Green Up New Orleans

The role of organizing, culture and innovative solutions

Using group exercises and focusing on the cultural richness of the region, the first section will look at what communities make up the gulf coast and how the Gulf Coast contributes to the Nation. Through food, music and language/accents we will establish a timeline of what groups came to the Gulf Coast and when. Then, through a time lapse Power Point presentation, we will look at the devastation of Katrina on wetlands and on coastal communities. A presentation will be offered that shows the impact of landfills from Katrina/BP crisis. Included, will be statistics and history of the Houma in Coastal LA. There will be time for Q & A.

Moderator: Colette Pichon Battle, Director - Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation.

Presented by: Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation & Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc.

Presenters (*Gulf Coast Fellow):

• Bryan Parras* - Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (T.E.J.A.S)
• Samantha Dionne Shaffstall* - United Houma Nation citizen
• Patty Whitney - BISCO
• Mary Williams - Deep South Center for Environmental Justice
• Tracy Kuhns* - Louisiana BayouKeeper
• Nelson Walker* - North Gulfport Community Land Trust Youth Council

Moderator: John Moore, Dept. of Environmental Affairs, City of New Orleans, GreeNola Initiative

Panelists:

• Eva Benoit-Ashford, Environmental & Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program (ECPAP)
• Dr. Leroy Kendrick, Delgado Community College
• Michael Bowen, Humble HG General Contractors
• Patrick Barnes, Limitless Vistas
• Ray Guidry, Total Community Action
  

Eva Benoit-Ashford
Eva Benoit-Ashford has worked with the Environmental & Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program for the past 16 years. The program provides construction, environmental remediation, green building, and life skills training and job placement to the disadvantaged minority population throughout the greater New Orleans area. Located in the Ninth Ward at the Louisiana Carpenters Regional Council Apprenticeship Training Center, ECPAP is a member of the CPWR- Center For Construction Research & Training Minority Worker Training Consortium which is funded by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Dr. Leroy L. Kendrick
Dr. Kendrick, Assistant Vice Chancellor at Delgado Community College Division of Workforce Development and Education, is responsible for managing the continuing education program and designing customized training programs to meet the evolving needs of business and industry in the Greater New Orleans area. He designed developed and implemented technical training programs for the telecommunications, manufacturing, banking, health care and energy industries. He developed the Energy Efficiency Specialist Training Program, a groundbreaking program that enables Southeast Louisiana residents to improve energy efficiency of their homes and small businesses, and pay for the improvements overtime through their utility bills and/or receive tax credits. Dr. Kendrick has also served as a grant evaluator for the U.S. Depart of Education’s Funds for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education and Title VI-B Business and International Education Grant Programs.

Michael Bowen
Owner of Humble HG General Contractors, Bowen is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and holds degrees in Construction Management and Construction Engineering. His firm does electrical construction and retrofit, structure rehabilitation, new sustainable construction, and structure weatherization.

Patrick Barnes
Patrick Barnes, P.G. is a licensed professional geologist and holds a Bachelors of Science in Geology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the President/CEO, and founder of Barnes, Ferland & Associates (BFA Environmental)—one of the largest African-American-owned environmental engineering and hydro-geological firms based in the Gulf States. Over his 26-year career, Patrick has worked extensively in the at-risk and minority community, and on groundbreaking environmental justice and Brownfield projects. In 2006, he founded and funded a New Orleans based non-profit organization called “Limitless Vistas”. LVI is dedicated to training at-risk youth as environmental field technicians, and provides home weatherization job training. Patrick is dedicated to making the connection between the needs of our at-risk young population and the burgeoning environmental restoration and green movement.

Ray Guidry
Ray earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Xavier University. Ray most recently obtained a Masters Certificate in Project Management from George Washington University. In 2008, Ray returned to New Orleans and was the project manager of steel frame home construction and several renovations of Katrina damaged properties. Ray has worked as Program Manager for the Louisiana Green Corps and currently serves as Business Analyst for Total Community Action's weatherization assistance program.

