WHO WE ARE
Established in 2006 to address the needs expressed by residents trying to return home after the levees failed, the Lower 9th Ward Homeownership Association (L9WHA) is a resident-run nonprofit organization. Our mission is to build the future of the Lower 9th Ward through affordable homeownership and resident-driven redevelopment. We fulfill our mission through personalized case management services, public policy recommendations and community action.
Board
Betty Bell
Department of Children and Family
Services (Retired)
Tonya Boyd Cannon, President
Educator at KIPP McDonogh 15
School for Creative Arts
Professional Singer
Tegan Jones, Secretary
Freelance Writer and Editor
Steve Marshall
Assistant Director at the U.S.
Forest Service
Charles Stern Jr, Treasurer
Partner at Steeg Law Firm
The work that eventually changed HUD rules and brought over $3 million to the L9 began with Linda Jackson and M.A. Sheehan
just sitting there talking on M.A.’s front porch. Government programs were failing the people who desperately needed them, and M.A. and Linda knew that it’s our job to bring the voices of the people to the rooms where decisions are made.
Our team is now much bigger than it was then, with an active and diverse board and a highly-qualified staff. Just as important, our team now includes foundations, churches, and so many individual donors who are in those rooms with us. We may be the ones with our feet planted in the Lower 9th Ward, but you make everything we do possible.
M.A. Sheehan is sworn in as a member of the New
Orleans Redevelopment Authority board by In-House
Counsel Victoria Jones. M.A. sits on the Real Estate
Development Committee and chairs the Marketing and
Community Engagement Committee.
The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation is one of our most important partners. This fall their entire employee grant-making committee, along with foundation staff and Board members, came to learn first-hand about our work. Here they listen as John Koeferl explains the fight to stop the widening of the Industrial Canal that breached during Katrina.entire employee grant-making committee, along with foundation staff and Board members, came to learn first-hand about our work. Here they listen as John Koeferl explains the fight to stop the widening of the Industrial Canal that breached during Katrina.
Staff
Gaynell Brady
Executive Director
M.A. Sheehan
Houisng Director
Margaret Braun
Housing Advocate/Paralegal
Tashal Williams
Administrative Coordinator
Galethea Baham
Outreach Specialist
Cynthia Guillemet
Housing Advocate/Outreach Specialist
Carol Davis
Faith-based Outreach Specialist
Sarah Bruzzi
Development Coordinator