at www. prcno.org.

“People are frustrated by slowness, but hopeful of a symbolic catalyst.” reactions to Project Comeback, Bryan answered that the houses are “generating a lot of interest . . . people are frustrated by slowness, but hopeful of a symbolic catalyst.” The next three properties, which include sites at 6206 St. Maurice and 5205 Dauphin, will be built simultaneously.

Lowe’s supplied the materials for building. Homes

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NPN’s The Trumpet

Ogden art inspires reflection The permanent collection represents hundreds of artists with styles ranging from 19th century portraiture, landscape Boasting a comprehensive and cityscapes, to modern collection, the Ogden Museum and contemporary works in of Southern Art is the first abstraction, as well as outstanding museum in Louisiana to become accomplishments in photography, a Smithsonian affiliate. Heralded sculpture and crafts. as a “Portal to the South” (with However, the Ogden has far respect to well-known siblings more to offer New Orleans and like Southern music, literature America than its repository and cuisine), the Ogden is on of treasures. One of the first the frontier of defining Southern cultural institutions to return after visual art.

Katrina, despite loss of staff and The collection began in 1966, homes, it has expanded to become when an LSU student persuaded a place of refuge and stimulation, his father to buy his mother and a “center for survival and an early 20th century work renewal for the public, hosting by renowned artist Alexander artists, musicians and craftsman Drysdale, highly regarded for who lost studios to have refuge moody kerosene and oil wash and stimulation.” In addition canvases of Louisiana’s primeval to hosting design contests that landscape. Fast forward fortyfeatured rebuilding solutions, two years and the museum, the Museum sought to give a public-private partnership practical options that conveyed between Roger Ogden and the possibilities while carrying on University of New Orleans, aesthetic work to preserve the has recently celebrated its fifth culture so integral to a city like anniversary at the facility on New Orleans.

Camp Street near historic Lee As an AmeriCorps* VISTA Circle. If you’re among the many member this year on the curatorial that enjoy its weekly Thursday staff, the main part of my job is night After Hours featuring live Southern music, cash bar and open galleries, you’re probably familiar with its sandstone, glass and steel atrium with four floors of cantilevered steps.

However, what makes a collection of Southern art unique is how closely related it is to people of the South and the region’s complex and multi-faceted history and culture, or how well it traces the industrial development of the Southern United States from an agrarian, slave-based economy to a network of major metropolitan cities and urban communities. The Ogden’s collection showcases the art that weaves stories about the land, its families, race, religion and daily life. Encompassed by ‘the South’ are fifteen states, including the District of Columbia.

Michael Barr, Curatorial Assistant, Ogden Museum of Southern Art

to inventory the collection so that it is accessible (and locate-able physically!) through a database.

On a gallery tour I gave to an 8th grader who came to the museum for New Orleans Outreach’s career day. She hailed from the nearby Melpomene housing units and was quite surprised to see, in our office space, a sidewalk sign with her street name artistically rendered on it. Dressed in fine white linen and yellow heels, she shyly inquired at one of the galleries: “Is this what a museum is?”

It was her first trip to an art museum.

The exhibits currently on view reflect the Ogden’s range and scope, from the Catholic surrealist sensibility of Gonzales to the visionary activism of father and son artists George and Benny Andrews. Of local interest, Walkertown Elementary students with artist Gina Phillips created neighborhood mosaics to reflect their ‘Sense of Place’ and the photo gallery shows intimate portraits of John McDonogh High School students by Lisa Sylvestri.

The conceptual glittering art

of Louisiana native and UNO graduate Margaret Evangeline forms a major exhibit entitled Silver Bullets and Holy Water.

Based in New York, her shotthrough work (she aims guns at aluminum backing) is nationally recognized for its dynamism. An accompanying video piece, eXile, poignantly reveals the artist’s restlessness and longing for New Orleans after Katrina.

Another major installation, internationally recognized photographer Sally Mann’s What Remains, forms a haunting meditation on mortality. Mann’s large-scale, sometimes graphic prints adopt the 9th century gelatin silver process in which each image takes up to five minutes to capture. Though dark themes and subject matter are present, her loving feel for family, farmland and the battlefields of Antietam is most remarkable.

A ‘museum without walls,’ the Ogden’s educational efforts aim to make art less mysterious and better understood for the emotions it captures and the stories it conveys. Bridging artists with local schools and the

Winter 2008

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One of the first cultural institutions to return after Katrina, the Ogden has become a place of refuge and stimulation. visiting public, the Ogden acts to inspire and encourage creativity as it reveals the techniques that artists use to achieve their magical (or at least memorable) effects. Whatever trepidation students arrive with about “boring works of art” is overcome as their imagination and appreciation grows through the feelings of being included in the show.

