Share your story for the New Orleans Institute

As a reader of our blog, you have been chosen!
We want to hear your story and also give you the opportunity to present it to a national audience. Read the details below



The New Orleans Institute

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

June 20, 2008

Dear New Orleanian:

You are receiving this letter because you have a story worth sharing.

For many months after the levees breached in 2005, we waited for someone to come and help us "recover." Who was that "someone"? FEMA? The federal government? A university? Developers? We were waiting for experts to arrive with answers.

In time we learned that the experts—and the answers—were already here. In the midst of public failures have been countless successes, brought about by willing, able and imaginative individuals drawn together to resurrect their communities.

You are one of those individuals.

Perhaps you have been working to bring back neighbors, or to establish better governance of the public infrastructure, or to restore the environment, or to create well resourced schools. You may be working to restore and grow neighborhood economies, to create new businesses for the new economy, to protect historical housing stock, to provide a mobile health system, to address racist and outdated systems, to encourage neighborhood-friendly development, to nurture precious cultural traditions, or to create a safety net for neighbors and family still struggling since the storm.

On behalf of The New Orleans Institute, an emerging network of organizations and individuals involved in every aspect of community-based recovery in New Orleans, we invite you to submit a proposal to present in New Orleans on Saturday, August 30, 2008. "New Orleans Speaks: We are the Ones We've Been Waiting For" is a forum to tell your story and that of your constituents to a broad audience including members of the media, elected officials, nonprofit organizations, national and local funders, and others. Presentations will be recorded and webcast to have widespread and lasting impact.

If you are interested in presenting, click here to get the application and submit your proposal electronically by July 3, 2008. If you have any questions please contact nolaspeaksconference@gmail.com or call 866 0985.

We are the Ones We've Been Waiting for

NOLA YURP is working with some great New Orleans non-profits to put together an event for the third year anniversary that will highlight the "stories of personal and community recovery, present visions for urban renaissance, and identify targeted resources communities need to bring their visions from concept to completion."



Save the Date for August 30th from 9-4.

The New Orleans Institute is being supported by the Blue Moon Fund and includes Beacon of Hope Resources Center, City-Works, Common Knowledge, Idea Village, Neighborhoods Partnership Network, The Urban Conservancy and NOLA YURP.

If you would like more information,please email us at info@nolayurp.org

Sharing Ideas with Russian Delegation

Last Friday, we got an opportunity to exchange ideas and stories with a delegation of young leaders from various cities in Russia. The two-hour meeting afforded us the opportunity to have a candid discussion about the city of New Orleans, the rebuilding process, the government's response in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and how young leaders are shaping the new frontier of the city. It was exciting to hear that this movement of "engaged young professionals" has become an international phenomenon. Young people around the globe are becoming increasingly aware and dedicated to fixing today's most pressing social problems.