On Saturday, November 10th, we hosted our 7th annual Neighborhood Summit, which we held at the University of New Orleans Student Center. The theme for this year's Summit was Building a Resilient New Orleans Together. Over 500 attendees registered for the event. Panel topics and discussion focused on coastal resilience, housing affordability, youth and family development, equitable transportation, and more.
Thank you to all of those who helped make our 7th annual Neighborhood Summit such a success!
OVERVIEW OF SESSIONS
Title: Approaching Violence as a Public Health Crisis
Presenters: Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Tenisha Stevens, David Bocage, Nelson Thompson, & Danny Allen
Description: An epidemic of violent injury has plagued our community for far too long. Traditional approaches to stemming this tide focus on strict law enforcement, and thus are limited in their reach. Thinking of violence as a public health issue provides a more inclusive and comprehensive way to understand and tackle this critical issue for New Orleans. This session will present an overview of how the City of New Orleans views violent injury from a health lens, new programs and approaches, and perspectives from those on the ground fighting to interrupt violence in our neighborhoods.
Title: Leveraging Technology to Enhance Public Safety: New Orleans’ Real-Time Crime Center and You
Presenters: Ross J. Bourgeois, Laura Mellen, Nicholas Gernon, Ceasar Ruffin, & Anthony Campo
Description: Opened in November 2017, the 24/7 Real-Time Crime Center leverages technology to provide critical information to first responders in the field and to assist with investigations of criminal activity, quality of life concerns, and severe weather impacts. In this session, you will learn about the technology housed at the crime center, success stories from its first year of operations, and the soon-to-launch SafeCam Platinum program that will allow residents and businesses to connect public-facing cameras to the crime center. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to hear from members of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, the New Orleans Police Department, and the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation.
Title: A Connected City is a Resilient City: Building Physical and Social Resilience through Information Technology
Presenters: Kimberly W. LaGrue, Jennifer Terry, Whitney Soenksen, Nathan Lott, & Collin Ferguson
Description: This session explores city-led efforts to improve the Resilience of New Orleans’ physical IT infrastructure and the expected benefits to the resilience of the rest of the City’s infrastructure. Various experts in technology infrastructure and usage present on the city’s efforts to improve social resilience among New Orleanians by teaching them to leverage technology resources, with brief overviews of the city’s data, new Basic Digital skill class, and the Digital Equity Challenge. Efforts by local non-profits and entrepreneurs to build and deploy digital tools to address specific components of equity is also showcased, with presenters from NOLA Connects and Where Y’Art.
Title: Transforming our Streets to be Safer, Healthier and Wealthier (previously titled Better Biking Infrastructure with You in Mind)
Presenters: Dwight Norton & Robert Henig Bell
Description: An informational session on how the Mayor’s Office of Transportation is rethinking the role of streets in our city to ensure all people feel safe regardless of how their want to move - by car, bus, bike, or walking. We will connect the benefits of safer streets to healthier living and greater prosperity. Learn how we are partnering to create a new way to engage and evaluate major change of several streets in the downtown area on a temporary basis, called Connect the Crescent. Learn about future improvements in development and new opportunities to empower residents and neighborhoods to try their own ideas.
Title: Resiliency Through Housing Equity
Presenters: Andreanecia Morris, Matthew Hendrickson, Brenda Breaux, Fred Johnson, Logan Burke & Nicole Barnes
Description: Housing equity doesn’t just happen. It takes intentional industry strategies and government policies that enable residents to thrive in a city even as growth threatens affordability. Learn from housing advocates, policy makers, and residents about the work in New Orleans to ensure that people who live in the city aren’t priced out because of skyrocketing housing prices.
Title: Gentilly Resilience District: Rethinking the Urban Landscape through an Environmentally Sustainable & Socially Equitable Lens
Presenters: Greg Lawson & Natalie Manning
Description: How can the city harness the power of nature to prevent flooding and subsidence? Join the Office of Resilience + Sustainability to learn about the city’s first resilience district, a combination of sustainable stormwater efforts across Gentilly that seeks to address complex issues such as crumbling streets, overburdened drainage systems, and sinking soils.
Title: The Ins and Outs of New Orleans as a Coastal City
Presenters: Anne Coglianese, Charles Allen, Lacy Macmanus, & Denise J. Reed
Description: Many people are aware that New Orleans is the largest city in the State of Louisiana, but did you know that it is also a coastal community? Much of our history, economy, and culture in New Orleans stem directly from the coastal geography on which our city was built. Just as our history has been shaped by our coastal landscape, we know that the future safety, security, and prosperity of New Orleans will be equally tied to the coast. This panel will discuss how the history, present, and future of New Orleans has, and will continue to be, linked with its coastal environment. Expert panelists will discuss how the environment, economy, and culture in New Orleans are connected to the coast.
Title: Let’s CleanUP NOLA Together
Presenters: Cynthia Sylvain-Lear, Ann MacDonald, Zachary Smith
Description: Learn about the city's new efforts to fight blight, litter and other quality of life issues through the Mayor’s new CleanUP NOLA initiative, which aims to better leverage and coordinate the services of multiple departments in City Hall, including Sanitation, Public Works, Health, Safety & Permits, Neighborhood Engagement, Parks & Parkways, Code Enforcement, and Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control.
Title: It Takes a Village to be Well: Bringing Youth & Families to the Forefront
Presenters: Camille Alexander, Karen Evans, Kellie Dejean, Ron McClain, Jessica Styons, & Byron Goodwin
Description: Learn about the city's youth master plan, with a look at the health conditions of the city’s youth, and engage in a conversation with city and non-profit professionals working together to improve positive outcomes for youth and families in New Orleans.
Title: Transformations Towards Transit Equity at the RTA (previously titled Tomorrow’s Transit Equity Starts Today)
Presenters: Dwight Norton, Jason Sappington, Fred Neal, Jr., & Alex Posorske
Description: Transit is at a pivotal and exciting moment in New Orleans. Learn how the path to transit equity is directly related to how we prioritize busses and streetcars and their riders. Learn about the upcoming Comprehensive Operations Analysis (COA) that will take a fresh look at how to make transit routes more effective for residents. Discuss opportunities for communities to engage and direct these transformational opportunities with policy makers and advocates.
Title: Building Resilience Thru Wetlands Restoration & Green Infrastructure
Presenters: Happy Johnson and Bernard Singleton
Description: The session also explores how environmental damage can be addressed when residents and scientists work together. Learn about wetland restoration at Bayou Bienvenue as well as the St Claude Bridge Lock Expansion proposal and how active resident leadership can build a future toward reducing ecological injustice.