The use of music and culture has played a key role in building dynamic and effective movements for social justice. Today’s campaigns for climate equity, green jobs and opportunity for our communities are enlivened through the use of popular culture – green Hip Hop albums, flash videos, social media, street murals, spoken word, poster art, clothing design, performance art and media of all kinds. Even celebrity Hip Hop artists are stepping up their game to support these movements. Green For All staff, Academy Fellows and New Orleans conscious artists share stories and strategies for working to get out the word and mobilize mass movements that can effectively challenge both climate change and poverty.

Moderator: Rosa Gonzalez, Green For All

Presenters:

• Tem Blessed, YouthBuild, Green For All Fellow
• Ashel Eldridge aka Seasunz, Alliance for Climate Education, Green For All Fellow
• Sha'Condria Sibley aka iCon, New Orleans performer
• Truth Universal, New Orleans performer

Tem Blessed
Temistocles Duarte Ferreira was born in Guinea-Bissau on the west-coast of Africa. At 3 years of age Temistocles along with his parents and five siblings immigrated to the U.S.A. Tem Blessed, a graduate of UMass, has been making socially conscious music for over ten years, and has worked to elevate the underground Hip Hop scene. Tem Blessed currently lives in New Bedford, MA, working with youth, using his Hip Hop as a tool to educate, empower and inspire. As a Green for All Fellow, and a father of three he has been active in "Greening" New Bedford by coordinating youth energy Audits and retrofitting for YouthBuild New Bedford and making Sustainable Hip Hop music like the "Green Anthem" with 3rd Eye Unlimited. Tem Blessed currently performs with a live band named Blessed Energy.

AshEl Eldridge aka Seasunz
Originally from Chicago, AshEl is an educator with the Alliance for Climate Education in Oakland, CA. He is a co-founder of United Roots: Green Youth Arts and Media Center and teaches music and meditation with Art in Action. He is a co-founder of CommuniTree, Oakland Resilience Alliance, and serves on the Transition Town USA board. As a frontman emcee and vocalist, he has toured and recorded extensively and collaborated with national acts, including most recently Stic.man of Dead Prez, who is featured on his second CD release, Earth Amplified, The album is a fierce tribute to the earth and peoples' struggles for justice. Download it now: http://seasunz-and-jbless.bandcamp.com/

Sha'Condria "iCon" Sibley
Sha'Condria "iCon" Sibley is an individual poetry slam champion, as well as a member of the National Poetry Slam title-holding, Team SNO (Slam New Orleans). A lover of the stage, iCon has also been featured in productions such as the musical, Badu-izms, and Eve Ensler’s A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer. As one of the best and only female hosts in the city of New Orleans, iCon can regularly be seen hosting events. However, her passion far surpasses the stage and extends into the community, where she has worked with and for several community-based non-profits, teaches writing workshops in public schools, assists with the New Orleans Youth Slam (NOYS) team, and is the co-founder of The Red Hand Campaign, an effort to promote awareness and action against violence in our communities, especially when innocent victims are involved.

Truth Universal
Truth Universal, a staple in the New Orleans Hip Hop community, has been a leader on the southern Hip Hop scene for more than a decade. While he calls the flourishing New Orleans Hip Hop underground home, Truth has an international perspective that he brings to his music through his birth and childhood in Diego Martin, Trinidad. Truth has shared the stage with the likes of Talib Kweli, dead prez, Mos Def, The Roots, Luciano, Zion I and many more.

The potential for new opportunities in the green economy continues to shift and expand across multiple sectors. From our water infrastructure to renewable energy sources to waste management/reuse, green investment strategies have the potential to bring about much-needed economic revitalization to New Orleans, while also addressing key issues like food security, pollution and energy independence. Critical to our success is engaging our community to build up these new opportunities. What are some of the bold new strategies occurring in the New Orleans area? What are the community benefits of these strategies and how can we get involved as local stakeholders?

