Committee for A Better New Orleans

Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum Revamp & Planning - Our signature annual program, The Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum takes 30-50 emerging leaders from across the City on a deep-dive into the City's issues and assets, and empowers them with the network and skills they need to get involved in leading change. This year, we launched a committee of volunteers to plan the forum, and restructured the sessions based on previous attendees' feedback. Our 2022 Leadership Forum, originally scheduled for January 2022, will feature a more diverse class of leaders, an unlimited scholarship fund, and a closing retreat focused on community organizing.

Education & Advocacy - We educated thousands of residents in the City Budget Process; including training on how the budget works, and what the City proposed in their 2022 Budget. We explored ways to make the content fun, including through a Story-book read-along event. We also built up a library of digital content to educate people on civics, which we rolled out through email, website,and social media. We created tools for advocates and community leaders to follow the 2021 municipal election, and learn about candidates and issues on the ballot.

Building Our Future Campaign - In 2021, the Federal government pledged billions of dollars to municipalities for COVID relief and to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure. We launched a coalition to help advocates and community leaders understand these historic levels of federal funding, and ensure their voices are heard in the planning process. We built and grew partnerships with the City legislative branch and executive branch to help bridge the internal divide between the two, and the larger external divide with the community. We hosted the City's first (and only) public conversations on the allocation of millions in federal recovery funds, and spurred the development of 4 community-driven proposals.