Thus, the art of the O reaches beyond one building to collect, preserve, and present the storied visual legacy of a region. A reminder of the South’s unique identity and colorful character,

E! T A D THEEW ORLEANS E V A S GREATER N N CENTER

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12

NPN’s The Trumpet

Busy summer for Dryades YMCA Phillip Manuel, Dryades YMCA

Headed up by International and Special Projects Director, Alicia Oliver, the Dryades YMCA Teen Leadership Development programs that take place throughout the year culminated into a busy summer for the venerable Central City organization. More than 150 teens and young adults were directly served and more than 8000 young people affected by the variety of educational and enriching experiences provided through the Dryades YMCA and its partnerships.

bill passed into law in the mock legislative sessions.

Through their experiences in the club and at the conference, the teens learned valuable lessons about the legislative process, the importance of voting, coalition building and lobbying, and how their lives are directly affected by the political system.

Andrew Young International Academy

Ten Young Y Ambassadors selected from the McDonogh 35 Senior High School Jazz Ensemble along with three volunteers (two parents and a Dryades Teen Leadership band assistant) attended and Development programs include performed at the YMCA 2008 Youth & Government, Andrew Europe Festival, August 3-9 in Young International Academy, Prague, in the Czech Republic. and YMCA Collegiate Achievers The festival, themed “Real Life Pilot Project. This summer, has no Borders,” celebrated a teens also participated in the worldwide YMCA fellowship Brown University Summer and addressed the challenges Leadership Institute, the YMCA that young people face across Christian Values Conference the globe. The band, garbed and the YMCA Europe Festival, in their Dryades YMCA logo and as on-site summer student shirts, paraded through the workers. streets of Old Town and played a mini concert in Wenceslas Youth and Government Square. Crowds gathered, and the children and adults of Prague and tourists from around Facilitated by advisors from the world danced to the sounds their schools, 125 teens from of New Orleans’ Jazz and eight Greater New Orleans Second-line music.

High Schools participated in Prior to traveling, academy the Dryades YMCA Youth participants undergo leadership & Government Program in and ambassador training, service order to prepare for the Youth learning, cultural exploration, Legislature. and planning for exporting arts projects across borders.

Youth Legislature is held every year in Baton Rouge as a culminating event for Brown University Hi-Y Youth and Government club activities. The Dryades Interest, scholarship, delegation included sixty application, and essays afforded delegates who wrote and three Hi-Y members the debated bills on real-life issues opportunity to participate in that impact their everyday a Brown University summer lives. The goal is to have the program entitled “Leadership

and the Civil Rights Movement: A Case Study in Social Activism.” In the course, the students examined the leadership styles of major civil rights leaders such as Dave Dennis, Ella Baker, Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Medgar Evers and learned about the roles organizations such as SNCC, CORE, SCLC and the NAACP played. They also explored how “freedom songs” played a significant part in the Movement helping to inspire and empower the activists.

During their two-week stay, the trio socialized with hundreds of teens from around the country and experienced what college life can be like.

Under the Collegiate Achievers Pilot Project, two SUNO students have served for the past year as local leaders in anational action research project to discover ways for students families, communitybased organizations and colleges to work together to improve retention and college graduation rates among low income, minority and first generation college students.

The project was launched in November, 2006 with over a half-million dollar grant from the Lumina Foundation for Education. With support from YMCA USA, 24 college interns from around the country have served with 10 YMCA. Findings from their collective research will be available in late November.

YMCA Christian Values Conference Fifteen Dryades YMCA 13 to 19 year olds expanded their leadership horizons at the 2008 YMCA Christian Values Conference entitled “How Far?” The weeklong conference was held at

beautiful Black Mountain in North Carolina. Teens facilitated “family” groups, discussed relevant teen issues and solutions that emphasized sound moral beliefs. The also held theme parties, a talent show and wacky relays and other activities designed to encourage participation and positive life skills.

Winter 2008

13

An Uncomfortable “Yea” One of the major presences behind the Citizen Participation Program discusses the reality of granting the Master Plan force of Keith Twitchell, President, CBNO/MAC How should we respond when someone tries to do the right thing the wrong way?

Giving the New Orleans Master Plan the force of law is absolutely the right thing to do. The current ad hoc system for making zoning and land use decisions neither protects neighborhoods nor promotes the economic developments that our city needs. A clear and predictable system, one that is easily understood by citizens and developers alike, is critical to our future. Many of those who oppose the November ballot proposal that would give the Master Plan force of law agree with the concept; their objections are to the timing of the proposal. In turn, I agree with them about the timing and additionally, about the process that was used to develop the language for the proposed charter amendment.

Perhaps a quick history of how this proposal came about would help provide context for a discussion of content, timing and process. In August 2006, the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) went public with three proposed amendments to the city charter.

One was to give the Master Plan force of law, one was to create a permanent citizen participation program, and one was to remove the City Council from day-to-day land use and zoning decisions. The last proposal was (surprise!) very controversial, and the proposals went nowhere.