Moderator: Claudia Preparata, Green For All

Presented by: Green For All

Panelists:

• Tammy J. Cheatham, The Recycling Foundation (Reuse)
• Kyshun Webster, Sr., PhD, Operation Reach (Biofuels)
• Stephen Picou, LSU AgCenter (Water)
  
• Pamela Arnette Broom, Women and Agriculture (WandA) Network (Food)
  

Tammy J. Cheatham
Tammy J. Cheatham is the Vice President of The Recycling Foundation. As a former New Orleans resident, Tammy Cheatham joined her family recycling business in September 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Two months later, The Recycling Foundation opened the state’s first Single Stream Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Baton Rouge, LA. With a B.S. in Environmental Engineering, Mrs. Cheatham works to partner municipal recycling services with community schools to encourage recycling education and thus foster successful programs. In 2010, The Recycling Foundation was presented with the LA Department of Environmental Quality (LADEQ) Environmental Leadership Award for operating recycling drop-off events in Jefferson Parish post-Hurricane Katrina at no cost to the community. With nearly 20 years in the industry, The Recycling Foundation is proud to bring experienced, successful and cost-effective recycling services to South Louisiana.

Kyshun Webster, Sr., Ph. D.
Kyshun Webster, Sr., Ph. D. is the founder and CEO of Operation REACH, Inc. and a nationally-recognized educator and certified teacher who has worked in the non-profit sector as a community educator since he was 12 years old. His first after-school tutorial program, which began in 1998, was later recognized by the Tiger Woods Sharing and Caring Award Program, declaring Dr. Webster a "local hero." In 2002, he received the New Orleans City Business "Power Generation Award" for executives under the age of 40. He also serves on the board of directors of the Institute for Mental Hygiene Foundation, Each One Save One Mentorship Organization, the Lt. Governor's Commission on Black Men and Boys, and the Weed and Seed Crime Prevention Task Force in New Orleans. In 2009, he received the Innovator of the Year Award from the Southern Growth Policies Board for his work with Operation REACH. Dr. Webster also recently served on the Social Innovation Task Force for New Orleans Mayor-Elect Mitch Landrieu's Transition Team. Dr. Webster most recently received a Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota in Comprehensive Work, Family and Community Education. He received a M.S. from the University of New Orleans with a concentration in non-profit leadership and a B.A. in Art Education with teacher certification from Xavier University of Louisiana. Most recently, he has overseen the launch of Operation REACH's Gulfsouth Youth Biodiesel Project, a youth-led social enterprise focusing on the production and sale of biodiesel fuel as a means of educating and developing leadership and social entrepreneurship of young people as part of a "Green Collar" workforce.

Stephen Picou, LSU AgCenter
Steve Picou has a background in sustainability, community activism, music, media and real estate. He is a futurist with a broad, system-oriented perspective. In his work at the LSU AgCenter, Steve promotes sustainable/green building, wind code compliance, energy efficiency, and economic development. Steve served as Assistant Director of the Louisiana Music Commission from 1992 to 2005, giving him a strong understanding of governmental processes, politics and bureaucracy. He is a member of the US Green Building Council Louisiana Advocacy Committee and is a Parkway Partners/Louisiana Urban Forestry Council certified Citizen Forester. Steve is a graduate of the University of New Orleans and a Fellow of the Loyola University of New Orleans Institute of Politics.

Pamela Arnette Broom
Pamela Arnette Broom is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women and Agriculture (WandA) Network with a mission to address and innovatively remedy some of the critical issues stunting the productive utilization of urban land as a strategic and viable revitalization and food security resource. Her passion for gardening and urban farming was inspired by her father and the family’s agrarian roots in Raceland, Louisiana. Post Hurricane Katrina, she moved to Chicago where she worked with Growing Power, Inc. as the Farm to City Market Basket Coordinator, gaining outstanding skills in urban agricultural practices that she brought home to New Orleans. Pamela is a graduate of Tulane University and did graduate work at the University of New Orleans’ College of Urban and Public Affairs focused on urban studies applied urban anthropology. Pamela has over 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership and administration working locally and nationally.

