Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative of New Orleans is a neighborhood-based nonprofit homebuilder that provides families with healthy and energy-efficient affordable housing opportunities. We partner with neighborhood residents, organizations and businesses to create and maintain stable and thriving communities.
History
“One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring”
-The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., “Beyond Vietnam” speech April 4th, 1967
In the “Beyond Vietnam” speech delivered more than 50 years ago at Riverside Church in Harlem, Martin Luther King Jr.’s intent was to highlight the gross social and economic inequalities of our world. It was Dr. King’s belief that justice – true justice – can only be achieved when we reimagine our individual role to lift others up. Jericho Road Episcopal Housing Initiative emerged through this philosophy, and a message of justice continues to serve as the foundation for the organization.
Jericho Road was founded in 2006 by the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, established to serve the residents of the Central City community in New Orleans following the wide-spread devastation created by Hurricane Katrina. The vision was to help build thriving neighborhoods by putting residents in livable spaces and promoting residential stability and cohesion.
Jericho Road has been committed to advancing community institutions, stabilizing and investing in community infrastructure, and providing healthy and accessible affordable housing. Jericho Road is committed to expanding its mission by developing affordable housing throughout the New Orleans Metropolitan area to address the housing affordability crisis. To this end, in 2017 Jericho Road acquired Project Homecoming, Inc., a local community development corporation that centered its work around low-income and working families in the Gentilly neighborhoods. Since then, Jericho Road has expanded its work by developing affordable housing across the Greater New Orleans Metro area.
Jericho Road works with resident leaders across the city to improve neighborhood conditions by implementing programs and practices that foster community pride. With collaboration, Jericho Road has seen great success over the life of the organization. Jericho Road remains committed to Dr. King’s message of restructuring society so that no one in our community has to live in poverty. Looking at Jericho Road’s future, we say with resounding solidarity that we must continue the legacy of Dr. King and strive to uphold his message of altruism, equity, and humanity.
Jericho Road is committed to fostering investments in New Orleans that lead to thriving communities for ALL!