Helena Wins for Us
Good Jobs, Fair Wages, and Equitable Economic Opportunity
Empowering and supporting small and minority businesses. Small and emerging businesses are backbone of New Orleans. Fighting for them has been at the forefront of Helena’s work. From creating new permits to meet the needs of emerging businesses to demanding timely payments for small city vendors, Helena has consistently stepped up to the challenge. She has led on numerous disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) initiatives, such as mentor-protégé legislation and DBE scorecards, in collaboration with advocacy groups like the Collaborative, making it easier to do business in the city.
Protecting Workers. Helena has relentlessly fought to promote workplace safeguards for all workers, and worked to enact paid leave, a living wage, and affordable and accessible health care for workers. After the collapse of the Hard Rock Hotel, she led efforts to create responsible bidder legislation that established whistle-blower protections.
Youth Opportunity. Helena also increased job opportunities for our youth, boosting the city’s summer job program from 400 slots to 1,000 and providing an additional 800 slots through a local nonprofit organization. Many of New Orleans' culture bearers are now receiving fairer compensation thanks to Helena, who authored legislation guaranteeing that musicians working for the city are paid at least $200 an hour and requirements that city-funded events hire local small businesses.
Creating Good Jobs. Helena’s also spearheaded major initiatives to diversify our economy, including revitalizing and funding new job hubs like the BioDistrict and negotiating a landmark property deal to acquire valuable land at Duncan Plaza from the state. Helena is also leading a task force to reform development incentives, ensuring the people get real returns for incentives and that they meet criteria to foster future growth.
A Safer New Orleans
Faster, More Effective Police Response. In response to slow response times and insufficient police manpower, Helena led efforts to improve response times by hiring civilians to assist with police reports and investigative work for property crimes; spearheaded the creation of a highly-trained crisis response team to handle serious mental health challenges, and a service to respond to minor traffic accidents - all successfully clearing commissioned officers the time to focus on major emergencies and criminal violence. And the data shows it worked, making every neighborhood safer.
Helena’s also been a leader to provide victim-services, enacting the city’s Advocacy-Initiated Response (AIR) program to immediately assist domestic violence victims and prosecute the perpetrators.
Comprehensive Violence Community-led Prevention. Helena collaborated with the health department to lead a comprehensive violence prevention plan, fully fund UMC’s Trauma Recovery Center for crime victims, and expand on-scene services for victims of domestic violence.
A Cleaner, More Resilient New Orleans
Keeping the Lights On. After Hurricane Ida, Helena committed to implementing a plan to build a future-forward, resilient power grid without placing the entire financial burden on ratepayers. Critics deemed her plan impossible, but she successfully secured federal assistance and won back hundreds of millions of ratepayer funds from Entergy, keeping her promise. New Orleans will now get a historic $100m of grid investment without huge costs to ratepayers.
Leading the Clean Power Revolution. She also led the charge in establishing a Renewable Clean Portfolio Standard (RCPS) for New Orleans' power utility, requiring zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while ensuring bill impact protections. New Orleans is the only location in the Gulf South with this type of RCPS.
Lower Light Bills through Community Solutions. Under Helena’s leadership, she created one of the nation’s most aggressive community solar and solar lighthouse programs, which are essential for cost savings, resilience, and job creation.
One Drainage System. Improved drainage remains a challenge for New Orleans, which is why Helena was instrumental in achieving long-awaited drainage system consolidation, ensuring the system is no longer split between the city and the Sewerage and Water Board. Despite numerous calls for a unified system from audits and good government groups, it took Helena's collaboration with Senator Jimmy Harris and our legislative delegation to make it happen. This merger is expected to lead to greater efficiencies and cost savings in drainage improvements.
Street Lights and Safety. Addressing persistent street lighting outages, exacerbated by copper thefts, Helena led the charge to find new lighting options and solutions to prevent and fix light outages from neighborhoods to I-10.
Getting the Tough Stuff Done.
Bringing Lincoln Beach Back. For too long, the dream of redeveloping Lincoln Beach had been ignored. While progress had begun, a lack of investment caused community concern, prompting Helena to fully fund the Lincoln Beach redevelopment. This project will not only enhance recreational and economic opportunities in New Orleans East but also benefit the entire region.
Moving the Residents of Gordon Plaza. Helena also sought justice for the residents of Gordon Plaza, successfully tackling one of the most complex issues facing New Orleans that every other public official avoided. After years of living on toxic land, the residents were provided fully funded relocations and now enjoy peace in homes of their choosing. And that site will now house a new city solar generation facility, providing cheap clean power for decades to come.
Taking Down Ruthless Slumlords. Helena took on slumlords who were improperly receiving tax breaks while operating as supposed nonprofits, vowing to eliminate this perk for any slumlord endangering tenants' lives. In partnership with Representative Jason Hughes, they successfully pushed through state legislation and won a statewide constitutional amendment to remove the tax break, initiating revocations.
Free Youth RTA Fares. For years, young people have faced transportation challenges, keeping them from educational and job opportunities. Helena won them free RTA fares against all odds and for the first time young people can ride RTA to get wherever they need without families facing the cost burdens.
Decriminalizing Cannabis. Helena led the charge to end the wasteful enforcement of minor cannabis possession, a crime that was disproportionately enforced against young black men and which created unnecessary incarceration without improving public safety.
Standing Up for the People of New Orleans
Making Sure Our Kids Can Eat. Helena has been a strong early voice alongside Congressman Troy Carter, State Representative Jason Hughes, and State Representative Aimee Freeman against the state’s rejection of federal funds for the summer EBT program. She stated repeatedly that refusing to help feed children living in poverty during the summer months was cruel. Helena began working with the city’s health department to support children in New Orleans while pressuring the state to reverse its decision. Ultimately, the diligent efforts of Helena and her colleagues paid off, leading the state to implement the summer EBT program after all.
Fighting Senseless Gun Proliferation. Helena also pushed back against misguided legislation allowing permitless concealed carry of firearms, which raised concerns among law enforcement about having untrained individuals carrying concealed weapons and hindered efforts to remove illegal firearms from the streets. When the legislature threw up roadblocks, she didn’t quit: she coordinated with the District Attorney and NOPD on innovative local options to prevent this detrimental law from hurting New Orleanians.
Pro-Choice, Always. A strong advocate for reproductive rights, Helena has consistently spoken out against the state’s draconian restrictions aimed at controlling women's bodies throughout her eight years in the Louisiana Legislature and two terms on the City Council. She was the lead author of local legislation blocking efforts to target women and their doctors.
Equal Rights for All. As a staunch ally of the LGBTQ+ community, she has fought against ongoing legislative attacks on our rights. For many years, she has introduced resolutions declaring that New Orleans is a safe place for the LGBTQ+ community, countering hateful rhetoric from other parts of the state and members of the legislature.
