Message from our Director:

The National Conference on Volunteering and Service brings together individuals from all over the country to discuss, amongst other related topics, how volunteerism can have an enormous impact on a community. Especially since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has been a prime example on leveraging the power and energy of volunteers and service members from all over the country. Rebuilding Together New Orleans alone has involved over 20,000 volunteers and service members in home repair and disaster recovery work, which enabled us over the years to assist almost 1,000 families before Katrina and over 300 families after the storm.

Most agree that there is no better place than New Orleans to celebrate volunteerism and service, and integrate them as part of the overall strategy to move the city forward.
At the conference, Mayor Landrieu announced the Serve NOLA initiative, which includes activities such as the Fight the Blight day where many locals come out to work on community revitalization projects in every council district of our city. The fact that City Hall believes in the power of volunteers—not just in terms of the actual work that they can accomplish, but as a resource to engage the community in being part of the solution—is to be applauded by everyone who has been struggling to convince government officials of how much can be done and why volunteerism is important for the city’s recovery efforts, and in general to move beyond recovery and into sustainability for our city.

The Serve NOLA initiative will be led by the new Chief Service officer, Mary-jo Webster, and focus on several of the six high impact areas for volunteers set by the national initiative “Cities of Service”. The main areas identified nationally to achieve the highest impact through volunteerism are: education and youth, preparedness and safety, veterans, sustainability, health and neighborhood revitalization. As the initiative unfolds, we will be looking forward to learning more about the specifics of the service plan for New Orleans.

Volunteers of all skill sets and backgrounds have poured into our city to assist in the recovery since Katrina. We’ve had everyone from the skilled trades associations to bankers to college students, all with the same desire to help. Without them, progress would have been even slower, especially during the first two years after the storm, where resources were scarce and timing was everything to bring people back into their home. Dozens of organizations have benefitted directly from these volunteers, their work and donations.

The upcoming challenge for New Orleans of rebuilding and restoring its local volunteer base may be easier to overcome than it seems. Having inspiring leaders calling you for service is key; involving the neighborhoods is also crucial; and our private sector was and continues to be involved. Rebuilding Together alone had over 100 teams and 4,000 volunteers working to assist homeowners every October, and continues to have over 500 people involved post-K. After going through the rebuild of their own lives, locals are ready to come back and be re-engaged. Citizens involved in service in their own towns feel empowered to be an active part of the solution and have ownership of the service plan and it’s success.

Daniela Rivero
Director
Rebuilding Together New Orleans