2025 in Review
Together New Orleans secured $30 million for the Neighborhood Power Plan, stamped this month by the City Council. The plan will provide life-saving power in long-duration power outages with batteries tied to solar on 1,500 homes and 150-250 community institutions.
TNO leaders ensured the plan would be paid entirely by Entergy settlement funds, causing no rate increase. Sonya Norsworthy, Board President of Together New Orleans, remarked: “This outcome proves that when residents organize around real solutions, City government can deliver.”
>> Read more here.
“How do you change a city?” was the pivotal question posed to 1500 New Orleans residents and every major candidate for Mayor and City Council at TNO’s Sept 18 Citywide Assembly.
TNO leaders built:
A power base – 1500 people from 115 congregations, labor unions, universities and civic organizations at the September Assembly.
A concrete plan of action – specific steps to lower energy bills and insurance costs, fix potholes and streetlights, create jobs and fix our electrical grid – developed and ratified by dues-paying member-institutions of TNO.
Support from decision-makers – with explicit commitments from all 20 candidates at the Citywide Assembly to support the plan and meet quarterly with TNO if elected.
A tool to measure accountability and progress – a Progress Report Card, which will be mailed to 50,000 voters every quarter in 2026.
>> Read more here.
Together Louisiana was named a finalist in the $50M Gulf Futures Challenge, winning an immediate $1.1M prize with potential for $20M more – a major opportunity to expand the Community Lighthouse Initiative across Louisiana and the Gulf South.
Together New Orleans leads the state's Community Lighthouse network with 17 lighthouses already in place to provide resilient power, emergency response capacity, and trusted gathering spaces during crises.
>> Read more here
Together New Orleans raised $15 million in federal tax credits and bank financing to move the Dwyer Road Community Solar project toward construction, scheduled to begin in 2026. Once complete, the project will lower utility bills for approximately 650 families.
A contractor has been selected, and TNO is currently negotiating with IBEW and the Building Trades to ensure the project creates local jobs that pay fair wages — keeping both the economic and environmental benefits in New Orleans.
>> Read more here
“How are you growing by being a part of TNO?” was a question raised by a Together New Orleans leader reflecting on the confidence and leadership she developed this year.
This year, 45 leaders attended formal leadership trainings with TNO’s national network, the Industrial Areas Foundation – while hundreds more grew into their voice and capacity to act together through the day-to-day practice of organizing. Leaders stepped forward to facilitate meetings, speak publicly, and represent their institutions in new ways. This leadership growth is the foundation that makes every other win possible.
