Youth Rebuilding New Orleans

Youth Rebuilding New Orleans Educates, Empowers, and Engages Youth Towards the Betterment of New Orleans YRNO's REbuild Program equips young New Orleanians aged 16-21 with job and life skills by teaching how to rebuild blighted homes and lead volunteers from around the world. YRNO sells the renovated homes at an affordable rate to local educators and other social impact professionals. Give NOLA Day funds will be used to purchase the next blighted property that we will rebuild.

After Hurricane Katrina, young people have turned away from rebuilding by large nonprofits because of the liability associated with reconstruction. Instead of accepting rejection, a committed group of teens created Youth Rebuilding New Orleans. Since 2005, YRNO has helped over 500 families recover from disasters and complete home repairs.
While YRNO's mission remains engaging local youth in the betterment of the New Orleans community, as New Orleans has changed in the past 14 years, so have YRNO's goals. Today YRNO addresses key issues in New Orleans: youth unemployment, blight, disasters, community service, gentrification, flooding, and affordable housing while designing our programs around our values of authentic youth-adult partnerships, youth leadership, social justice, and diverse participation.
In 2010, YRNO started Project HOMEwork (Housing Opportunities for Metro Educators) to renovate blighted homes to sell to educators at below-market prices in exchange for continued efforts to educate the city's youth. Operational since 2011, YRNO's Reforming Employment build (REbuild) Program has provided training and employment for 226 under/unemployed youth aged 16-21. Additionally,

Testimonials

"One thing I like the most about the REbuild Program is how you get to be a leader. You get to supervise others, as if you're the manager of something." -Thor, 19

"After volunteering with YRNO, I realized I like working with my hands a lot. I'm hoping to go into construction or carpentry work in the future." -Jeremy, 16

"I'm learning currently work ethic, following directions, teamwork and how to keep track of tools." -JP, 18

"This program has added to my career by helping me get more involved and work on something more advanced than the basic carpentry I learned in school" -Patrick, 24