NY2NO
New York 2 New Orleans Coalition
What does an NY2NO New Orleans Brigade look like?
Our School at Blair Grocery is our housing and worksite Here is the typical format of each trip (schedules may vary somewhat from trip to trip): Day 1 – Traveling. Everyone arrives and is transferred by bus to our sleeping site, where they unpack, settle in, and eat. This day serves as a day to hang out and meet the rest of the group, including the first debreif, during which everyone can get to know each other a little and discuss expectations for the trip. Day 2 – Orientation. The second day serves as orientation, and preparation for the week. The group will go on a tour of the city's levee system in various neighborhoods, go through a canvassing workshop, and learn about how NY2NO and the organizations we work with are run. Days 3-8 – WORK Morning: Manual Labor. Students various different types of work in solidarity with Lower Ninth Ward residents as they work to rebuild and revive their community. This is with multiple organizations, including Our School at Blair Grocery, The Lower Ninth Ward Urban Farming Coalition,,Lowernine.org, and The Lower Ninth Ward Village. Students do multiple tasks, including rebuilding work such as house gutting, painting, nailing, or drywalling, and yard and garden work as lots are cleared and prepped for urban farm plots. Students are split up into groups of 5-15 each morning and work at various sites, switching each day as different tasks are needed to be completed. Afternoon: Canvassing. During canvassing, students go door to door speaking to residents. Following the principles of bottom-up organizing, group members ask residents how they are doing, trying to figure out what their concerns with the community are, and what they think needs to be done to solve them. During this conversation, students have the contact information for all of the organizations we work with, so that if a resident brings up a direct need, they can be reffered to the organization that will be best to work with them on that need. During this time, group members are split up into pairs. Each pair is on one side of an assigned street, with a 5th person in the middle coordinating the two groups.
Day 9 – Traveling. The last day is reserved for traveling. Everyone packs up, clean up, and says their goodbyes. We then drive to the airport. |
Frequently Asked Questions
1) What will we be doing at night? As our days are often long and tiring, evenings serve as a good time to shower and hang out. People may choose to read, write, play music (instruments are more than welcome), sleep, or talk together. As the trip is also often very emotional, we will have debriefings every night, during which students can talk about their day, what they saw or learned, or any issues they may have. It is a time where our group can come together and learn from each other. One night we may go to a Cajun Seafood restaurant. 2) How will we be traveling while in We travel around in a school bus while in driven by a driver who will be provided by our sponsor organization, the Interreligous Foundation for Community Organizing (IFCO). He will transport us between our sleeping and work places, as well as anywhere else we may go. 3) How much will the trip cost? Each nine-day trip will be $600, plus a plane ticket. This will cover food, housing, and transportation. Financial aid is available upon request. We will try to accommodate everyone as well as we can. If you need more information about how much financial aid is available before committing, please fill out an application and indicate this on it, and we will contact you individually (applying does not mean committing). In addition, each student will be required to fundraise a minimum of $100 before departure via group or individual efforts. 4) Is the Lower Ninth Ward Safe? Although there is a common perception that this neighborhood is dangerous, thousands of volunteers have stayed in the region since Katrina, and there have never been any major incidents. Students will be with adults at all times, and will never be alone. Our sleeping site is also very well secured. 5) Who will be chaperoning? We have many different chaperones on our trips. These chaperones mostly consist of parents and teachers, and are known and trusted by the organizers. All the chaperones are screened through an application process, and if they are not well-known by the organizers, they meet with one of them before they are accepted to the trip. You will get a chance to meet the chaperones for your trip at a meeting before you leave.
6) Where will we be staying? We have stayed at various places on our previous trips, and therefore have contacts at many different volunteer housing sites. Where wee stay is particular to each trip, and the address and details about the site is given to participants at meetings before the trip. Often we stay at Our School at Blair Grocery or Lower Ninth Ward Village. All of our housing sites are very secure, and equipped with bathrooms and showers, and usually bunk beds or cots. |
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