Our Story
New Pathways New Orleans was founded in 2016 by Jay Altman and the board, after the Louisiana Department of Education convened a series of meetings with school leaders to better understand the most significant challenges impeding the success of children in New Orleans. The meetings revealed a need for more effective collaboration across a variety of sectors to address these challenges. New Pathways was founded to create city wide clarity, add capacity to youth serving organizations and catalyze effective change in pursuit of solutions. New Pathways New Orleans was founded just as its name suggests – to create new pathways for youth with significant needs.
Our Work
Our work is focused on aligning and connecting education, healthcare, government and social services providers. We bring stakeholders together to better understand the challenges that face underserved youth and to work towards effective change. We serve as a resource to organizations and system actors to create greater efficiency, avoid duplication of efforts and take steps toward creating sustainable solutions.
Our Principles
Early 2016
Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White convened a series of meetings with school leaders to better understand the most significant challenges impeding the success…
Read moreSeptember 2016
NPNO was incorporated as a Louisiana 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Read moreNovember 2017
Peggy Mendoza was hired as founding Chief Executive Officer.
Read moreJanuary 2018
NPNO began developing a strategic plan to fulfill its mission.
Read moreFebruary 2018
More than 40 stakeholders across multiple sectors (education, health, mental health, juvenile justice, community partners, philanthropy and youth development) were interviewed to identify gaps and…
Read moreMarch 2018
NPNO began engaging three topical advisory groups (special education, mental and behavioral health and juvenile justice), a parent group and a student group to inform…
Read moreJuly 2018
NPNO staff was hired: Ava Rogers as Director of Strategic Partnerships, Jennifer Coco as Director of Policy & Advocacy, and Laura Romanosky as Director of…
Read moreJuly 2018
NPNO began planning for the Special Education Consortium (SpEC) with partners from NOLA Public Schools, Center for Resilience (CfR), Special Education Leader Fellowship (SELF), New…
Read moreAugust 2018
NPNO Board of Directors approved the strategic plan, identifying the outcomes, strategies and deliverables to advance three priority areas for New Orleans youth: special education,…
Read moreOctober 2018
At the behest of Children’s Hospital New Orleans, NPNO engaged school, community-based, and governmental stakeholders to assess how CHNOLA might best support and partner with…
Read moreNovember 2018
NPNO began work on a Special Education specialized program catalogue & gap analysis in Orleans Parish in order to lay the foundation of an action…
Read moreMay 2019
NPNO partnered with multiple youth serving organizations for the “Juvenile Justice Project: Youth Voices 2019” to identify the youth perspective on juvenile crime.
Read moreJune 2019
Memorandums of Understanding were signed by partners for the Special Education Consortium (SpEC). SpEC is a consortium of non-profit organizations and government entities that collectively…
Read moreJune 2019
After consulting officials representing over 20,000 students and seating an inclusive steering committee charged with vetting Mental & Behavioral Health project ideas, NPNO identified the…
Read moreAugust 2019
NPNO presented their “Juvenile Justice Project: Youth Voices 2019” findings to the New Orleans City Council.
Read moreSeptember 2019
As part of the pilot, Children’s Hospital New Orleans hired a health leader to support pilot schools. School partners include: Langston Hughes Academy, Mildrid Osborne…
Read moreJune 2020
Having successfully driven collaboration amongst key stakeholders and catalyzed real change – creating pathways for youth with significant needs to succeed in New Orleans –…
Read moreOur Partners
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