In March 2007, Molly Reid, staff writer for the Times-Picayune, wrote an article about what she called "Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals." Thousands of young people had moved to New Orleans to help with the relief effort and needed a way to connect with the locals who were doing their own rebuilding. The mission of the NOLA YURP Initiative is to build a support and resource network to connect, retain and attract young professionals from diverse backgrounds for a sustainable New Orleans. For New Orleans to rebuild itself, we must invest in the people that will be here in the future.
Thank you for visiting us and we hope that you will join the network.
Nathan Rothstein, Executive Director
nathan@nolayurp.org
Nathan Rothstein graduated with an honors degree in History from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2006. During college, he spent time organizing Alternative Spring Break Programs to New York City and Atlanta, volunteering for different political campaigns, and teaching in the Cambridge, MA summer schools. During his senior year, he spent his spring break doing disaster relief work in Gulfport, MS, which first exposed him to the devastation of the Gulf Coast. Inspired by the determination of people in the area to rebuild their homes, Mr. Rothstein decided to become an Americorps volunteer and came to live in New Orleans and join the rebuilding effort. He spent the following 10 months serving for a non-profit relief organization in New Orleans' statistically poorest neighborhood, Tulane/Gravier, gutting homes, landscaping public areas, raising money for homeowners and recruiting volunteers. During his term, he facilitated discussions and workshops with many university service programs who had come to volunteer in the city. The sessions explored the challenges facing the city and how the volunteers could help in various ways. While attending many Unified New Orleans Plan meetings, and speaking to dozens of residents, he witnessed a community that was eager for social change, but needed a way to mobilize people to work together. To support the renewal of New Orleans, he is dedicated to helping young professionals (everyone who works) find ways to connect with each other and find the resources they need to stay in the city. The NOLA YURP Initiative is about connecting, retaining and attracting the city's young workforce, but also an example of many different communities working together to solve a problem.
Board Members
Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is from from Tremé, which is the most musical neighborhood in New Orleans, where he made the leap from child prodigy to Professional Master Musician. After graduating from New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA), Mr. Andrews was tapped by Lenny Kravitz to be a featured member of his horn section for a world tour. In London, during the summer of 2006, Andrews began working with producer Bob Ezrin and U2 at Abbey Road Studios. This association led to Andrews performing with U2 and Green Day during the re-opening spectacular of the New Orleans Superdome for the NFL’s Monday Night Football pre-game show. Kicking off 2007, New Orleans’ premier music magazine, Offbeat, named Andrews their Performer of the Year. He also garnered honors as Best Contemporary Jazz Performer.
Hampton Barclay, Treasurer
Mr. Barclay is the government relations representative for the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans and the manager of the HBA's Crescent City Green building program. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in December 2005 after majoring in Political Science and American Culture Studies. He has lived in New Orleans since May of 2006.
Gill Benedek graduated from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a double major in Marketing and Political Science. After graduation, Gill Benedek joined the Americorps program to work with the Neighborhoods Partnership Network (NPN) in New Orleans, Louisiana. As Americorps Coordinator and Programs Director, Gill Benedek helped establish and develop NPN to serve as a forum for neighborhoods' collaboration. He is also a co-founder of THE TRUMPET, a community-written newspaper sharing stories of New Orleans recovery. Mr. Benedek finds hope in the warmth and sincerity of everyday leaders. "New Orleans is at a historic moment. A city inspired by its rich cultural history and motivated by its desire for progress. A friend and local leader living in the Historic 7th ward told me, 'It will be up to the younger generation to get things right.' Now is the opportunity for effective action between New Orleanians young and old, new and native."
Dr. Aberdeen Leila Borders is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing at the University of New Orleans. She earned her B.B.A. from the University of Georgia, and M.B.A. and Ph.D. from Georgia State University. Dr. Borders has taught at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and at Innsbruck University in Austria. Dr. Borders’ research focuses on business-to-business and industrial marketing, selling and sales management, customer relationship management, and e-commerce. She has published in the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, Journal of Global Competitiveness, Encyclopedia of Information Technology, Advances in Competitive Research, and Thexis. Professionally, Dr. Borders worked for the Department of Defense as a Defense Contract Auditor and retired from BellSouth Telecommunications as an Information Technology Systems Analyst. Currently, Dr. Borders is the Chairman of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Relationship Marketing Special Interest Group and currently serves as the University of New Orleans coach for the Bayou Sales Challenge and the National Collegiate Sales Competition contests.
Shawn Chollette believes “revitalizing New Orleans is less about building better levees, and more about breaking down age-old barriers.” To that end, the NOLA native serves as the government and institutional liaison for Neighborhoods Partnership Network, a non-profit organization that facilitates resource/information sharing among citizens, organizations and government entities. “Post-Katrina New Orleans is a sad chapter in America’s history, but it also offers us a chance to write a future far different from our recent past,” said Chollette, who studied journalism at both Louisiana Tech and Grambling State universities. “It is my belief that YURPs will help scribe a significant part of that story.” Shawn Chollette believes “revitalizing New Orleans is less about building better levees, and more about breaking down age-old barriers.”
