Gambit Weekly’s 40 under 40, NewsHerald & ABC News

Monday, November 10, 2008

“Every year, Gambit Weekly calls for nominations for “40 Under 40,” our annual look at some of the young people who are making remarkable contributions to the New Orleans metropolitan region.”

We were please to be selected. CLICK HERE to read our profile.

The outstanding civic participation in Tuesday’s presidential election re-energized our committment to make the recovery of New Orleans a top priority within the new administration’s agenda.

As an ‘07 Center For the Study of The Presidency Fellow, BNO Founder has always been keenly interested in history and encouraging others to play an active roll in our democracy.

Here are some of his personal thoughts about the important nature of this election.

1. NewsHerald

2. NewsHerald

3. ABC News Article & Video

We were recently in the Florida Gulf Coast - an area we’ve become familiar with over the course of the past 2 years because of Bike Katrina- encouraging people to become more engaged in the electoral process.

In particular, our message was structured around a dialogue on how residents could use the battleground status of Florida to amplify their voices as a powerful advocacy tool for coastal restoration, a green economy and the bricks-and-mortar rebuilding of the Gulf Coast.

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Honored By The City Council

Monday, October 13, 2008

NOLA City Council Honors Blanket New Orleans, Inc from BlanketNewOrleans.Org on Vimeo.

10.02.08: It was a great honor for us to receive recognition from The City Council of New Orleans. You can click on the link above and watch the ceremony.

BNO on 1067 HomeTeam Morning Radio Show from BlanketNewOrleans.Org on Vimeo

10.07.08: We were guests on Old School 106.7 - The Home Team Morning Radio Show to talk about our residency fellowship program for young adults committed to public service. You can click on the link above and listen to us on the radio.

BNO “4WWL” Gustav TownHall News Clip from BlanketNewOrleans.Org on Vimeo

10.08.08: Provided some perspective about my experience as an Evacuation Support Team volunteer and as the co-founder of GustavRelief.Org at a Gustav Evacuation Town Hall meeting at City Hall. You can click on the link above and watch our 4WWL news clip.

BNO “WDSU6″ News Clip: Economic Impact For Non Profits from BlanketNewOrleans.Org on Vimeo

10.11.08: Provided some thoughts about the New Orleans economy relative to non-profit organizations. You can click on the link above and watch our WDSU6 news clip.

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National Green Day of Action: Global Vision For New Orleans

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Dear Family & Friends:

On Saturday September 27, 2008 - I had the opportuity to share the stage with two New Orleans City Council members, civic leaders and volunteers as we celebrated the National Day of Action for Green Jobs in New Orleans. “Green Day” forums and rallies took place across the country over the weekend. Click Here To View Our Photos From The Rally!

Below is an excerpt of my written speech, “Global Vision For Green New Orleans.”

“As a Hurricane Katrina first responder I drove an Emergency Response Vehicle for 6 weeks in the Ninth Ward, New Orleans East and St. Bernard Parish. Currently, I am leading a construction project where we are building a green service house for AmeriCorps volunteers in a neighborhood adjacent to Muscians’ Village through our non-profit called - Blanket New Orleans.

I am excited to be here because our initiative is just one example of how & why New Orleans should be at the forefront of the green movement. In examining the state of New Orleans’ green economy, there are a few things that we need to do as we champion a green agenda for New Orleans.

First, we have to look at what we are doing right. An important component of that is looking at how we can more effectively communicate with people what city government & residents in our neighborhoods are doing to make green the Crescent City.

Then we ought to focus on our excessive waste, those ways in which we are harming the environment - in government, business and at home.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly - we have to look at ourselves. Individually, we must become more responsible in harnessing the resources of our natural environment. Our task is simple: in order to rebuild the best New Orleans than we have got to be better stewards of the earth.

Each and everyday we can take 1 small step toward making this work. We are all at this rally because we want to reclaim the grandeur that once was New Orleans - with bold ideas and a sustainable vision to make the Crescent City safer, smarter, greener & healthier.

But for you and I, this agenda is about making tough decisions. Living a green life that creates green jobs is about sacrifice. It is about leading the way among your friends & family.

It is about creating incentives that you can utilize in your place of work. It is about questioning the manufacturers of the products you buy, and demanding a green agenda from the people who seek your vote.