Claudia Preparata
Claudia Preparata joins Green For All after 15 years in the labor movement championing the rights of workers in both the private and public sectors. Directly prior to coming on staff at Green For All, Claudia was Research Director at Transport Workers Union Local 100 in New York City, a 38,000-member union local representing transit workers predominately employed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the largest transit authority in the U.S. Her work at TWU Local 100 focused on policy issues relating to labor, transportation and climate change, as well as contract negotiations and arbitration proceedings with the MTA.

The role of organizing, culture and innovative solutions

Stories Untold: We will show video documentation of communities in the aftermath of the BP oil crisis and hurricane Katrina. Then Saving the Land and the People: Wetland restoration/Disaster mitigation. Participants will take part in a YouTube Contest - small group exercise focusing on making the case to a national audience using People/Culture, Economics or National Defense as the bases for restoring the LA wetlands. Each group integrates fact sheet data with a Rap, poem, song, speech, slogan or other art-based medium.

Presented by: Gulf Coast Fellowship for Community Transformation

Millions of barrels of toxic oil poured into the Gulf South this year hurting jobs, the economy and the environment of the region. Its impacts will continue to be felt for years to come. As we begin to shift away from an oil-based economy, solar energy continues to grow as a viable alternative to oil. The sun is democratic, it shines on everyone. If we can harness the power of this great energy source, and make it available widely, we can start to move towards energy independence, save communities money, create jobs and preserve the environment for future generations. The expert panelists will discuss powerful models in business, finance, policy and community organizing that will make this dream a reality for communities across the country.

Moderator:Lea Keal, Sustainable Environmental Enterprises

Panelists:

• Stacey Danner, Sustainable Environmental Enterprises
• C. Tucker Crawford, South Coast Solar
• Frances Coco, Warren Easton Charter High School – Renewable Energy Alternative Program
• Lea Keal, Sustainable Environmental Enterprises
• Forest Bradley-Wright, Alliance for Affordable Energy

Stacey Danner
Stacey James Danner is a co-founder, President and Chief Investment Officer of SEE. He most recently served as a Community Revitalization Program Officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, where he analyzed financial structures and sourced $66 million of development financing opportunities for the National Trust Loan Fund and the National Trust Community Investment Corporation. Mr. Danner has also founded, owned and operated Urban Solutions Real Estate Services (USRES), a consulting company that performed economic development planning, urban planning, real estate investment as well as real estate development. While operating USRES, Mr. Danner simultaneously worked at Cosmopolitan Mortgage Philadelphia Branch as a Senior Business Development Analyst. Stacey James Danner received his Graduate Certificate in Urban Redevelopment Excellence from the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to this he received his Masters of Arts in Urban Studies from Temple University and his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Justice and Peace Studies from the University of St. Thomas.

C.Tucker Crawford
C. Tucker Crawford, the CEO and Founder of South Coast Solar, is a Native New Orleanian, and is a licensed Louisiana contractor and solar installer. He brings to South Coast Solar years of project management experience with clients that include the Louisiana Superdome, Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Tulane University and Zephyrs Stadium. Tucker has years of legislative and government contract procurement experience, having served as a consultant for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) with the Livingston Group, headed by the Honorable Robert “Bob” Livingston, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Tucker is a member of the Regional Planning Commission and MWH Louisiana Regional Sustainable Development Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Tucker promotes the benefits of solar energy by lecturing to schools and other organizations interested in the sustainable and intelligent rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region.

Frances Coco
Frances Coco teaches Environmental Sscience and Physics classes at Warren Easton Charter High School, where he teaches a segment on alternative energy and solar energy. Warren Easton is one of the schools participating in the Solar Schools Initiative. Mr. Coco graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in Science Education. He brings twenty years of teaching experience. He has also been a professional photographer.

