A Community Voice

 A Community Voice-Louisiana (ACV) is a community-based organization that fights for social and economic justice for low to moderate-income families, especially in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The grassroots organization and its volunteers are working poor, elderly, women, children, and families from within the community who work together towards the common interests of the community as a whole, both within the city of New Orleans and across the state of Louisiana. ACV works on a variety of issues, including affordable housing, education, healthcare, and environmental justice. It also provides a variety of services to its members, including job training, financial counseling, and legal assistance. With its sister organization and fiscal sponsor Southern United Neighborhoods, ACV has helped to win many important victories for its members, including the passage of laws that protect tenants and homeowners, and the allocation of billions of dollars in funding for affordable housing and other community development projects.

ACV was founded in 2009 as a community organizing group, four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated their community. Led by native New Orleanian African Americans Debra Campbell and Rev. Richard Bell, ACV is dedicated to improving the lives and elevating the voices of its people. ACV has a history of cooperation with a diverse range of partner organizations and individuals, including Louisiana State University, Southern United Neighborhoods, the AARP, and Anthropocene Alliance. A powerful force for change, ACV has successfully worked across the state of Louisiana to ameliorate the conditions of underprivileged communities and to provide a voice for them in public policy and disaster recovery. 

For more information:

Elderly woman lives across street from Lower 9th Ward building where squatters holed up – Fox 8 Live, July 2023

Back-to-Back Hurricanes—A New Climate Peril? – Nexus Media News, October 2020

Blight to Bioswales: LSU CEE Student Project to Help Lower Ninth Ward – LSU College of Engineering, January 2019

Assessing Flooding and Hydrodynamics for Community Revitalization – Thriving Earth Exchange

Asbestos and Natural Disasters Guide