Youth Rebuilding New Orleans

OUR MISSION

YRNO engages local youth in the betterment of the New Orleans community.

OUR VISION

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans will be the premier volunteering opportunity for youth ages 15-24. We will provide best-in-class skills training to all participants. We will
make home ownership accessible to all area teachers.

OUR PASSION

Rebuilding efforts are not only aimed at rebuilding the sticks and bricks of devastated
families, but at revitalizing the emotional and spiritual health of each neighbor, and
thus, collectively, reenergizing the soul of our city. We will transform the boundless
energy and optimism of youth into hope for lifeless neighborhoods.

OUR VALUES

• Service through love and concern
• Dignity through respect for another’s home
• Justice through advocacy and empowerment for neighborhoods
• Racial harmony through collective projects
• Unity in the one voice of our youth

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans’ (YRNO) engages youth in the recovery and rebirth of New Orleans and equips young people with valuable job and life skills. While working toward that mission, YRNO has rebuilt 16 previously blighted homes and sold them to local educators, addressing 3 key issues facing the city of New Orleans: youth unemployment, blight, and a shortage of teachers. Since 2011, the organization has trained 155 local youth in construction, job-readiness, and soft skills. Today, in addition to responding to community needs and facilitating service learning projects with local schools, YRNO’s rebuilding work is centered on a “teacher village” in the Bayou St. John neighborhood—4 blighted properties reconstructed as affordable homes, plus community outreach services serving homeowners in need of repairs.