Big Easy Budget Coalition Drives Equitable Investments in New Orleans
New Orleans, LAIn September 2022, when New Orleans decided to allocate $22 million of its first tranche of ARPA dollars to police spending with no additional investment in preventive services, the Vera Institute for Justice authored a letter signed by over 30 organizations urging the Mayor and City Council to invest in thriving communities and recommended alternative investments to increase community safety. That was the beginning of the Big Easy Budget Coalition, a collective of over 40 organizations, advocating for a $140 million Big Easy Deal—its own vision for public investments that address the root causes of violence, including systemic disinvestment, poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and isolation. Sarah Omojola, Director of Vera Louisiana’s office in New Orleans, explains, “Our Coalition came together and communicated with the Mayor and City Council to essentially say, you have to invest in things that will create thriving communities. Because thriving communities are safe communities.”
Why this investment
With a majority African American population, the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted New Orleans’ community members. Black New Orleanians faced disproportionate economic, physical, and mental impacts, often compounded by long-standing historical disinvestment in their communities.
New Orleans received $388 million in ARPA funds undergirded by federal guidance to prioritize pandemic recovery for disproportionately impacted residents. Yet New Orleans’ initial ARPA investments went toward traditional law enforcement alone. This conflicted with many community demands, which were aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement and widespread calls to defund the police locally and nationally.
In response, the Vera Institute of Justice, along with over 30 organizations, authored a letter to the City Council and Mayor requesting equitable investments in mental health, youth development, and housing as pathways to violence prevention.“That's how you deal with a crisis,” explains Omojola, “and that was the beginning of the Big Easy Budget Coalition.”
What is this investment
The Big Easy Budget Coalition, made up of over 40 social justice organizations including the Committee for Better New Orleans, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, and Strategies to Empower People (STEP) Louisiana, is dedicated to increasing investments in thriving communities and ensuring that the budget reflects the needs of the New Orleans community. The Coalition seeks to be a strong local advocate for directing funds based on the genuine priorities of community members, and has surveyed residents to learn their budget priorities. The Coalition used survey data and insight from members and City departments to create the Big Easy Deal, a platform of investments designed to build a thriving and safe New Orleans.
The campaign seeks to address community safety by alleviating abuse, pain, and violence, through providing resources that enable local communities to thrive. “We are about what it means to have a thriving New Orleans. What does it mean for people to have to only work one job? For it to be easy to get to work? For them to have time to be there for their children? To have affordable housing, quality food, and accessible transportation that actually gets them to and from work?” explains Cameryn Okeke, Senior Program Associate at Vera Louisiana. Okeke describes their focus on accessible public transportation, quality food systems, and access to jobs with family-sustaining wages as investments that broaden the scope of what is possible through public investment, helping people envision themselves in the future the Coalition is working to create.
In May 2023, as a result of their ARPA advocacy, the Big Easy Budget Coalition secured $46 million of their $140 million request. This included $26 million in ARPA funds and $20 million from the general budget to support investments in housing, basic needs, and community violence interventions.
Recognizing that elected officials' decisions are influenced by their constituencies, the Coalition focused on educating and mobilizing the public, resulting in over 600 community calls and emails in support of their budget requests. By building a diverse coalition with expertise in criminal justice, housing, labor, and youth advocacy, and maintaining a constant presence at council meetings, they strengthened relationships within the community and with city departments.
"One of the biggest things that led to our success was being ever-present," says Omojola. "We wanted to make sure that council members, the mayor, and the CAO heard from a multitude of people about the Big Easy Deal. We had a presence at every single council hearing and met one-on-one with every council member." The Coalition leaders tried to make it easy for people to call and email electeds by creating user-friendly directions and phone scripts and employing one-click campaign technology tools.
The Coalition is proud of their wins, but also acknowledges some significant losses, particularly with respect to investments in youth. “[The City] didn't invest as deeply and robustly as we should be investing in youth,” explains Omojola. “The return on investment when you’re investing in youth to have a safe, thriving community is huge, but [the City] didn't do that as much.”
Centering equity in the program
Racial equity and inclusion are foundational to how the Big Easy Budget Coalition operates. The Coalition is grounded in a collective understanding and acknowledgment that overinvestment in police, jails, and traditional approaches to violence prevention have negatively and disproportionately impacted BIPOC communities. The Coalition is motivated by a desire to address the harm historically done to marginalized communities by investing in their collective thriving.
The Big Easy Budget Coalition prioritizes equity in both its advocacy and internal operations, amplifying the voices of Black residents, communities of color, and low-income communities in New Orleans. After a tax spending survey failed to gather enough responses from Black residents, the Coalition expanded outreach by tabling at community events, resulting in higher Black participation. Their governance is collaborative, with democratic decision-making, shared meeting facilitation, and smaller group caucusing to distribute leadership and advocacy roles. By allowing equity goals to guide their efforts, the Coalition remains adaptable, ensuring their work is responsive to community needs and drives budget decisions that reflect true representation.
The Coalition faces challenges with limited capacity and the complexity of navigating local budget processes. Member organizations have varying resources and to address this, the Vera Institute of Justice provides additional administrative and technical support. Recognizing that many people feel disconnected from or intimidated by budget conversations, the Coalition reframes the budget as a tool for understanding how resources are distributed in the community. Breaking down the technical complexity of the budget has sparked public interest in understanding how financial decisions impact city policies and programs. The Coalition hosts Budget Story Time at local bars, where community members gather in a relaxed setting to discuss the budget, promoting open, informal conversations. This creative approach encourages public participation, making budget knowledge more accessible.
Outcomes to date
The Big Easy Budget Coalition’s ARPA wins include securing $17 million for the Housing Trust Fund, $2.5 million for the Healthy Homes program, and $2 million for the New Orleans Health Department’s community violence intervention initiatives. Building on their advocacy success, the Big Easy Budget Coalition continues to push for equitable investments that prioritize community well-being over traditional policing practices that have harmed New Orleans’ already marginalized communities. The coalition’s 2025 budget demands include $100M for affordable housing programs to address the housing crisis, $18M for youth services to support and engage young people, $3.5M for community violence intervention to expand prevention efforts, and $4M for food security to combat food insecurity and improve access to healthy, affordable food. These priorities were drafted with input from every district and over 37 community groups.
Toward transformative change
The Big Easy Budget Coalition successfully secured ARPA dollars and influenced the 2024 budget, but their work is not done. The Coalition is closely monitoring how the City is implementing projects, ensuring compliance with equity guidance and regulations. The ARPA experience introduced the Coalition to budget advocacy as a tool for achieving equity in New Orleans. They are shifting their focus not just on ARPA, but on making the entire budget process more equitable and accessible for all residents. They are pushing for procedural changes, such as earlier public release of the budget, making it machine-readable, increasing transparency, and creating more opportunities for community participation, including a community hearing. Omojola concludes, “We still have to make the budget process more equitable and accessible for everyone in New Orleans. And that means, necessarily, that we continue to be a part of the efforts.”