PRESENTED BY
On March 31st, 2022, New Orleans hosted the tenth edition of the Love Your City™ Awards Gala. The event promoted our City’s culture and brought together in-person and virtual guests to celebrate New Orleans’ most impactful leaders.
The event also served to address some of our community’s most pressing social and environmental needs, especially those that have magnified through the pandemic and the climate events of 2021. Proceeds from this event allowed the Veggi Co-op in Village de l’Est to benefit from a Green Infrastructure project that addressed flooding and allowed year-long food and flower production! Learn about the impacts of this year’s event here.
150+
ATTENDEES
120+ IN-PERSON + 33 VIRTUAL
13
IMPACT AWARDS GIVEN
TO LOCAL IMPACT LEADERS!
EVENT IMPACT
37
ARTISTS HIRED
$6,050 IN ARTIST PAYMENTS
4
MINORITY-OWNED RESTAURANTS SUPPORTED
150 MEALS SERVED
3 BLACK-OWNED
1 VIETNAMESE-OWNED
$34K
IN LOCAL SPENDING
92% SUSTAINABLE (33K)
50% WOMEN-OWNED (18K)
56% MINORITY-OWNED (20K)
$10K
RAISED FOR THE VEGGI CO-OP IN VILLAGE DE L’EST
FOR 1 GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT TO PREVENT 8,288 SQ. FT. FROM FLOODING TO SUPPORT THE PRODUCTION OF 10,360 LBS. OF FRESH PRODUCE AND 960 BUNCHES OF FLOWERS
38,565 VOTES
TO SELECT THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD WINNER
MEET 2022’S MOST IMPACTFUL LEADERS IN NEW ORLEANS
2022 Water Management Award Winner
Ubuntu Constructo-Tech & Urban Resilience
Ubuntu is a constructo-tech company driven towards a mission of urban resilience. They are working to educate professionals, such as developers and realtors, who are also considering green infrastructure interventions for their property while supporting several non-profit organizations who aim to educate homeowners on implementation of green infrastructure on their property. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Energy Award Winner
Solar Alternatives
As the Gulf Coast region’s most trusted solar and energy management firm, Solar Alternatives offers turnkey engineering, consultation, and construction services for commercial, industrial, utility and residential clients.They track and assess energy and water consumption with EnergyStar Portfolio Manager, utilize renewable energy in their own building with solar panels, use high efficiency vehicles, efficient lighting, lighting scheduling, and smart thermostats, and encourage their clients to be more energy efficient and cultivate positive energy habits through their newsletter. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Local Food Access Award Winner
Sprout
SPROUT NOLA works towards a better food system by making farming accessible to everyone— that means anyone who wants to farm as a hobby, as a career, or anywhere in between. They work in the community with partner organizations to support more local food access and community fridges. They support local food suppliers and producers and track their local spending. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Zero Waste Award Winner
HEY Coffee Co.
HEY Coffee Co. presents the utmost in community, hospitality, and quality while advocating for community engagement and environmental justice at all levels of the coffee industry through radical conservation and supporting sustainable, traceable and ethical farming practices. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Education Award Winner
Dragonfly Cafe
Located in the Raphael Village Town Center, Dragonfly Café is a restaurant and social enterprise that supports the vision of creating an urban lifesharing community for individuals with exceptionalities throughout the Greater New Orleans area. Dragonfly Café provides vocational and post-secondary educational opportunities to differently-abled adults. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Best in Show Award Winner
New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
This year’s Best in Show recipient, the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center , has a whopping nine out of 10 gold badges in the impact categories on our directory. It’s no wonder, considering they completed a massive energy-saving initiative expected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of kilowatt hours, making the facility significantly more sustainable. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 People’s Choice Award Winner
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
With over 17k votes the Ashé Cultural Arts Center took home this year’s People’s Choice Award. Their focus on art and culture as a way to support human, community, and economic development has made Ashé widely recognized as a driver of local artistic expressions. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Built Environment Award Winner
XULAGreen Xavier University
Xula Green is organized through Xavier University of Louisiana’s Office of Facility Planning and Management. Xula Green’s mission is to reduce our carbon footprint, improve the overall health of our environment, increase student knowledge on recycling, environmental protection initiatives, and eco-career opportunities. They support affordable housing organizations and programs and educate employees about home-buying assistance programs, as well as supporting coastal restoration organizations and programs. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Community Engagement Award Winner
Happy Raptor Distilling
Happy Raptor is a distillery, bar, and community space. Their mission is to create premium infused rum inspired by local culture, community, and joy. They are participating in a two-year community_engagement cohort (Community Engagement at Work: Hospitality) led by Beloved Community and Made in New Orleans and have included several pages of clear policy regarding anti-racism and inclusivity in their employee handbook and into a structured onboarding process. They support and encourage pay transparency and an equitable pay structure and actively support organizations that advocate for inclusivity in our community. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Transportation Award Winner
Green Coast Enterprises
Green Coast Enterprises develops real estate and provides real estate services focusing on urban and coastal areas in need of community renewal by pursuing opportunities that address community needs, including social in community engagement and economic stagnation, and seek to foster strong relationships with tenants and neighbors. They provide bike racks and bike storage within their building and strategically selected their location based on the close proximity to the streetcar line and bus routes, ensuring there were stops located within one block of their office at the Pythian. They support RIDE and Bike Easy and their employees participate in the Bike Easy Challenge and Ride to Work Day. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Health Award Winner
Online Optimism
Online Optimism is a marketing agency that invests in employees’ education and resources to take advantage of the latest trends in technology and create campaigns that lead to trackable results that exceed client goals. They offer paid health insurance to all employees, an Employee Assistance Program for mental health counseling, and after the first year of employment, employees are provided with 16 paid weeks of maternity leave and 8 paid weeks of paternity/adoptive parental leave, once per year. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Local Culture Award Winner
Ashé Cultural Arts Center
The Ashé Cultural Arts Center uses art and culture to support human, community, and economic development. Every artist or contractor that provides a product or service to Ashé is paid a living wage at minimum and the center specifically presents or hosts local artists, performers, and culture bearers in more than 100 events annually. One of Ashé's recent projects is the "Alliance for Cultural Community Engagement" (ACE). With ACE, they support, promote and mentor 18 local cultural organizations. Read more about their impact actions here.
2022 Youth Pick Award Winner
Turning Tables
Turning tables began in 2019 in partnership with New Orleans industry non-profit and youth career development organizations. They created a bar training program built by industry mentors with a focus on visibility and mentorship and introduced to New Orleans with its first graduating class of externs in 2019. Read more about their impact actions here.