Lea Keal
Leah Keal is a co-founder and serves as Chief Executive Officer of SEE. She most recently served as a public finance law and finance manager with the Finance Authority of New Orleans, where she provided legal guidance for city-wide homeownership programs for home buyers and developers including program design for a $50 million CDBG-funded second mortgage program. She worked with the Environmental Toxic Torts Law Group at Masry & Vititoe and has consulted for the City of Calabasas (Calabasas, CA) where she worked on Comprehensive Community Development by drafting the Pedestrian Master Plan for the City's General Plan. Lea Keal brings her expertise as a certified scientist, business owner and environmental lawyer in addition to her experience in procurement and bond financing to the efforts of SEE. She holds a Law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law where she provided legal assistance to the residents of the Many Mansions affordable housing community as part of a Human Rights Advocacy initiative. Ms. Keal earned her Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Development & Environmental Geography from the Pennsylvania State University. She earned a Certificate in Redevelopment Excellence from the University of Pennsylvania for work as a Rockefeller Scholar in New Orleans.

Forest Bradley-Wright
As the Senior Program Director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy, Forest Bradley-Wright is working for energy efficiency, green building, and solar technology market transformation in New Orleans. He was the founder of the energy efficiency training arm of the Louisiana Green Corps workforce training program, organized the BuildSmart Expo at the 2007 and 2008 New Orleans Home and Garden Shows, established the year round BuildSmart Learning Center, and has organized a large array of public and professional workshops on topics ranging from weatherization to energy rating and solar panels. Forest is the host of New Orleans' monthly Solar Roundtable and Rater Roundtable industry meetings and was a leading force in the creation of Energy Smart, an $11 million city-wide energy efficiency program. Today he is working to secure long-term commitments from New Orleans regulators to expand energy efficiency programs and renewable energy generation through New Orleans' Integrated Resource Planning docket.

The Green Show will be a fun and interactive game show featuring information on environmental job training and the importance of environmental literacy. Learn about methods to go green and how your consumer behavior can and will drive the green economy.

Presented by: Louisiana Green Corps

Game show contestants:

• Roger Simon and Briana O'Neal
• Graduates from Limitless Vistas Incorporated and Louisiana Green Corps

Game show host: Suzy Mason

Suzy Mason
Suzy Mason is the Program Director for the Louisiana Green Corps, a green job training and advocacy organization. Mason holds a BA degree in Sociology and Spanish from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. After working as an Executive Search Associate for a Human Resources consulting firm in North Carolina, she moved to New Orleans post-Katrina to assist in the rebuilding efforts. Since 2006 she has worked in the New Orleans non-profit sector managing economic development, deconstruction, and green workforce development projects.

Roger Simon
Roger Simon, P.G., is a professional geologist with over 25 years of experience in coordinating environmental management activities and working on a variety of environmental projects involving environmental risk and impact assessment, wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, and natural resources evaluation. Mr. Simon is currently responsible for coordinating LVI’s Brownfields Job Training Programs. He is also been responsible for providing both certification and non-certification training courses including the 40-Hour OSHA HAZWOPER course and a vast range of environmental topics, including Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, surface and groundwater sampling procedures and innovative contaminant remedial techniques.

Briana O'Neal
Briana O'Neal is a graduate of the Louisiana Green Corps' first training session where she learned about energy efficiency from the Alliance for Affordable Energy. She has worked as a youth activist and organizer for Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana’s Fyre Youth Squad and is a founding member of the group, Young Adults Striving for Success in 2009. Currently she is the Community Outreach Representative for the Louisiana Green Corps, but hopes to go back to school for early childhood education.

Thomas Slack III
Thomas Slack is originally from New Orleans, LA. He entered the Limitless Vistas Incorporated environmental remediation training program in 2008. Slack is currently 26 years old and is finishing a BA in Physics from Loyola University and is working towards a Masters of Counseling from Our Lady of the Holy Cross.

Daniel Nunez
A native of Metairie, Joaquin Daniel Nunez recognizes the influence that knowledge and positive experiences has on the socioeconomic health of an individual. A strong believer in the value of community service and volunteerism, he decided to combine his love for science and mathematics with his desire to contribute to his unique community and intern as a Process Engineer for Operation REACH's Gulfsouth Youth Biodiesel Project. Now a Gulfsouth Youth Action Corps AmeriCorps member, he is working to increase production of GYBP's biodiesel plant and assist in coordinating an outreach training program to engage, empower, and inspire New Orleans' at-risk youth. Joaquin is an LSU alumni with bachelor's degrees in Biological Engineering and Biochemistry and hopes to continue his endeavors in the biofuels and nonprofit sectors.

