New Orleans Be the Change Spotlight Series {A Recap}

One year ago today, the team at New Orleans Mom committed to learning about the effects of systematic racism and white privilege. We participated in #sharethemicnow to lift up voices of moms of color in our local community. We supported many of our favorite Black-owned local businesses and are having conversations with our kids about race. We began taking steps as an organization to effect lasting change in the city of New Orleans and in that regard, we started a new monthly blog series to lift up local organizations doing important work serving people of color in our area. Our hope was to highlight what is already being done and raise awareness as to how we as a community can support these organizations in their efforts. In case you missed the monthly spotlight series over the course of the last year, we have put all of the articles in one place for your convenience.

Our first feature was Youth Empowerment Project (YEP). YEP is the largest organization in the Greater New Orleans region focused on providing comprehensive services to more than 1,200 young people annually. YEP provides four distinct services: mentoring and youth advocacy (YEP Mentors), adult education and high school equivalency preparation (YEP Educates), employment readiness (YEP Works), and out-of-school time programming (YEP Enriches).

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The Beautiful Foundation provides a safe environment for leadership development in under-served young women (ages 12-22) by focusing on: self esteem, entrepreneurial thinking and their emotional, mental and physical well being. The organization’s mission statement is “Creating a world filled with confident, empowered women with new perspectives who positively impact our community”.

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Each year Son of a Saint selects a group of boys ages 10-12 to join the existing kids in their program. The boys must be fatherless as a result of death or incarceration. Each boy remains an official Son of a Saint mentee until he is 21, but the connections continue further as the organization continues to advise and support the mentee in the years that follow. The goal of Son of a Saint is to graduate self-sufficient, independent thinkers who are leaders and give back to their community.

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The Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO) devotes the majority of their time and resources to freeing poor people who will otherwise die in prison for crimes they did not commit. They are committed to changing laws, policies, and cultures that cause poor defendants to be wrongly convicted. They believe that wrongful convictions can be prevented in a smaller, more focused, accurate, and accountable criminal justice system.

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YAYA provides visual arts education, entrepreneurship training, and leadership skills to creative young people, empowering them to become successful adults. YAYA is an expansive creative community where young people have the freedom, opportunities, and resources to discover their artistic voices and passions. YAYA offers training in painting, sculpture, photography, video, ceramics, a range of glassmaking techniques and many other media.

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Since June 2016 NOLA Baby Café has been a free drop in space that provides Lactation Consultations and mother to mother support in the New Orleans area community. NOLA Baby Café is currently conducting its services virtually, via Zoom, on Mondays 6:15pm-8:15pm, Tuesdays 12:00pm-2:00pm, and Wednesdays 12:00pm-2:30pm. Their goals are to erase stereotypes and misconceptions about breastfeeding thereby removing the barriers to breastfeeding in the community.

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High Voltage provides educational and recreational programs for economically disadvantaged youth and senior citizens. They are dedicated to helping youth realize their potential, build character, and function effectively as contributing members of society. High Voltage also works to build community collaborations, and partnerships with organizations that serve youth.

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The New Orleans Breastfeeding Center (NOBC) provides high quality, holistic, and evidence-based lactation and infant feeding support to families in the New Orleans metro area and surrounding parishes. Their team of Infant Feeding Specialists provide dyadic (both parent and child) lactation assessment, family-centered education, infant feeding classes, emergency preparedness education, parent support groups, and infant feeding supplies to pregnant and parenting families. NOBC improves the quality of infant feeding support in the area by providing consultation and continuing education to medical facilities and providers.

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Project Butterfly New Orleans provides girls with experiences that increase their self-esteem; teach them effective decision-making skills; instill in them positive cultural values; connect them with positive women role models and prepare them to be responsible adults and leaders in their communities.

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At Hagar’s House, they provide a beautiful, clean, safe place to call home for women, children and those who identify as transgender. Hagar’s House is a safe space regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Residents are offered diverse and holistic programming focused on physical, emotional, and spiritual health and social justice. Each resident also participates in a Capacity Building partnership where they meet weekly with staff to set their own long and short-term goals and determine their own path to success.

 

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At Communities in Schools of the Gulf South, all of their school based staff are licensed Counselors or Social Workers. They provide mental health support to students at their school, as well as identify and build relationships with community partners to broker services into the school so that families and students can easily access them.

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Turning Tables provides both inexperienced and rising Black and Brown hospitality professionals with culturally responsive education, training, mentorship, and resources necessary to access real opportunity.  Throughout the program they surround their students with a diverse and committed community of support that empowers them to understand their worth and chart a revolutionary new path for themselves.

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