We need your help to win $10,000 to fight litter on the Lafitte Greenway!

NOLA Trash Mob’s Patrick Armstrong is one of three finalists in the 2015 Cox Conserves Heroes Program, honoring Trash Mob’s volunteer work to pick up over 9.5 tons of litter in New Orleans. 

If Patrick wins the online voting, Cox and the Trust for Public Land will donate $10,000 to Friends of Lafitte Greenway for litter fighting initiatives on the Lafitte Greenway!

Please vote today for Patrick Armstrong. Voting is live until September 14th. 

CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Please forward to your friends, share on social media, and help us keep the Lafitte Greenway green.

We did it! The inaugural meeting of the Growing the Greenway Action Committee started off with a bang on Wednesday night at Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center. The Action Committee consists of over 25 community members and organizational partners whose mission is to advocate for and create community gardens along the Lafitte Greenway, which will improve health outcomes of local residents, strengthen neighborhood bonds, support environmental stewardship education, and foster economic growth in the Lafitte Corridor. The committee voted to adopt the Mission and Vision of the Committee, and the Building Our Local Food Economy: A Strategic Action Plan for the Lafitte Corridor, available for download at lafittegreenway.org/lflp1

Many hands make light work. On Saturday, August 29th, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Friends of Lafitte Greenway led a group of 120+ extraordinary volunteers on a "Greening the Greenway" initiative, in partnership with Broad Community Connections, the Trust for Public Land, NOLA Trash Mob, and JPMorgan Chase.

In a single day, we created a new 1,800 square foot mural on the Lafitte Greenway, cleaned up 1,300 pounds of trash from the Lafitte Corridor neighborhoods (65 bags!), and cheered on racers participating in the Resilience Run.

We are excited to announce that Friends of Lafitte Greenway is welcoming two new members to our team--Nellie Catzen and Sydney Doyle! 

Nellie Catzen (left) & Sydney Doyle (right)

Please join Friends of Lafitte Greenway for the Growing the Greenway Action Committee Kickoff Meeting!

On May 27-28, Friends of Lafitte Greenway and partners hosted the Local Foods Local Places Workshop. Over 80 residents and stakeholders gave their ideas to develop a Strategic Action Plan to increase access to healthy local foods in the Lafitte Corridor. We are pleased to present the draft of Building Our Local Food Economy: A Strategic Action Plan for the Lafitte Corridor, a community-based plan to advocate for and create community gardens along the Lafitte Greenway, available for download at lafittegreenway.org/LFLP1.

We are delighted to announce that, effective August 24, 2015, we are changing our name from Friends of Lafitte Corridor to Friends of Lafitte Greenway. As the grand opening of the Lafitte Greenway nears, our new name is a reflection of our renewed commitment to this, now real, public space.

For nine years, we have worked with the community, our members, partners, and public officials to advocate for the preservation of the open green space within the Lafitte Railroad “Corridor”—stretching through nine New Orleans neighborhoods—and its transformation into the “Lafitte Greenway”. Today, that transformation is nearly complete.

Our new brand reinforces our commitment to providing the programs, events, improvements, and advocacy that will make the Lafitte Greenway a vibrant community asset. We believe that by focusing our efforts on supporting the Lafitte Greenway, we will best serve the surrounding Lafitte Corridor neighborhoods. Friends of Lafitte Greenway looks forward to continuing to be your partner in building, programming, and promoting the Greenway as a great public space.

We invite you to visit our new website at www.lafittegreenway.org to get to know our new look. Let us know what you think by emailing info@lafittegreenway.org!

We want to thank Line 58 for their contributions that made this rebranding possible.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Sophie Harris
Executive Director
Friends of Lafitte Greenway

On August 11, our partners at FitLot launched a Katrina Commemoration Project to make New Orleans and the Lafitte Greenway community healthier. We're pleased to share it with you. 

FitLot is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to building public outdoor fitness parks throughout New Orleans. Hours ago, they launched a 30-day crowdfunding campaign to build their flagship fitness park along the Lafitte Greenway at the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center! 

Please take a moment to learn about FitLot's project by CLICKING HERE. Consider providing your financial support to bring an outdoor fitness park to the Lafitte Corridor.

If you like what FitLot is doing, please share this information with others through email, Facebook, or Twitter.

We've reached the 2,000 pound mark!

With the help of Café Reconcile students and other local volunteers, Friends of Lafitte Greenway was able to surpass the 2,000 pound mark for litter picked up since launching our volunteer program in April. Our latest clean-up volunteer day took place on Friday July 3rd. Volunteers started off their holiday weekend on a positive note by giving back to their community through neighborhood beautification. These volunteers arrived early with energy, loaded up on cold water, and set out to brave the New Orleans' summer heat. We cleaned up the Lafitte Corridor neighborhoods around the Sojourner Truth Neighbor Center.

The City of New Orleans Department of Public Works issued the following status update on July 9, 2015.

The Department of Public Works construction contractor, Durr Heavy Construction, has completed placement of the asphalt portion of the Lafitte Greenway bicycle and pedestrian path in Areas 2, 3, 4, and 5. The path in Area 1 is 85% complete.  The concrete path in Area 6  is complete. The contractor has completed installing all trail lighting except within the N. Broad St. median. The contractor will install wiring for the trail lighting in July. Lights are being tested as the wiring is completed.

The overall project is about 96% complete and scheduled to be fully open to the public in summer 2015. This schedule is weather dependent.

On June 15th, Friends on Lafitte Greenway put on a community cleanup event in partnership with the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center (STNC) and the National Park Service to celebrate the kickoff of the 50 Cities Initiative- New Orleans. Leaders from the Department of the Interior, City of New Orleans, NORDC, the Dryades YMCA, and FOLC's Executive Director, Sophie Harris, spoke on the importance of learning outside of the classroom and volunteering. We then led two groups of eager youth volunteers to clean up the playground and open fields around the Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center. With everyone’s help we were able to raise our total amount of trash collected this spring to 1,500 pounds!

See WDSU's story for more information on the 50 Cities Initiative-New Orleans.