Groundwork New Orleans: Paying Young People to Build Green Infrastructure

New Orleans needs green infrastructure, and its young people need opportunities. Groundwork New Orleans, established in 2006, connects the two: it gives local youth and young adults paid job training in green infrastructure that eases storm water threats. Its work began between downtown and Central City and now spans the city, with major investments in the Seventh Ward, Central City, Gentilly and Bywater.

The challenge

New Orleans is famous for nightlife, music and food — and, increasingly, for its weather. It is one of the country's wettest cities and faces intense storms, including hurricanes and tornadoes. Severe weather is striking more often, made worse by rising seas, low elevation and poor storm water infrastructure. Many residents also live in urban heat islands, at least eight degrees hotter than the city's greener areas. Groundwork and a coalition of grassroots groups are responding by building green infrastructure and expanding green space.

Two paid programs

The Green Team's base is the Earth Lab, an outdoor classroom in the 7th Ward with pollinator gardens, compost and raised beds, and green infrastructure demonstrations including a 30-foot bioswale; the neighboring Healing Center holds monthly art markets there.

What they've built

• Legacy Park: turf, permeable pavers, trees, a rain garden and a large mural. It now holds far more storm water and doubles as a play area for the school next door.
• The ECO Bench, a patented design built with Tulane University, offering free solar-powered electricity, real-time weather updates and shade.
• Mobile solar stations — movable solar panels built by Ground CREW members for neighborhoods hit by power outages. When an EF3 tornado, the strongest on record in New Orleans, struck, Groundwork and partners deployed Solar Powered Community Resilience Trailers within 24 hours, powering five community sites — keeping food-pantry refrigerators running and providing charging and Wi-Fi.
• Help for homeowners and businesses making sustainable choices, often at a fraction of a landscape architect's price, and sometimes free.

The approach

Executive Director Todd Reynolds, who spent much of his career working with at-risk and out-of-school young people, describes a philosophy of deep, long-term investment:

• Not a quick certificate. Short programs of 8 to 12 weeks, in his view, don't give young people time to discover their strengths. Many are largely raising themselves, and need someone in their corner. Participants who stay 2 to 3 years on real projects build experience, a résumé and the certifications (solar, green infrastructure) for well-paid jobs — and can stay on or move on.
• Small cohorts of about 15–20 a year per program, run by a core staff of five, including two site instructors who are former participants.
• Recruiting through relationships: as a former school dean and principal, Reynolds is connected to every local high school. The limit is funding; he hopes one day to run a Green Team at every high school.
• Partnering with grassroots groups such as Healthy Community Services in the 7th Ward and the Water Wise Gulf South Collective, pooling efforts so under-resourced nonprofits can jointly win larger, multiyear grants.
• Measuring impact by what's built. Rather than counting graduates, Groundwork funds youth work through its green infrastructure, solar and water grants — and leaves behind lasting resilience assets that local partners maintain.

The staff describe their youth work as building a kind of family — a safe place for young people to be themselves and step away from their screens.

Sources

Based on "Workforce Development: Investing in youth. Increasing resilience," National Park Service; the remarks of Groundwork New Orleans staff are rewritten in hubnx's own words.