The Project
The 9th Ward Field of Dreams is going to bring a $1.85 million dollar football field, track, lighting system, and stadium seating to New Orleans. The stadium will be located on the campus of George Washington Carver High School and open to all area high schools, middle schools, and community members free of charge. This will be what revitalizes youth sports here in New Orleans.
Why New Orleans? and Why the 9th Ward: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the 9th Ward eliminating most public housing and destroying Carver High School. Currently, Carver High School operates out of 8 prefabricated trailers in the parking lot of the storm ridden school. Our football team practices on an abandoned lot, and our track team runs in the pot-holed streets. Within a year they can be playing in a state-of-the-art stadium. As of this current date, the 9th Ward lacks any public space of the like. This project has been a rallying point for the city of New Orleans, and will raise the bar on civic engagement post-Katrina.
In an effort to increase graduation rates and prevent crime and drug-use, the 9th Ward Field of Dreams seeks to construct a state-of-the art athletic facility on the campus of G.W. Carver High School for the Arts in New Orleans. This football field and Olympic-sized running track will provide a sorely needed outlet for physical activity, and community-building. The 9WFOD will serve as the springboard for redevelopment of this hurricane-devastated and economically-challenged community and will reach far beyond just the students we service. The Greater New Orleans area will also enjoy access to this facility and will reap the benefits of a stronger 9th Ward community.
G.W. Carver High School, the site for the proposed facility, is located on a 65.6-acre expanse of land that straddles the Gentilly and Upper Ninth Ward communities of New Orleans. The proposed site for the 9WFOD is located in the Desire area, which is anchored by the Desire housing projects – long notorious as some of the most crime-ridden and poverty-saddled areas of the city, and one of the most dangerous public housing complexes in the country. The multi-purpose facility will be open to the entire community, free of charge. This community space will be the first of its kind in the 9th Ward, and will serve as a model for community-centered athletic facilities across the country. The facility will be a catalyst for the rejuvenation of youth recreational and athletic programming throughout the city of New Orleans which has suffered drastic budget cuts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We seek to provide a necessary outlet to keep at-risk students in the classroom and on the right track to success.
It is well-known that participation in organized sports has the greatest positive impact, more so than any other extracurricular activity, on the likelihood that high school students will graduate and go on to college. High school students who participate in athletics are also less likely to use drugs. For example, Carver High School athletes have GPA .5 points higher than their non-athletic peers, and have also received 20 percent fewer behavioral write-ups and suspensions. The proposed facility will allow us to reach more students at a younger age, and to replicate this success across the Greater New Orleans area. In a school district where over 70% of school children come from single-parent homes, and where youth sports programming was virtually eliminated by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ youths have suffered the consequences of an unstructured life.
We have already achieved the impossible: raising over $1 million in nine months, since this project began last November. We are working tirelessly to prove that against formidable odds, a few people crazy enough to believe in their own power to create change can overcome a seemingly impossible challenge. We are convinced that the lessons learned by our students, in this safe community space, will have a dramatic impact on graduation rates. Additionally, this field will provide a unique opportunity to our students who are supposedly susceptible to involvement with gangs and crime. The example we set for our students through this project will stick with them far beyond their high school years.
Mission Statement: Our mission is to give New Orleans’ youths a place to learn life’s lessons and play out their dreams, so that they may:
- Attain educational success;
- Build a strong character and healthy lifestyle;
- Live and play in a welcoming environment, unafraid of crime; and
- Embrace the idea that people crazy enough to believe in their own power can overcome any challenge.
Goal: Empower a community through the construction of a state-of-the-art football field and track in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward, available to the public free of charge.
Vision: 9th Ward Field of Dreams is a non-profit organization that enhances our community by:
- Encouraging and impacting higher graduation rates;
- Giving our students the tools for success in college and beyond;
- Preventing crime through athletics;
- Encouraging and impacting lower rates of drug use;
- Instilling our students with a sense of ownership;
- Creating a healthier, more active community; and
- Building a beacon of hope and possibility in a broken neighborhood.