Mai T. Dang is a Community Organizer for the Mary Queen of Viet Nam Community Development Corporation (MQVN CDC) and the National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies (NAVASA) where she focuses on civic engagement and leadership development with the Vietnamese American community in New Orleans East in order to advocate for social and economic justice and culturally competent long term sustainable development. Mai is a second generation Vietnamese American woman born and raised in Orange County, California. She graduated from The George Washington University in Washington, DC with a degree in Women's Studies and was involved with the East Coast Asian American Student Union Conference, the Organization of Chinese Americans and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Mai moved to New Orleans the day after graduation in May of 2006 to serve as a Dan Than Fellow with NAVASA where she worked with MQVN CDC to successfully shut down a toxic landfill less than one mile from the community and advocated with community members for the neighborhood to be chosen as one of the target zones for recovery by the Office of Recovery Management. After completing her year of service she knew that she wanted to stay in New Orleans and was recently awarded the New Voices Fellowship to continue her work for at least two more years as an Organizer with MQVN CDC and NAVASA.
Ross Kantor graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in Business Marketing and Finance in the fall of 2005. Prior to Katrina, Mr. Kantor worked with the Doyle Restaurant Group as a development coordinator and franchise director. Mr. Kantor has worked after Katrina as a residential real estate development project manager helping to provide low income housing to the residents of New Orleans. Mr. Kantor was also the founder of the test program on the "facebook" site known as the " Young Professionals of New Orleans". As a board member and a new business development specialist, Mr. Kantor is responsible for helping to oversee the organization and planning of all the programming and economic initiatives undertaken by the organization.
Shercole King serves as an Independent Contract Consultant for non profit organizations and small businesses. She holds a Master Degree in Arts focusing on Arts Administration, Music, and Non Profit Management from the University of New Orleans, 2006. In 2004, she graduated from Loyola University New Orleans in Business Administration focusing on Management and Small Business Development. Shercole is a lifelong resident of New Orleans and is devoted to helping in the efforts to see the city grow for the good of the community through community action, non profit organizations, small business development, and education. Shercole is an Assistant Coordinator for Job Seekers Alliance of New Orleans and serves as a member of Unified Non Profits of Greater New Orleans as well as Voluntourism Steering Committee.
Zach Kupperman , (Board Chair) graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in political science in the fall of 2005. Following graduation, Mr. Kupperman worked as a realtor and real estate analyst at Kline Properties in Austin, TX. Upon returning to New Orleans, Mr. Kupperman served as an economic development analyst at the New Orleans Downtown Development District, where he evaluated proposals for a post Katrina downtown. After working at the DDD, Mr. Kupperman enrolled in Tulane Law School, where he has just completed his first year. As a board member and a special projects coordinator, Mr. Kupperman is responsible for overseeing the organization and planning of all the special initiatives taken by the organization.
Diana Madrigal, graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor degree in Public Relation and Marketing in the Spring of 2006. After graduation Ms. Madrigal accepted an internship with CISCO Technology to help teach the teachers, parents, and community leaders about the new technology that was being implemented in the Jefferson Parish Public School Systems. Following the internship, she became the Director of the Hispanic Business Resources &Technology Center, located in Kenner. In her spare time, Ms. Madrigal serves on the board of Alumni Chapter of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority and is a principal dancer of the Jefferson Ballet Theatre. With the help from her father, Ms. Madrigal is becoming a young leader in the Hispanic Community.
John Moore is the Program Assistant for the Global Green resource center in New Orleans. The major focus for his work in New Orleans is to help make builders aware of affordable green building options in the rebuilding effort in New Orleans. John joins Global Green following an internship with Southface Energy Institute in Atlanta. John received his bachelors degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta. He has been a practicing artist for 10 years and has training in AuotCAD. He also received training in Home Energy Rating and energy efficient home building while at Southface. John has also worked for a construction company in Atlanta and is pursuing a degree in architecture. He joins the Global Green team, following Hurricane Katrina, with the desire to help in the rebuilding of his home town.
Dr. Vera B. Triplett currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Counseling at Our Lady of Holy Cross College and the Clinical Director of the Thomas E. Chambers Counseling and Training Center. She holds Masters Degrees in both mental health and school counseling from the University of New Orleans, 2002. Additionally, she earned her PhD in counselor education from the University of New Orleans in 2004. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a registered Play Therapist. Dr. Triplett is a lifelong resident of the city of New Orleans and has worked tirelessly to improve the mental health and well being of its citizens. As a community volunteer, Dr. Triplett serves on the City Council Hurricane Katrina Advisory Board, the Community Support Organization for the Greater New Orleans Foundations’ Unified Planning Process and serves as a member of both the Gentilly Civic Improvement Association and the Milneburg Neighborhood Association. She also sits on the board of Holy Cross High School.