Earlier this year, a small group of people produced a new charter amendment. This proposal was based on the BGR work, but substantially

rewritten with the guidance of outside consultants. The original three proposed amendments were written down to a single amendment, largely focusing on giving the Master Plan force of law but including a few items regarding citizen participation and reducing the Council’s role in land use and zoning.

With their revised proposal in hand, this group asked

by approving the force of law concept before we see the Master Plan itself (and by the way, would you like lipstick with that pig?). I strenuously disagree with the argument that all of this is a veiled attempt to shrink the footprint of the city and prevent our displaced citizens from returning home.

The “shrink the footprint” argument was over two years ago, and bringing it back up at

and neighbors to the process.

Putting this Plan together with just the usual suspects, no matter how well-intentioned, is a perilous path.

In addition, we need to make sure that we develop a powerful Citizen Participation Program, and make it part of the Master Plan – where it too will have force of law. NPN, CBNO/MAC and its many partners are working on this

We absolutely must participate in the process of developing the Master Plan, and do everything in our power to bring our families, friends and neighbors to the process. right now, serving a large

some community associations to support it, and also went to Councilmember Jackie Clarkson, who subsequently got the proposal through the City Council and on to the November 4th ballot. While some input on the proposal was accepted, this was fundamentally not an open or transparent process; in fact, it was mostly top-down and certainly did not offer any opportunity for widespread community input.

The rationale for this rush to judgment focuses on two suppositions. One is that the current City Council is accepting of this, but a future Council may not be. The second is that if citizens know that the Master Plan has force of law, they will be more likely to participate in its creation.

I disagree. I see no reason whatsoever to rush forward with this, especially at the cost of providing the community with a chance to provide its input.

However, I also disagree with those who say that we are buying “a pig in a poke”

this time is totally misleading and absurd.

The Master Plan will always be a living document. Included in the charter amendment is the fact that the Plan must be reviewed at least every five years, and may be reviewed as often as once per year. So, even if we waited to see the initial Master Plan, and made our approval of it a condition for voting to give it force of law, it could still be changed in the future in ways we do not like.

However, if we do not give the Master Plan force of law, its value as a tool for neighborhood protection and revitalization is very low. That is why, regardless of timing and process, passing this amendment is the right thing to do.

That said, this definitely raises the stakes for us the citizens. We absolutely must participate in the process of developing the Master Plan, and do everything in our power to bring our families, friends

and diverse group of citizens who are leading the way in developing the CPP. However, we still need to include more people, from more backgrounds and more communities, in this process.

The master planning process could be something that unites our community, which so often is divided in so many ways.

Similar processes have been wonderful community uniters in other cities, like Birmingham Alabama.

Regardless of whether or not the charter amendment does pass on November, I hope and pray that you will participate in the Master Plan and Citizen Participation processes going forward. If we all come together, we may find that our vision for our city’s future is in fact one that is shared across many lines of race and class.

We may even find that our voices united behind our vision can move mountains – and even City Hall.

14

NPN’s The Trumpet

A spork in the road: Rethink targets school Orissa Arend Pierre Principal Communications

If, like me, you have never heard of a spork, you are probably one or two steps removed from the latest cutting edge oppression (not that it really cuts anything) that is being perpetrated on our students. A spork is a pathetic, brittle sliver of white plastic whose non-handle end looks like a scoop wearing a fourpointed crown. It’s some new-age designer’s idea of an all-purpose eating tool. However, according to the school children who actually use the thing, it only frustrates. It neither cuts nor pricks nor scoops.

It pollutes the environment and has become so ubiquitous that you’ve got to believe somebody’s making millions off of its distribution.

Instead of this and other examples of top-down problem solving, consider some ideas from the students who often find themselves at the bottom of the decisionmaking chain within the public school system. At a press conference held by Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools on July 24, at an art gallery in the Seventh Ward, the students presented Recovery School District Superintendent Paul Vallas, as well as four school principals, the head of Capital Improvements for the RSD and other dignitaries with the results of their extensive research on school cafeterias and the contents of proper school lunches.

The institutional heads listened for two hours and took copious notes on the presentation, led by nineteen middle-school Rethinkers and a few younger Prethinkers (standing on chairs to reach the microphone and snapping pictures with cameras about a third as big as they were).

“After all,” said 8-year-old George Dixie Carter III, “we are the experts on education! We go to these schools every day!”

The Rethinkers proceeded to roll out a riveting and informative multimedia presentation describing who they are, what they have learned and their twelve recommendations for public schools in New Orleans.

Today, public schools in New Orleans are considered a national experiment. There are five kinds of schools: Schools operated by the State Recovery School District (RSD), schools chartered by the Recovery School District, schools operated by the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB), schools chartered by the OPSB and schools chartered by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).

Additionally, some students are receiving vouchers to attend private or parochial schools. Without a practical critique, this “experiment” could end up in some hybrid travesty akin to a spork.

“Dignity in our Louisiana . . .”

Rethinkers believe that every public school student in New Orleans deserves the same topquality education – no matter their family income or the color of their skin. They believe that students should be part of rebuilding public schools after Hurricane Katrina.