And so our agenda must incorporate a vision to maximize the global marketplace for green products and use those investments to make urban cities like NOLA the most green in the country. Now is our time. We have a tremendous opportunity to create a culture of green innovation right here in our own backyard, now lets see what we do with it.”

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This week we will conclude our immediate response GustavRelief.Org efforts. Thank you for all of your support and suggestions - we made some significant gain in the past three weeks:

220 new blankets & 1,000 bottles of water from countless individuals and 7 corporate sponsors to 10 different points of distribution and or evacuation shelters from Houma, Louisiana to Jackson, Mississippi. Visit our site for more photos and info.

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Lastly, we are extremely close to hitting our $5,000 fund raising goal from our BikeKatrina 2008 journey to help complete Phase 1 of the BNO Green Service House. I am very optimistic that we will do so in the coming weeks. We will keep you posted!

Here is one great reason to Support Our House: “The New Orleans 100″ is a worldwide initiative that recently highlighted and encouraged discussion among millions about 100 of the best and most sustainable organizations in the city. Blanket New Orleans, Inc. is one of the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina. Click to here to read about it - we are in the Non-Profit Category!

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Please visit: GustavRelief.Org

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Help us solve the greatest need, please visit: GustavRelief.Org

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BikeKatrina 2008 Update!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

We made it! Rebecca and myself are extremely encouraged by the tremendous amount of support we have received throughout the course of our cycling journey through the Gulf Coast.

For BikeKatrina 2008 - the aim was to honor the victims of the storm during the 3rd anniversary of Katrina and empower our neighbors in the region to do their part in protecting the wetlands. I think that we tried to carry out our goal with passion, dedication and humility. Hopefully, some of our photos illustrate our rigorous effort. Click Here To View Photos From BK2008.

[Becky greeted by well wishers on the Ocean Spring Bridge to Biloxi]

This trip would not have been possible without the sacrifices made by Rebecca Reindel - who resumes her public health graduate studies at George Washington University on Monday. She gave up a lot to join our efforts one week before her classes start. A special thank you to the 7 nuns at the Monastery of the Visitation in Mobile, Alabama for their amazing hospitality, the Holiday Inn and the congregation of Saint Mary Margaret in Slidell for housing us.

Much appreciation to Whitney Fauntleroy, a graduate student at The Princeton Theological Seminary and her church Davie St. Presbyterian in Raleigh, North Carolina for all of their generous support. Much love to Nancy Nordtvedt & the Holy Family Church’s social justice committee in Chicago, looking forward to hosting their youth group next year. And lastly - our BikeKatrina Coordinator, Jamison Brewer a 2nd year at University of Michigan Law School. He was responsible for putting the pieces of our trip together and did a great job!

RESSURECTING PASCAGOULA MISSISSIPPI

Thanks to Mrs. Darnell Cuevas, Principal of Resurrection High School, for allowing us to engage her students on Wednesday morning about civic engagement and service-learning. I told the students that they could tell their parents to purchase compact florescent light bulbs as a tangible action that individuals can take to protect the wetlands. The less fossil fuels we burn, the less melting that takes place in the poles - the less our sea level rises. BNO friend Katie Del Guercio did the research for our coastal restoration awareness campaign!

It was great to meet with Ward 4 Councilman Frank Corder in City Hall Tuesday afternoon. We had an informative discussion about the status of recovery in Mississippi’s “Flagship City.”

NEW ORLEANS KATRINA COMMEMORATION

Yesterday, I spoke to grade school students, neighbors, and community organizers who gathered for the 3rd anniversary of the storm. As a member of the ARC’s Hurricane Gustav Evacuation Support Team I talked with them about emergency preparedness.

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The 2nd Battle of New Orleans: Transcending The Odds –> Transforming Our City

Friday, August 8, 2008

BNO supporters attended several excellent workshops at the 50th Annual National Convention of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference [SCLC], which took place in New Orleans during the first week of August.

The premiere civil rights organization was founded here 51 years ago in a small Mid-City church. It was an honor to speak at the SCLC Neighborhood Event, held at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School; the first public school to reopen in the Lower 9th Ward after Katrina. The school is also the namesake of the SCLC’s founding president.

