Hands On New Orleans has developed holistic programs through critical need assessments within neighborhoods.

Hands On New Orleans offers opportunities for individuals, groups, and families lend their hands to address critical community issues:

Ms. Evelyn's House

Thanks to a large donation made by Rhino Records and other contributions, a project to restore the historic Central City home of Ms. Evelyn Green is in full swing! Ms. Evelyn has lived in the home, built in 1869, for more than 30 years before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped off the roof and extensively damaged in the interior and exterior of the home.

Hands On New Orleans has committed to not only continue assisting with the reconstruction of her home, but also completing the repairs in a way that is historically accurate to the original designs of the home.

This means a local resident will have a home to return to, and the neighborhood will see a crucial historic landmark restored.

Youth and Education

Hands On New Orleans strives to engage local youth in service to their communities. Each year Hands On New Orleans supports youth leadership and service through Global Youth Service Day, school renovations and partnerships. Through its involvement in the New Orleans Kids Partnership, partnership with Kaboom!, and continued work with the numerous charter and Recovery School District Schools, Hands On New Orleans is helping to improve the quality of life for young people. Cultural preservation and issue education

Animal Shelter

Like much of New Orleans, many local non-profits have been impacted by the low population to return to New Orleans. We help local non-profits like Animal Rescue New Orleans, (ARNO) by assisting with the care and cleaning of animals. ARNO is the only no kill animal shelter in New Orleans.

Environment

Hands On New Orleans works to improve the environment! By working with other local non-profits we help to lesson the effects of energy efficiency by working with organization such as Green Light New Orleans. The goal is to replace yesterdays incandescent light bulbs with the new environmentally friendly compact fluorescent lights, (CFL)

Additionally we work to improve wetland restoration! Our volunteers work with the National Wildlife foundation to help restore our natural wetlands.

Cultural Preservation

New Orleans is one of the most unique cities in the world! Hands On New Orleans works to preserve, restore, and celebrate cultural spaces throughout New Orleans. In celebration of the rich musical and cultural heritage of New Orleans, Hands On New Orleans has strong partnerships with the Tipitina’s Foundation and Sweet Home New Orleans. Our past work through these partnerships included renovations at the legendary Mother-in-Law Lounge. Our work in cultural preservation will also support rebuilding efforts aimed at getting area artists back to New Orleans and back into their homes.

Disaster Preparedness and Response

Learn about HONO's response to Hurricane Gustav!

Hands on New Orleans will serve as the lead agency in establishing a Volunteer Reception Center in times of disaster. A Volunteer Reception Center is a system to coordinate spontaneous volunteers in disaster when LOCAL resources are unable to handle the influx of such volunteers.  VRCs are not opened in every disaster--but are opened at the request and on coordination with local Office of Emergency Preparedness, OEP.  The center can be anywhere--even under a tree, but it is a localized place to send spontaneous volunteers in large disasters.  If a VRC is opened, local nonprofits responding to the disaster can call in their needs for volunteers--number, location, shifts, etc.  The VRC will process volunteers who come in and assign them to the various needs.  This system/process has been used successfully in North Carolina, in many FL hurricanes, the FL Groundhog Day tornadoes, in Alabama for the Enterprise tornadoes, in Ohio for the floods, etc.  The Volunteer Center/Hands On New Orleans would be responsible for coordinating with OEP to open and operate the center. 

Absolutely, LTRC orgs are the orgs who would post their needs in such a center. It is merely a way to localize, coordinate and REFER volunteers to orgs who need help.  The Volunteer Reception Center does not manage them, but merely processes them for orgs needing help.  Volunteers referred to a particular organization actually "own" those volunteers when they arrive and are responsible for training them, managing them, etc. 

Corporate Social Responsibility

Hands At Work offers opportunities for corporations and business leaders to impact the community.

Corporations can participate in customized service projects, sponsor service events, join the Corporate Volunteer Council, and receive consultation on developing and expanding Employee Volunteer Programs.

Volunteer Leadership Academy

Equipping Volunteers - Hands On New Orleans has refined the “full service” volunteer approach to include volunteer recruitment, training, and activation, with a special focus on volunteer leadership. We have trained and equipped many of our long-term volunteers to identify community needs, develop volunteer projects, and motivate and mentor newer volunteers through their three month experience.

Our Goal - The goal of this program is to sustain a Volunteer Leader program as part of Hands On New Orleans’ long-term commitment to the community. It is our plan to:

• provide a sustainable program model for Volunteer Leaders’ service, including both visiting and local leaders.
• establish an ongoing training program for Volunteer Leaders to enable them to mobilize volunteers and engage community members effectively
• establish a locally-focused volunteer leader recruitment program focused on skilled labor, with strong linkages to New Orleans community.

Volunteer Leaders At Work - Our Volunteer Leaders are an integral component of our operations at Hands On New Orleans. Each manages an average of 15 volunteers per day in the field, acting as the on-site supervisors for all of our projects. Projects may include working at food distribution centers, assisting at local animal shelters, wetland restoration, rebuilding homes with our construction program, collaborating with other local non-profits and much more.

Volunteer Leaders will develop one community project reflecting their focus area. We suggest that this project be in the form of a partnership with another non-profit in New Orleans.  Leaders will be responsible for the planning, recruiting, execution, and sustainability of their project.  The project should meet a critical community need, and engage locals in their own recovery. 

Service Learning - Volunteer Leaders will engage in service learning activities which include discussion panels with homeowners and citizen leaders in the community, as well as attending neighborhood, grassroots, and city council meetings. We encourage Volunteer Leaders to examine deeper civic issues affecting the community and to develop at least one service learning presentation that they can share with our staff, the volunteers and the community.

We want Hands On New Orleans to be a place that funnels passionate energy into the rebuilding of our city and is every three months sending leaders back to their respective homes, who are equipped and ready to spread a volunteer movement throughout the nation and spread that spirit throughout our city.

How do I apply?

Please visit our website and submit an application.