Community-Led Climate Solutions
Greater New Orleans is on the front lines for the impacts of climate change, and our communities must be on the front lines of solutions.
Sea-level rise overtaking our coastal wetlands, severe storms flooding our streets, extreme heat affecting our neighborhoods, stronger storms brewing in the Gulf… the Greater New Orleans region knows climate change, and due to systemic racial injustices, socially and economically vulnerable communities are feeling disproportionate impacts. While inequities seem entrenched and climate change can feel overwhelming, there are positive actions that we can create together in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, cities, and region.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation works to ensure transformational and equitable community-led climate adaptation and mitigation projects that center Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other communities most impacted by climate change. We use our financial, social, and political capital to help strengthen BIPOC community power and build cross-sector partnerships that ensure the voices of those most impacted are centered in decision-making processes regarding climate solutions.
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Climate Action Equity Project
The Climate Action Equity Project, a partnership between Greater New Orleans Foundation, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, and the City of New Orleans, is focused on supporting implementation of the City of New Orleans Climate Action for A Resilient New Orleans Strategy in ways that achieve equitable results. The Climate Action Equity Project Advisory Group includes representatives from community-based organizations in every council district as well as residents with expertise in energy, transportation, waste reduction, and workforce/small business development.
After consultation with residents and community forums in neighborhoods like Algiers, Central City, Gentilly, Hollygrove, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, and Treme where residents are most at risk from the impacts of inequity and climate change, the Advisory Group produced the report, Taking Steps Together on Equity & Climate Change: A Report By and For New Orleanians.
The Advisory Group continues to champion implementation of specific community-led projects, like community solar hubs, and work with the City of New Orleans as it updates, and then implements, its climate action strategy.
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Love Your City - Regional Sustainability Committee
The Love Your City initiative, supported by the Greater New Orleans Foundation and managed by LifeCity, supports the development of the impact economy and growth of for-benefit organizations in Louisiana. Love Your City’s Regional Sustainability Committee (RSC) is composed of backbone organizations of various sectors that impact the sustainability and resilience of our region such as housing, water management, food, waste management, economic opportunity, transit, health, and culture. Through a collaborative approach, the RSC combines decades of experience and expertise in addressing the city’s most important issues.
Want to know more?
To learn more about our environmental work at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, get in touch with Dan Favre.