RESOURCE DIRECTORY

We live in a world of more severe storms, extreme heat waves and cold snaps. Preparing and recovering from these climate events is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone.

Take a moment to explore the Broad Green Futures Resource Directory. You'll find businesses and organizations in this Directory who can help you prepare, address, and adapt to changing climate conditions in New Orleans.

HOW TO USE THIS DIRECTORY:

Select one of 3 category to filter entries:

Preparation

Response & Recovery

Climate Adaptation

Words and Meanings

‍Preparation - Getting us ready for storms, flooding and extreme heat.

‍Response & Recovery - Helping people during and after storms, floods and extreme heat.

‍Climate Adaptation - Changing our buildings and neighborhoods so that we can live and thrive through storms, floods and extreme heat.

‍Environmental Justice - The belief that residents of every neighborhood deserve safe, clean and healthy conditions.

‍Green Infrastructure - Plants, soil and rock gardens which soak up water where it falls.

‍Flood Reduction - Strategies for reducing damage caused by water.

‍Design - Planning and drawing improvements to our homes, businesses, streets and parks.

‍Advocacy - Building political support for necessary improvements.

Education - Teaching our people about our environment, climate, history and future.

‍Arts & Culture - Strategies used to teach and process information about our environment, climate, history and future.

Neighborhood Organizations - Groups based in specific places which advocate for those places.

‍Recovery - Cleaning up, getting residents and business owners back on our feet after storms, floods and extreme heat.

Mutual Aid - People in a community supporting each other with resources or assistance without an expectation of repayment.

‍Job Training - Preparing our people to work on climate adaptation projects.

Entrepreneurship - Starting and maintaining a business providing climate preparation, adaptation and direct response services.

Construction - Building, rebuilding and repairing our homes, businesses, streets and parks.

‍Engineering - Design and management of systems to help us live and thrive through storms, floods and extreme heat.

‍Roofing - Constructing, repairing and improving roofs to keep out water and save money on insurance and energy.

‍Planning & Policy - Government tools for determining where resources go.

‍Government - Authority over a specific place, such as a city, parish or state.

‍Financing & Development - How climate adaptation projects are funded.

HOW WE GOT HERE

Developing Sustainable New Orleans Neighborhoods

Broad Street weaves together the Seventh Ward, Fairgrounds, Bayou St. John, Treme-Lafitte, Mid-City and Tulane-Gravier, seven neighborhoods at the heart of New Orleans. As we prepare our communities for the challenges of climate change, here are some questions we’re asking ourselves:

How did these neighborhoods get here?
How did they stay here, through centuries of political and environmental change?
What can this story teach us as we adapt our neighborhoods to survive and thrive in an era of a changing climate?

Use the arrows to slide left or right through the images

BCC service area (dark yellow) laid over a 1798 map. Colonial development followed high ground near bayous. Broad cuts through "Cypress Swamp." Carondelet Canal became today's Lafitte Greenway park. (1, 2)

Lafitte public housing development opened in 1941. Straight University grew here from 1869 to 1934, while churches like St. James AME, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox and Chinese Presbyterian prospered. (1)

Sacred Heart Church rebuilt after the 1915 Hurricane. S&WB’s pumps created developable land but flooding continued. Shotgun houses filled with Creoles; Black Southern migrants; European, Caribbean, South and East Asian immigrants.
(1, 2, 3)

Chitimacha elders Ernestine Walls and Lydia Darden display river cane baskets. Indigenous paths met at Andre Cailloux Park, a place of commerce for Indigenous and African people. (1, 2)

Recovery from Hurricane Katrina powered community development successes including Broad Community Connections, The Lafitte Greenway, and Rose Collaborative. BCC’s ReFresh Project opened in 2014 in a former Schwegmann’s grocery. (1)

Ruth Fertel grew her business from Broad into a nationwide empire. Despite urban renewal and disinvestment challenges, small businesses and neighborhood organizations anchored residents with essential services. (1, 2)

BCC staff and Broad Street Business Association leaders envision a self-determined future where communities adapt to climate challenges through sustainable neighborhood development. (1)

Broad Community Connections 2022 summer interns Chiara Vilna-Santos and Justin Zhang created the Broad Green Futures Zine, a collage telling stories of the Broad neighborhoods in the mid-21st century. (1)

Chiara Vilna-Santos and Justin Zhang created the Broad Green Futures Zine in conversation with New Orleans artists including the BeLite youth collective. (1, 2)

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ANCIENT FLYING MACHINES

aaand everything makes sense...

BEST SERIES EVER

INVESTIGATING BABYLON

THe 42 Series

MIND BLOWN BEYON THE LIMITS

Uncommon Ground

Blew My Mind

Dream the Futures

Celebrating the Past, Rooted for Tomorrow

Broad Community Connections worked with lead artist Mel Isidor with support from Wayne Jones to create a digital collage incorporating images of the Broad corridor neighborhoods past, present and future, inspired by the visionary work of our 2022 summer interns Chiara Vilna-Santos and Justin Zhang.

This image is designed to be read from top to bottom. At the top, images from our shared histories provide the context in which we find our present-day businesses and institutions, which are illustrated in the middle. At the bottom, despite the challenges of our changing climate, our people are hard at work planting seeds, building the necessary infrastructure for a sustainable future.

Check out our Resource Directory to learn more about the organizations doing this important work. In the spring of 2025, Broad Community Connections partnered with Broad Street businesses and organizations to host temporary banner installations of our Broad Green Vision along our street.

Where We’re Going

Climate Adaptation through Cultural Convening

In June 2025, amidst extreme climate and political change, Broad Community Connections gathered Broad Street neighbors, who offered hope and inspiration to each other through stories of their lives, work and interests. The Broad Green Futures Climate Organizing Dinner brought together civic leaders, artists, organizers, and culture bearers to imagine a climate-just future for Broad Street, and for New Orleans at large. These community leaders made critical connections with folks they had not known before, across generations, neighborhoods, and expertise. Through shared food and conversation, guests explored the possibilities of a more equitable, resilient city shaped by community power.