Jane Wholey, director of Rethink, says that children on the free and reduced lunch program eat 80% of their calories at school (breakfast, lunch, and snack). “With attention disorders, youth obesity and diabetes reaching epidemic proportions, schools desperately need to rethink the cafeteria diet . . . we are creating the bodies of the next generation,” she explained.

At the recent Rethink press conference, middle-schoolers Jada Cooper and Arieanna McKnight talked about how they value their dignity and health. “Part of dignity in our Louisiana culture means

eating with a knife, fork and spoon,” Arieanna said. “Cutting mystery meat with the sharp edge of a broken spork, slurping gumbo with a straw or plunging our hands into gravy to rip up chicken – it’s just not right,” added Jada.

After making their point in a skit where life-sized utensils wore red capes and defended their functions, Rethinkers presented their first recommendation: No more sporks. Another was: Buy fresh food from local farmers, fishermen and shrimpers because it is healthier, supports the local economy and saves fuel. They protested eco-hazardous Styrofoam trays and presented cafeteria designs incorporating good lighting, comfortable chairs, murals, vegetable gardens and outdoor eating spaces. “Design cafeterias that you adults would like to eat in yourselves,” stressed Rethinker Victoria Carter. “We are at school from seven in the morning ‘til five p.m. Lunch is our relaxation time.

No more herding students into the cafeteria, standing in long lines and rushing us to eat. Our time eating is as important as our time in class.”

She added, “Do not tie punishment to food and cafeterias. Why should students have to eat in silence? It’s mean and denies our voice.”

Rethinkers value their health.

They ask that preservatives, chemicals and highly sweetened items be kept to a minimum.

They traveled to Grand Isle and visited Margaret Curole, the North American Coordinator of the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fish Workers, and Dean Blanchard of Dean Blanchard Seafood – the largest shrimp distributor in the U.S. They learned that Grand Isle is one of the shrimp capitols of the world and yet “a lot of the shrimp we eat is cloned shrimp from China.

These cloned shrimp are raised in dangerous chemicals to keep them clean and pink. We do not want

this!” Rethinker Alisa Hall said.

“By supporting local shrimpers, not only will we help preserve the shrimpers’ traditional way of life, we will have healthier bodies.” She added, “The quicker you get food from the ground to your mouth, the better it is for you.”

The young people didn’t neglect the intangible dimensions of the problem. Rethinker Lucy Tucker said that “Food represents more than nourishment of the body; it’s a time for family, conversation and nourishment of the soul. Food is love.”

The history of Rethink Rethink was formed in July, 2006 as families began to return from their exile to re-enroll their children in a school system staggering back to its feet after the storm. The enforced “year abroad” was a unique and somewhat traumatizing time in the lives of young New Orleanians.

For many, it had also been a first glimpse of schooling far better than they had known in the notoriously dysfunctional New Orleans system.

Out of that situation a single idea with dynamic ramifications emerged, that school children with proper guidance could participate in the dialogue about schools and be deeply empowered.

During the summer of 2007, with the help of an architecture student from the University of California, Berkeley, the students created a computer fly-over tour of an environmentally “green” public school bathroom as a way of addressing serious social and sanitation problems. Their design will be included in the Public Schools Facilities Master Plan for the City of New Orleans. Last year’s press conference was a key factor, according to RSD officials, in Vallas’s decision to renovate over 300 school bathrooms that summer.

Winter 2008

VAYLA-NO speak out in support of Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools at a July 24th press conference.

This year at the press conference, Vallas stood off to the side wearing a light blue shirt and a splashy red, blue and yellow tie of stylized children playing. He scribbled fast on his notepad. The Vietnamese youth of VAYLA-NO (Vietnamese American Youth Leaders Association of New Orleans) came back right after the storm and have already racked up some significant organizing victories, like helping to close the landfill in New Orleans East.

Alongside several other groups, they attended the press conference and supported the Rethinkers.

I know it is superficial, but I couldn’t help being intrigued by the visual contrast of the spiky, standup hair-dos of the boys and the long straight tresses of the girls amid the dark, curly heads and one or two blonds. The Kingdom of Heaven must look something like this, fused with all that youthful idealism and energy. Broderick Webb, a big, burly supporter of the Fyre Youth Squad was so moved by the array of youth leadership that he cried when it was his turn at the microphone.

“This kind of assessment is better than any LEAP test,” he said.

The high-tech part of the program mostly went right over my head.

The Rethinkers were unveiling their interactive web prototype video game “Ultimate Lunch Tray,” created in collaboration with the Globaloria program of the World Wide Workshop Foundation. Don’t ask me how they designed this game or what a wiki producer, a Flash animation file or a digital artifact is.

I haven’t a clue, but I do know that in the process of designing their game, these youngsters have moved from passive consumers of technology to its active producers. I could relate to little Ronaldo’s description of his learning curve: “It was complicated because in the beginning I didn’t know how to do anything.”

