{"id":5462,"date":"2015-04-08T09:05:33","date_gmt":"2015-04-08T14:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gnof.org\/?p=5462"},"modified":"2015-04-08T09:05:33","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T14:05:33","slug":"lower-9th-ward-center-for-sustainable-engagement-development-advocates-for-healthier-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.communify.me\/gnof\/lower-9th-ward-center-for-sustainable-engagement-development-advocates-for-healthier-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Lower 9th Ward Center For Sustainable Engagement &#038; Development Advocates For Healthier Neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/199832987&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Since its formation in 2006, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development has worked hard to advocate for a healthier, more sustainable Lower 9th Ward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana,\u201d declares Arthur Johnson, CEO of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. \u201cThis is on the Holy Cross side. The river is right on my right. I can see the tall ships from here.\u00a0 That\u2019s how close we are to the river.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is home for us,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cThis is where we do our work and help in the Lower 9th Ward community but also setting the pace for coastal restoration, wetland development, and energy efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those are big goals for a small organization, which was founded after Katrina in pursuit of three core missions: rehabilitating the coast, greening the built environment, and increasing food security.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these goals are embodied in the barge board house Johnson leads me through. All around us, dozens of volunteers from Kansas City on spring break are busy working on the inside and outside of the property.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the house that is made out of barge board,\u201d Johnson says as he leads me through the house. \u201cThis is the wood that was coming from the barges that come down the Mississippi. This house is over 130 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The house will serve as a community center, a place for neighborhood associations and groups like the girl scouts to gather for workshops and meetings. It will be the kind of community space the Lower 9th Ward doesn\u2019t have, outside of churches.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson described the hard work \u2013 done mostly through volunteers \u2014 of gutting the former double, clearing it of debris, and giving it a new roof.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t know it was a barge board house until we started peeling the drywall, and the wallpaper and the paint and found this gem underneath it all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>The way the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development has renovated the barge board house serves as a model of sustainability. They have ceiling fans and eco-friendly insulation from top to bottom \u2014 some of which you can see through panes of glass placed over intentionally-left openings in the walls. These are called Truth Windows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s an architectural term,\u201d explains Johnson. \u201cI\u2019ve only learned how to use that term recently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson leads me to the backyard. He points out raised gardening beds under construction, a rain garden at the back of the property, and a group of young trees sunning themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to have an orchard back there,\u201d points Johnson. \u201cYou see the trees already in place.\u00a0 We\u2019ll have oranges, lemons, limes and satsumas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All the produce grown here will be given away to community members. But even more importantly, this yard will demonstrate the possibilities for developing food security in the Lower 9th Ward. And it\u2019ll provide the perfect space for workshops around nutrition and health.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to all of this, Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development will finally have its own office.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Johnson, \u201cAre you excited to finally have a physical home?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re elated. This house truly wraps around everything we live for and were created about.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From this office, Johnson says the Center will continue working on their many projects, such as constructing an environmental education center across from Bayou Bienvenue, improving pedestrian and bicycle safety across the St. Claude Avenue bridge, and making nearly 200 homes more energy efficient by installing radiant barriers in their attics.<\/p>\n<p><em>Written by Eve Abrams for the Community IMPACT Series and produced by WWNO in partnership with the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Learn more about\u00a0the <a title=\"Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sustainthenine.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"broken_link\">Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since its formation in 2006, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development has worked hard to advocate for a healthier, more sustainable Lower 9th Ward. \u201cWe are in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana,\u201d declares Arthur Johnson, CEO of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development. \u201cThis&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677,30],"tags":[834,350,836,666,838,839,43,837,835,100],"class_list":["post-5462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front-page-small-feature","category-our-community","tag-coastal-restoration","tag-community-impact","tag-energy-efficiency","tag-eve-abrams","tag-food-security","tag-hurricane-katrina","tag-katrina","tag-lower-9th-ward-center-for-sustainable-engagement-and-development","tag-wetland-development","tag-wwno"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lower 9th Ward Center For Sustainable Engagement &amp; 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