Join Friends of Lafitte Corridor for our annual membership meeting and board elections. We will report on the Greenway's construction progress, 2014 accomplishments and 2015 goals, and hold elections for FOLC's Board of Directors. We have an extraordinary group on nominees this year. All Friends of Lafitte Corridor members in attendance are eligible to vote in the board elections. Join or renew your membership online or in-person on the 26th!

Board of Directors Nominees

Amy Allen-- Amy is a Property Manager with Stirling Properties specializing in the management of Shopping Centers in the New Orleans area. Some of the Shopping Centers included in her portfolio are the Mid-City Market, Old Metairie Village and the new Magnolia Marketplace on South Claiborne Avenue. She is from the West Bank area originally and an LSU Alumni.  After spending ten years in the Commercial Real Estate industry in Atlanta she relocated back to Louisiana. She has been with Stirling Properties since December 2012. Understanding the importance of the Lafitte Greenway to local businesses she has taken steps to make the Mid-City Market a leader in providing amenities to Greenway users such as adding Project NOLA crime cameras and a bike repair station. Both of these amenities will be fully functional by the Spring of 2015. Amy has been an active member of FOLC for one year and a Mid-City resident since May, 2014.    

Clarence A. Becknell, Sr.-- Clarence is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana who joined the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure, Club Inc. May 1981. He is a Retired Elementary School Principal of the New Orleans Public School System. Clarence has been a very active member in Zulu since he joined. He has served on several committees simultaneously as a Chairman and Officer. He has been a part of Zulu’s growth beginning in the 1980s and continuing today. He instituted Zulu Community Programs, (Appearances, Displays, Guest Speaker) that positively impacted Zulu’s notoriety, respect, appreciation and awareness. His involvement in Zulu is evidenced by the numerous committees and positions held and continues to serve. Clarence currently serves as Zulu's Historian, Chairman of the Souvenir Booklet Committee, Director of Public Relations, and Zulu Newsletter Chairman.                    

Judith Williams Dangerfield-- Judith is a Partner of Metro-Source, L.L.C, a local consulting firm located in the Treme' community. In her tenure with Metro Source Ms. Dangerfield has provided technical assistance and support to numerous government, quasi-government and community- and faith-based organizations to include the Bring New Orleans Back Commission, the Children’s Defense Fund multi-state Southern Regional Black Women’s Initiative, the New Orleans Faith-Based Housing Collaborative, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s New Orleans Jobs Initiative, PolicyLink's Sustainable Communities Initiative, and the NOLA for Life Continuum of Services Collaborative for high-risk men and boys of color, the Workforce Investment Board/Job1 and the New Orleans Business. Specializing in Title VI and Environmental Justice policies and programs for inclusion, she is currently providing technical assistance to the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority, the New Orleans International Airport and the Network for Economic Opportunity. She is a member of the monitoring team for the U.S. Department of Justice Consent Decree with the New Orleans Police Department. Ms. Dangerfield holds a Master’s of Science in Community Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester New Hampshire. Together with late husband Dr. Peter W. Dangerfield, Jr. she is co-author of Voice of the Poor: Citizens Participation in Rebuilding New Orleans, published in 2009 by the National Black Political Scientists Association.

John Hopper-- Hopper has over twenty-five years of non-profit management experience, ran an operating foundation at the American Red Cross National Headquarters with a $93 million endowment, served as the Executive Director of the Young Leadership Council for seven years, and has overseen the successful implementation of scores of grants. He presently serves as the Chief Development Officer and Director of Public Affairs at New Orleans City Park and has been instrumental in raising over $108 million for the park since Hurricane Katrina. He has a B.S. in Management with a Specialization in Spanish and an MBA. He served in the United States Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. He has and continues to serve on a number of non-profit boards.

Eric Van Hoven-- Eric serves as the Branch Manager and Lender for Gulf Coast Bank & Trust in the Mid-City area, and has worked in community banking since 2009. He has experience in mergers and acquisition, and worked for HSBC, a large global bank, for 8 years. Eric has a degree in Business Administration and Management from the University of Souther Mississippi, an MBA from Loyola University, and is currently working on a graduate degree in banking at LSU. He serves as the Vice President of the Greater Mid-City Business Association. He was born and raised in the New Orleans area and lives in Lakeview with his wife and two children. His interests include traveling with family and friends, sporting events, and fishing.

Jared Zeller-- Jared Zeller has split most of his professional career between the arts and industrial distribution, with a short time spent abroad in South Korea while enlisted with the U.S. Army. Currently in the industrial arena, he is employed by MSC Industrial Supply as a metalworking specialist in the oil patch of Louisiana. In the artistic realm, Zeller is the founder and executive officer of the MotherShip Foundation, host of the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo, and has spent the last fifteen years promoting and producing entertainment events in the New Orleans area, as a career and hobby. After receiving a BS in Business Management form the University of New Orleans in 2006, he became an adjunct professor at Delgado Community College teaching Introduction to Music Business and Music Entrepreneurship. Following Hurricane Katrina, Zeller founded the Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo Festival in 2006 as a way to revitalize a neighborhood in peril. This grassroots community festival has become one of New Orleans signature events, drawing thousands of locals and visitors to a once devastated neighborhood.