The computer magic didn’t stop with the game. This year’s “flyover” was an electronic tour of their dream cafeteria.

When Vallas took the mic – and he had waited a long time for his turn – he called the Rethinkers a “terrific group to work with, polite yet aggressive.” He labeled their director and founder, Jane Wholey, a visionary, and said that lots of groups complain, but not many offer

solutions. He thanked the Rethinkers for last year’s recommendations about bathrooms and security.

“The days of the schools being like medium security prisons are over,” he added.

He went on to say that schools built post-Katrina will be environmentally sound and that the energy savings will be money in the classroom. The first batch of schools to be built, commonly called the “Quick Start” schools, are already designed and have nice cafeterias and dishwashers. Moreover, the new Sodexo food contract (Sodexo provides food for all RSD schools in New Orleans) “allows us to make additional demands on them, including more locally produced food. We can buy all local if we want to. We have no contractual obligations.” Vallas then warned the local shrimpers and farmers at the news conference, “Just make your prices competitive.”

Vonda Richardson and Glyen Holmes from the New North Florida Cooperative brought huge bags of fresh cut collard greens, sweet potato sticks and green beans. They spoke of their experience in linking

15

Colin M. Lenton

schools with local fresh produce.

Since 1995 they have worked with over 70 school districts to serve over one million children in five southern states to enhance nutrition for school menus while bolstering the local market for small-scale farmers.

Rethink is taking the huge step this year of starting after-school Rethink clubs at four public schools – two RSD-operated and two charters. This, they hope, is a first step toward building a nationwide Rethink movement. At the news conference, Superintendent Paul Vallas offered to open Rethink clubs at all 22 of the directlyoperated RSD schools. Teachers who sponsor a club, he said, would receive a stipend. Rethink director Jane Wholey reported that although she was thrilled by the offer, they’ll have to take things at a slower pace to insure quality clubs.

Senator Mary Landrieu sent a representative to compliment the Rethinkers on “a creative solution to a complex problem” and to let them know that “Many people much your senior could learn from your example.”

Let’s just hope they will.

16

NPN’s The Trumpet

The documentary of the year

Local story offers new, moving insights into Katrina’s aftermath Edward Hornick Editor-in-Chief

In the past month, both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Man on Wire the Best Documentary of 2008.

However, meaning no offense to director James Marsh’s film, they were wrong. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble the Water, a record of one family during Hurricane Katrina and their search for shelter and security after the storm, is not only the best documentary of this year, but one of the best of the decade.

Two years ago, Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke set the bar for filmic investigations of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Lee’s four-hour film, the result of numerous visits to the city and countless interviews, is essential viewing for understanding the lack of preparation that led to the levee failure, as well as the history of New Orleans and hurricanes.

Trouble the Water is an important companion piece to the earlier film for how it captures, on the ground level, the effects of the devastation.

As the film opens, 9th Ward resident Kimberly Rivers Roberts has just gotten her first video camera. She documents the dayto-day routines of her friends and neighbors, while asking what their plans for the upcoming storm are.

Viewers are shocked to see what appears to be nonchalance become worry and fear, all captured on her camera. In a moment that recalls the faux-documentary style that made The Blair Witch Project so unsettling, the recording cuts out (and of course, it’s more shocking because it’s real). What follows is a charming and inspirational story that depicts this woman and her

Kimberly Rivers Roberts, AKA Black Kold Madina, and Scott Roberts back in New Orleans.

husband, Scott Roberts, struggling to put their lives together as they come to comprehend more and more of the horror of the storm.

It’s difficult to describe just what makes the new film Trouble the Water so compelling. The film compiles more than two years of footage and perspectives from before, during and after Hurricane Katrina to create a story that is both an inspirational survival story and a shocking call to attention and urgency.

Stark and shocking scenes of a devastated New Orleans are contrasted to great effect with Kimberly’s optimism. The forward way in which she introduces herself to others, whether they be fellow New Orleanians or government officials, is fascinating to watch and hints at one of the movie’s greatest strengths – even when it seems that others are losing hope, she has an optimism and courage that draws and pushes others.

One of the movie’s strengths is how well it reveals these characters’ backgrounds and stories without seeming melodramatic or forced.

Directors Lessin and Deal expand on Roberts’ original footage without losing its meaning. In that way, Trouble the Water must be considered both for the material it presents and the thematic presentation. As we live in the generation of cellphone cameras and Youtube, it’s fascinating to consider a movie that is able to elaborate on found footage and engage us with the people who made it. Shortly after watching the film, I was fortunate to speak with Scott Roberts and asked him about the process of trusting other filmmakers with the story. He responded that when the other filmmakers became involved, “were doing their editing and all, they wanted to show it to us early, but we wanted to see the progress . . . we asked them to do one thing, to ‘keep it real,’ [and] they couldn’t have told the story better than how they did.”

