New Orleans Work Trip – December 2 – 9, 2007

GCW board members invite you to join them for a week in the Lower Ninth Ward this December! We will be working with New Orleans’ residents, helping to rebuild a home and assisting with other work needed by NENA, the Ninth Ward’s neighborhood association. Those with building skills welcomed, as well as those willing to learn and work hard! To find out more, sign up online and our volunteer coordinator will contact you shortly.


Our New Orleans House Project – Early 2008

Starting in mid to late February 2008, join us as we embark on a new homebuilding project for a family in New Orleans' Ninth Ward!

The property owner is Linda Jackson and family, whose home was completely destoyed by the flooding of the Lower Ninth. A community leader, Linda is also a committed member of NENA, a grassroots neighborhood organization in the lower Ninth Ward, and a GCW partner. She and her children currently live with friends in Slidell (35 miles from New Orleans) while she tirelessly advocates for rebuilding the Ninth Ward's existing homes and neighborhoods.

This house will be a modest single-floor two bedroom home built from the ground up, one of the first of its kind in this slowly recovering neighborhood. It will be seen as both a model approach for others to emulate and an anchor property to stimulate additional enterprise in the immediate area. We have the skilled support of the design studio at NENA, along with site management support and locally hired foundation and systems contractors, but we'll need lots of volunteer help from start to finish. While strong building skills are not a requirement, volunteers with experience in the trades are highly prized and desparately needed. Work is scheduled to begin in February, with more details to follow very soon, and a detailed (though very preliminary) project timeline is available here.