AVODAH Opens New Program in New Orleans
After a decade of significant work in three major U.S. cities, AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps has brought its dedication for social justice to New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the city over three years ago, the Jewish community has been part of the extraordinary effort to help rebuild it, giving generously through their federations, their synagogue movements, and directly to groups in New Orleans. AVODAH’s decision to expand to New Orleans represents a significant addition to the Jewish community’s contribution to rebuilding the greater New Orleans community, especially since it represents the first Jewish organization to bring long-term volunteers to the city, long-term help which the city most desperately needs.
The New Orleans Corps Members
August 2008 saw the arrival of the nine AVODAH Corps members in New Orleans, affectionately known as our AVODAHniks. These energetic young people heralded from all over North America, from as far away as California, Massachusetts, and even Canada, a diverse group brought together by a common passion for wanting to live and work in New Orleans. Since then, they have been living together in their Jefferson Avenue home, forming an intentional community rooted in Jewish identity and dedicated to social justice.
Each of the AVODAHniks works with a different non-profit organization, thereby combating poverty and working for social justice in a variety of different fields. Organizations range from the Tulane University Community Health Center at Covenant House, supplying medical treatment to disadvantaged populations, to the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center and Rebuilding Together New Orleans, both working in different ways to address the current lack of affordable housing in the area. Other placement organizations include the Orleans Public Defenders, the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, New Orleans Outreach, and Resurrection After Exoneration.
Rabbi David Rosenn, Executive Director of AVODAH
AVODAH officially celebrated the launch of its New Orleans program by hosting a Sukkot party in the AVODAHniks’ backyard sukkah on October 19. Over 50 people joined us to learn more about AVODAH and show their support for the work being done by the current New Orleans Corps members. Speakers included David Rosenn, the founder and executive director of AVODAH; Carole Neff, the chair of AVODAH’s New Orleans Advisory Council; Charles Allen, III and Pamela Dashiell, co-directors and co-founders of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, one of AVODAH’s local placement organizations; and Michael Wasserman, president of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans. During the ceremony, AVODAH was honored by a proclamation from the New Orleans City Council, welcoming us to New Orleans and thanking us for the service we are providing.
In light of the recent economic downturn, AVODAH’s mission to fight the causes and effects of poverty has taken on even greater significance. We anticipate that many more people will be in need of basic services, like those provided by our placement organizations, while those organizations will be faced with the challenge of maintaining those services in the face of funding cuts. However, we also anticipate that AVODAH’s applicant pool will increase, as recent college graduates will have fewer jobs available to them. During these difficult economic times, we hope to strengthen our presence in New Orleans and eventually grow our program here to better serve the communities in need.
This is where you come in. AVODAH is in a unique position to offer our supporters a very strong multiplier effect. Your support for AVODAH translates into stronger front-line organizations working on not just one critical social issue, but a whole range of things including education, housing, job training, and hunger. At the same time AVODAH Corps members are making it possible for these organizations to do more with less, they are also being shaped by their service, emerging as powerful agents for social change whose work for justice is nourished by their Jewish lives. With close to 60 Corps members at nearly 60 worksites, your philanthropic dollar has an impact almost 120 times greater than if you had contributed to one cause only. Furthermore, if you contribute to the New Orleans program now, your donation will actually be doubled, thanks to a generous matching grant given by Kerry Clayton and Paige Royer. Make your donation dollar go further; donate now.
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