I asked him if there was any footage that did not make it into the movie, and Roberts told me that he and his wife have “over two hours of footage” for a

indiewire.org

planned “progress report,” and that his wife has started film courses while he works at managing their record label, bornhustlerrecords. com. Most importantly, I wanted Roberts’ opinion on the finished movie, and how he feels it portrays him and his situation. I was grateful for his honesty as he explained that “everything that’s in the movie is real, we don’t hide nothing, everything that was out there is meant to be seen. I’m glad that it has been seen. Everyone needs to know about how it is, why people are doing the things that they’re doing. I don’t regret nothing.”

Beyond the film is a very real face to not only hope in New Orleans, but the necessity for telling stories. In a year with stories about stories blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, it’s a welcome relief to see such a candid, honest film with no pretenses beyond capturing truth. I will be very surprised if this movie doesn’t take home the gold on Oscar night, and am very excited for any/all future projects form its makers.

Winter 2008

Community Events Neighborhood Meetings

Freret Neighbors United April 8, 6 p.m.

Broadmoor Improvement Associa- Green Charter Middle School, 2319 Valence Street tion dgancarz@juno.com January 19, 7 p.m.

St. Matthias Church, 4230 South Pontilly Neighborhood Association Broad Street Meeting http://www.broadmoorimproveSecond Saturdays 11 a.m. ment.com/ April 12 St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church Bywater Neighborhood Association Filmore Gardens January 13 7 p.m.

Fourth Thursday Holy Angels Concert Hall, 3500 January 22, 6:30 p.m.

St. Claude Ave. Rouses Lakefront Bunny Friends Gentilly Sugar Hill Neighborhood January 10, noon Greater Mt. Carmel 3721 N. Clai- Association January 19, 6:00 p.m. borne Ave VOA 2900 St. Anthony Avenue Carrollton United Gentilly Heights East NeighborJanuary 5, 8:30 a.m.

Greater St. John Missionary Bap- hood Association January 19 tist Church Dillard University 8616 Hickory Street ghena2b@yahoo.com (504)-957-0585 Gentilly Heights/Vascoville Central City Partnership January 12, 6:00 p.m.

January 30, 1 p.m.

2020 Jackson Avenue, second floor St. Leo the Great 2916 Paris Avenue Claiborne University NeighborGentilly Terrace and Gardens hood Association January 14, 7:00 p.m.

January 29, 7 p.m.

Jewish Community Center, 5342 Gentilly Terrace School (504) 280-7120 or president@genSt. Charles Avenue tillyterrace.org Desaix Neighborhood Association Hollygrove January 10, 10 a.m.

Saturdays, 12 p.m.

St. Leo the Great St. Peter AME Church 2916 Paris Ave 3424 Eagle Street District 6 Community Council Holy Cross Every other Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Every Thursday, 5:30pm.

University of New Orleans, Old Business Administrator Building, Center for Sustainability, Greater Little Zion Missionary Baptist Room 211 Church, 5130 Chartres, Lizardi Faubourg St. Roch Improvement and Chartres Association Lake Bullard Homeowners AssoJanuary 8, ciation True Vine Baptist Church Saturdays, 3 p.m.

2008 Marigny Street

Cornerstone United Methodist Church 5276 Bullard Ave. Lake Catherine Janaury 13, 7:00 p.m.

George’s (last house on Hospital Road) (985) 259-1204 Leonidas/Pensiontown Neighborhood Association January 13 Mid City Neighborhood Organization 6:30 p.m.

Grace Episcopal Church 3700 Canal St. Milan Neighborhood Association 7 p.m.

Junior League HQ, 4319 Carondelet Milneburg Neighborhood Association January 22, Juju Bag, 5363 Franklin Avenue Lake Bullard Homeowners Association Saturdays, 3 p.m.

Cornerstone United Methodist Church 5276 Bullard Ave. Rosedale Subdivision January 9, 2008 St. Roch April 10, 6 p.m.

May 8, 6pm True Vine Baptist Church, 2008 Marigny Street Historic Faubourg Treme Neighborhood Tunisburg Square Homeowners Civic Association, Inc. January 12, 6:30 3225 Lamarque Street

17

Local Events NoLA Rising and United for Peace Paint Party Saturday, January 10, 1 p.m.

3000 Block of St. Peter Come out and join Susan “Willow” Schroeder and the artists of NoLA Rising in honoring her son David, who was murdered in 2001. Paint the change that you wish to see!

Cripple Creek Theatre Bailout!

January 10, 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.

2900 Grand Route St. John $10 gets you all the soup and libations you can consume. Support local theater!

Broadmoor Improvement Association and KaTREEna Planting Saturday, January 17 Seeking five to six volunteers contact Nancy Adams at nanscholar@gmail.com for more info!

Sankofa Marketplace Saturday, January 10, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Corner of Caffin and St. Claude in the Lower 9th Ward

18

NPN’s The Trumpet

Angel Food Ministries in Broadmoor quality groceries to over 500,000 families nationwide.