With a keen interest in history, I wanted to create imagery and take the audience back to the First Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The following 3 paragraphs represent a summation of what I talked about, you can also watch an ad libbed version of my speech by clicking on the preceding link:

“General Andrew Jackson led a brigade of American forces along the Mississippi River to defeat adversaries seeking to seize and conquer the Crescent City. American forces were successful in defending New Orleans then and we will be successful in defending New Orleans today. But we cannot do it by ourselves - the entire country must join together in the theater of our recovery campaign to win the 2nd Battle of New Orleans.

The storm almost knocked us out. Our infrastructure and capabilities have been weakened - compound that with governmental inefficiency and a lack of federal leadership. We are crippled by the mandate of an antiquated Stafford Act and without a comprehensive Category 5 levee system. And so we have a sea of problems, an ocean worth of challenges. The path to victory no longer seems navigational. Our ship anchored in our faith in progress seems to be drowning. But despite the bleak forecast, that grainy picture - we know from our history, our shared American experiences that “a rising tide can lift all ships.”

In order to win this 2nd Battle of New Orleans, we must redeploy, re-energize and re-mobilize the American forces. Or as I like to think of them as, the non-violent forces of good. Those tangible things, those values of determination, service, sacrifice, selflessness and a commitment to community. These are the forces of good that make us who we are as a people. Join the movement and get involved.”

The 2nd Battle of New Orleans from BlanketNewOrleans.Org on Vimeo.

Martin Luther King III is the gracious recipient of our inaugural Golden Blanket Award. It was a great pleasure to speak with him about the project we are working on. We created the award as a way to recognize a national figure for their continued commitment to the recovery of New Orleans, those displaced by Katrina throughout the Gulf South, and the advancement of civic engagement. Mr. King III is the CEO of Realizing The Dream, which implements “bold initiatives to empower people to take charge of their lives and the life of their communities.”

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100 Build BNO Green House!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

BNO Founder & CEO has taken the year since our August 2007 BikeKatrina journey to serve full-time as a national service AmeriCorps volunteer rehabilitating flood-ravaged homes throughout the city. After completing more than 2,000 hours of community service - Team BNO is energized to share with you our vision to continue to move New Orleans Forward. Happy Johnson discusses the recovery effort on the preceding 4WWL local news clip.

TEAM Blanket New Orleans is gearing up for our 2nd annual cycling journey through the Gulf South, retracing the storm path of Hurricane Katrina which will take us from Pensacola to New Orleans [Aug. 25 - Aug. 29]. We will bike a total of 250 miles! making stops along the way to call attention to the 3rd Anniversary of the storm, survey the recovery in the region, and inform people about the need to address the critical issue of coastal restoration.

The purpose of the cycling journey is to raise $5,000 which will help build The Blanket New Orleans Green Service House - a property that will be rebuilt with (”Green”) environmentally sound construction material into a residency fellowship program for young adults committed to public service in New Orleans.

In the past 2 months, we have had over 100 volunteers gut and prep our site. CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF 100 VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION @ THE BNO HOUSE. A special thank you goes out to Neena Ajwani, Chris Boudy of CBX WebDesigns, Alex Rose, Mike Losco, Canita Brent, Jocelyn A. Sideco of the Jesuit Relief Services; Tara Chase of the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer Corps; Alive In You Gulf Coast Group; Volunteers from The Archdiocese of Camden, New Jersey & Pete Cote; St. Francis College Prep of Fresh Meadows, New York; and Junipero Serra High School of San Mateo, California.

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Gtown Chapter Spring Break 08

Monday, June 9, 2008

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Highlights From Bike Katrina 07

Friday, August 31, 2007

Thank you for your interest, compassion and support. This journey would not have been possible without the generous support from The Ruddy Fund, The Jaffee Foundation, Ariel Capital Management LLC, Joe’s Bike Shop of Tallahassee, Bike Plus of Pensacola, Patchwork Wheels of Mobile, Big Wheels of Arlington Virginia and Fr. Alex Valladares of the University of South Alabama.

**Click here to read our mention among Katrina Anniversary Events in the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper.

**CLICK HERE TO VIEW BIKE KATRINA 2007 PHOTOS .

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