New Orleans is leading the way in the local foods and foods access movements. The city recently hosted the nationwide Community Food Conference, which brought together more than 900 participants from around the country. New Orleans is home to dozens of community gardens, urban agriculture projects, local foods markets and organizations addressing hunger and poverty alleviation. Local food production helps communities save both money, time and the environment - as people can buy less food that traveled 1000's of miles across the country. The growing food movement is creating community empowerment, while it addresses the needs of low income communities and communities of color. Hear from local leaders about successful models and next steps, as these projects gear up to become a powerful engine for creating jobs and opportunity, while creating access to healthy food across the country.

Moderator: LaTosha Brown, Gulf Coast Fund

Presented by: Green For All, Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation, The Renaissance Project, Hollygrove Market and Farm, and NOLA Green Roots

• Daniel Nguyen, Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation
• Greta Gladney, The Renaissance Project
• Cory Ashby, Our School at Blair Grocery
• Joe Brock, NOLA Green Roots

LaTosha Brown
Ms. Brown is an award-winning community organizer, political strategist and philanthropic consultant with over twenty years of experience working on a wide variety of issues related to social justice and civil rights. A native of Alabama, after Hurricane Katrina she founded the Saving OurSelves Coalition, working directly with Gulf Coast residents and internally displaced persons to educate, empower, and assist hurricane survivors to rebuild communities and strengthen families—as well as providing over $2,000,000 worth of food, water and supplies to returning residents. A founding member of the Gulf Coast Fund Advisory Group, Ms. Brown has served as a consultant to the Fund since 2007 and was appointed by the Advisors to be the first Director of the Gulf Coast Fund in June 2010.

Daniel Nguyen
Daniel Nguyen is the project manager and coordinator for workforce development and environmental justice at MQVN Community Development Corporation. He is charged with managing the Viet Village Urban Farm project, Aquaculture, and other workforce development ventures. He is also charged with helping organize the New Orleans East community around environmental justice issues. In addition, Daniel assists with providing technical assistance to fisherfolks affected by the BP oil drilling disaster.

Greta Gladney
Greta Gladney is the President and Executive Director The Renaissance Project. In 2001 Greta Gladney founded the Renaissance Project to improve quality of life in her neighborhood, the Lower Ninth Ward through food access, economic development, education, and arts programming. Ms. Gladney, a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana, the University of New Orleans and Baruch College, City University of New York, is a wife, mother, grandmother and social entrepreneur. The Lower Ninth Ward has been home to six generations of Ms. Gladney’s family; she will complete renovation and return to her home sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010. Gladney will discuss Renaissance Project’s Mobile Markets program, a food distribution system that she designed and has implemented in four areas serving low-income African American communities in New Orleans and its planned expansion in 2011.

Cory Ashby
Cory Ashby is a teacher and food justice coordinator at Our School at Blair Grocery (OSBG) in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. An independent alternative school and sustainability education center, OSBG was founded in November 08 to create a resource rich safe space for youth empowerment and sustainable community development. Cory works with OSBG students and afterschool urban farming ambassadors - the 12 neighborhood youth who are employed in OSBG's Growing Growers program - to build food security as a means to creating local solutions to global challenges - running and expanding the restaurant sales business, growing good food and operating OSBG's weekly fresh food market.

Joe Brock
Joseph Brockm III, a life-long resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, established NOLA Green Roots in 2008. Mr. Brock is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans. He served on the Board of Mid-City Neighborhood Association and has been very instrumental in the revitalization of the Mid City Neighborhood. Through NOLA Green Roots, Brock has transformed several vacant lots into beautiful, vibrant community gardens and has distributed fresh fruits and vegetables to residents throughout the New Orleans Metropolitan Area.