The decision to bring Angel

On the morning of Saturday Food Ministries to Broadmoor July 25th, 186 Broadmoor families resulted from the desire of the Broadmoor Improvement waited in the day chapel of the Association and the Church of the Church of the Annunciation to Annunciation to serve the critical receive their first box of Angel food needs of their constituents.

Food groceries. Earlier that morning, volunteers had assembled The BIA discovered through its case management system, a service grocery boxes teeming with items that addresses the rebuilding and like rib-eye steaks, vegetables, quality of life needs of its residents, pasta, milk and eggs - all of that a majority of its 200 high-need which had been delivered fresh clients were food insecure; that is, to the church that morning by they could not consistently provide Angel Food Ministries. Now, 186 healthy, nutritious meals for grocery boxes were passing from themselves or their families. At the volunteers to those Broadmoor same time, the Church was looking families. for a social ministry that had a

It was not the Church direct impact on a large number of of the Annunciation’s first the constituents. experience with large scale food “When the BIA approached distribution. In the wake of us about providing Angel Food Hurricane Katrina, the Church groceries to residents, we served provisions to over 30,000 immediately jumped on board,” New Orleanians, forming one of the largest private relief initiatives says Duane Nettles, the director of Annunciation Mission, the social in the city. However, the Angel ministry division of the Church of Food distribution on July 25th the Annunciation. “We recognize was a day for celebration, rather that the need for affordable than struggle. The Angel Food groceries is universal. Because grocery boxes provided to Broadmoor residents were paid for Angel Food Ministries is open to all people, we knew that we could by the Broadmoor Improvement Association in an effort to promote have a powerful impact on all members of our community—from neighborhood participation in the college student to the elderly; the Church of the Annunciation’s from the low income to the middle inaugural month as an Angel Foods host site. Instead of being a class families of four.”

The partnership allowed response to disaster, the opening of Angel Foods at Annunciation was a each organization to capitalize on its own resources and strengths to triumphant sign of recovery. make Angel Food a success. The

Angel Food Ministries is BIA is responsible for promoting a national non-profit organization Angel Food, which was carried founded in 1994 that sells out primarily through the “Try monthly grocery boxes filled Before You Buy Campaign,” in with supermarket quality meats, which the BIA bought participants’ dairy, grain, vegetables and fruits July box of groceries to give for half their supermarket prices. them the chance to try the Angel Supported by the USDA, Angel Food program risk-free. Using its Food Ministries has no eligibility knowledge and access to residents, requirements and accepts food the BIA recruited 186 participants stamps. The program operates in six days by sending postcards through local host sites, such as to high-need residents in its case the Church of the Annunciation, management system, advertising to serve fresh, healthy and highJakara Mato, Corporate Communications Specialist

through an e-mail blast and on their website and distributing 349 flyers at local churches, neighborhood events and meetings and at social groups, such as the senior citizens’ Broadmoor Young at Heart. On the other side, the Church uses its experience with large scale distribution to run the day to day operations of Angel Food, which include the ordering, payment and monthly distribution of groceries and the recruitment of volunteers. This partnership allows both organizations to share responsibility, reach more people and build community constituents.

To address residents’ food needs promptly, the Church of the Annunciation and the Broadmoor Improvement Association used two innovative measures to implement the Angel Foods program in Broadmoor in less than one month. First, the Church worked with a nearby Angel Food host site, St. Charles Avenue Christian Church, to become a satellite site for serving the Broadmoor neighborhood. Until the Church is approved as an official host site in January 2009, it places its bulk grocery orders through the St. Charles Avenue Church. This partnership allows the Church of the Annunciation to immediately provide Angel Food to its constituents without having to wait ten-to-twelve weeks for official host site approval, as well as to start small and gain experience before becoming an official host site.

The second innovative measure was the Broadmoor Improvement Association’s “Try Before You Buy Campaign,” which kicked off neighborhood participation in the program and accelerated word-of-mouth advertising. The campaign allowed the program to start in under a week and with a large participant base.

“By purchasing residents’ July boxes of groceries, we invest

in the future of the program, says Hal Roark, director of the Broadmoor Development Corporation, the redevelopment division of the BIA. “We are confident that once someone tries the food, they’ll reorder and tell their friends to order as well.”

Moreover, the “Try Before You Buy Campaign” reached out to residents who were otherwise unlikely to try Angel Foods, either because of lack of extra spending money or the skepticism and stigma often attached to food programs.

“Many people weren’t expecting Angel Food groceries to be good,” says Jean Selders, who helps run Angel Food at Annunciation. “The food you get through federal food programs is often low-quality and doesn’t include fresh produce, and people thought that Angel Foods would be the same. But once they tried the food, they were surprised by the quality. Out of the 186 families that received a free July box of groceries, 113 returned to buy their own boxes in August, a testament to the effectiveness of the “Try Before You Buy Campaign.”

