WHO WE ARE

Our Voice Nuestra Voz (OVNV) is a nation-building organization rooted in New Orleans, where Black and brown communities have long resisted, thrived, and reimagined the world together.

We create spaces where people can heal, build power, and transform systems. Through fellowships, workshops, organizing campaigns, and cultural events, OVNV supports Black and brown New Orleanians in developing the skills, confidence, and community they need to lead change—from the classroom to City Hall.

We don’t just fight back—we build forward. Our work is grounded in a belief that ancestral wisdom, cultural identity, and deep solidarity are key to our collective liberation.

 We specifically focus on building solidarity between Black and brown communities, establishing a strong base who work together toward systems change. OVNV works within the system, against the system, and outside of the system, following the research-backed organizing cycle to determine tactics aligned to this strategy. Our buckets of work include:

  • Organizing and policy (training leaders and executing advocacy campaigns)

  • Cultural initiatives (events to promote wellness and solidarity)

  • Direct-service programs (fellowships, out-of-school-time programs, mutual aid funds)

Through this programming, we uproot inequitable systems in the areas of criminal justice, education, civic engagement, and immigration. Over the years, our member-led campaigns have garnered substantial policy changes, including: raising the minimum wage for food service workers, eliminating social security requirements for pandemic-related financial aid, protecting parents and students from school-based silencing and retaliation, and more.

OUR APPROACH

OUR MISSION

Our Voice Nuestra Voice is a nation-building organization anchoring ancestry while building Black and brown solidarity in New Orleans. We remember our shared culture and language, reconnect to the land of our community, organize our community around collective action, and partner with organizations to seek a common purpose. 

OUR VISION

We envision a world where Black and brown people live without systemic harm, practice liberatory education, and enact restorative justice. We reconnect with our ancestors and our culture because our ancestors sowed seeds so that we could reap a bountiful harvest.

OUR VALUES

  • Our people deserve to feel luxurious, glamorous and showered with appreciation. We create experiences and programming that make our people feel glorious.  Our approach is centered and rooted in joy, where radical care, love, and respect are at the core. Through everything we do, we bring excellence and an experience that awakens hope, optimism, and dignity by engaging and activating all the senses. Black and brown people are due the highest quality of life on all levels, and we make sure to give this to our people.

  • Our collective liberation is bound to the most marginalized Black experience. Only when Black migrants, our Black trans siblings, and Black children and mothers are free from harm, violence, and exploitation will we all be truly free. By prioritizing the freedom of the most marginalized, we uplift all Black and brown communities. This unapologetic approach is reflected in our partnerships, practices, and community campaigns. 

  • As an organization, we are dedicated to moving with agility to support our community needs. We will show up to meet the moment and what it demands. We set goals and move with intention and purpose, and we give ourselves the capacity to take on new work as the needs of our community arise. We adapt, we test, and we iterate to maximize our impact.

  • We are grounded in connections that are deeply honest and authentic. We ask questions, listen deeply, and take risks. We do this so that we can help people see themselves by expanding their knowledge of self, their power, their culture, and their ancestral connections. By going deep, we work to liberate the mind, body, and spirit. 

  • We understand the true power of grace and forgiveness. We must intervene on generational, individual, and collective trauma in order to care for our people. Systemic violence and oppression is in all areas of our lives. At the individual level, we must center our emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being for collective liberation. At the communal level, we must practice restorative justice and create space for communal growth.

  • Transgenerational knowledge represents the collective wisdom and experience of our ancestors. It provides us with insights, lessons, and guidance gained from their successes, failures, and life experiences.  This knowledge is transmitted through stories, teachings, rituals, and practices. By tapping into this knowledge, we can learn from their wisdom and reconnect to our roots. This includes a connectedness to the earth that encompasses the understanding, appreciation, and preservation of the natural world that has been passed down through generations.