Angel Food Ministries operates on the belief that every person can benefit from affordable, healthy, high quality groceries.

The diversity of participants in the Angel Food at Annunciation program exemplifies this creed.

Participants include college students who prefer Angel Food steaks instead of the usual ramen as well as senior citizens like Louis Baldwin, who is working but, in his words, “trying to make it” and views Angel Foods as a “great help.” People at all economic levels participate.

Nicole Ben, director of the youth camp at First Presbyterian Church, recognizes how Angel Foods helps middle-class families, saying “I’m glad that someone is doing something. In my case and with a lot of the families that I work

Winter 2008 with at the church, we are not necessarily the ones who are used to pinching pennies. However, with the rising cost of everything, any help is a big help. I have three children and a bill of $200 every week for groceries. This program gives me the staples to carry me a little further.”

The inclusiveness of Angel Food Ministries makes it an especially effective tool in this city’s recovery. “We are trying to rebuild and it’s taken all of our resources,” says Marcie Courtney, a participant in the Church of Annunciation’s Angel Foods program. “The idea of groceries at half cost is great - it helps and takes the edge off a little bit.”

The national Angel Food Ministries organization also recognizes the importance of its services in New Orleans. “I was personally down in New Orleans after Katrina,” says Doug Metcalfe, Angel Food Ministries’ Media and Communications

WHEN VOICES SWELL Speak, oh tongues Of mortal men From deep within and out A language full with passion And with words that talk about What in heartfelt feelings weigh Heavy on ones breast That which needs be said For love to speak Its utter best But the sound Of this expression Now, far too loud for ears to hear Expounded in the anger And by delicate awares Exalted by the other Meaning of the words Is the sentiment – unspoken By those seeking to be heard What does it mean When voices swell Entangled in that wishing well For nothing but to dis a ditch Where one might fall Thereby the pitch?

What did he say?

What did she utter?

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Director. “I know that to rebuild THERE IS A PLACE their lives people need some help.

Angel Foods’ heart - from its There is a place inception - is to give people a hand Where love is beauty up, not a hand out, and especially And oceans blue in New Orleans, Angel Foods can Embracing mortal being help people get through this hard Calms the passion of the soul. time. Our heart is down there.”

To help other There is a place neighborhoods in New Orleans Where time is endless meet the food needs of its But day is long residents, the BIA has produced a And nights are pure planning guide that details all the Tho’ morning rises ways a neighborhood organization To a sweet caress from the can make food programs—both sun. federal programs and Angel Food Ministries—accessible to it’s There is a place residents, and it will be available That no one knows on BDC’s newly launched Where dreams abound website, www.broadmoorcorp.

In awesome glee com. Those who are interested in And peaceful tides ordering Angel Foods or becoming Sway and swell a host site can consult www.

For those whose hearts are so angelfoodministries.com. inclined.

Whose name was called?

Is there another?

The fear is here In love’s decree Of pain and selfish pleasure Held by disbelief In the heat of unborn passion And the frailty of its cold Juxtaposed The evidence is chaste In natures hold Quietly And by and by Patience weaves its web Colored by the stillness Of an understanding ebb Out from the ditched spell Into a kiss upon the lips That silences The ne’er do well Of love When voices swell That silences The ne’er do well Of love When voices swell.

There is a place Where diamonds shine In love’s unsullied hue Where wishes, pale To its perfection, And don’t matter to come true.

There is a place Where tongues cry out To see the truth, believing.

And all is lost Without a sigh To recreate ones being.

There is a place Where hearts resound But loudly, so to sing And hope is bound Together -Emma Birdie Brown

Ask City Hall District A

Shelley Midura City Hall, Room 2W80 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1010 Fax: (504) 658-1016 Email:smidura@cityofno.com

District B

Stacy Head City Hall, Room 2W10 1300 Perdido Street Phone: (504) 658 -1020 Fax: (504) 658-1025 Email:shead@cityofno.com

District C

James Carter City Hall, Room 2W70 1300 Perdido Street Phone: (504) 658-1030 Fax: (504) 658-1037 Email: jcarter@cityofno.com

District D

Cynthia Hedge-Morrell City Hall, Room 2W20 1300 Perdido Street Phone: (504) 658-1040 Fax: (504) 658-1048 E-mail: chmorrell@cityofno.com

District E

Cynthia Willard-Lewis City Hall, Room 2W60 1300 Perdido Street Phone: (504) 658-1050 Fax: (504) 658-1058 E-mail: cwlewis@cityofno.com

Council Member-At-Large Arnie Fielkow City Hall, Room 2W40 1300 Perdido Street Phone: (504) 658-1060 Fax: (504) 658-1068 Email: afielkow@cityofno.com

Council Member-At-Large Jacquelyn Clarkson City Hall, Room 2W50 1300 Perdido Street New Orleans, LA 70112 Phone: (504) 658-1070 Fax: (504) 658-1077 E-mail: jbclarkson@cityofno.com

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NPNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Trumpet