PARENT RESOURCES

Places You Can Turn For Help

These community organizations each work with families to make our community a better place for children and youth and may be able to help you by connecting you to resources, providing training or fighting for the rights of your child.

Advocacy & Training

Agenda for Children Agenda for Children works to make government work better for Louisiana's children. This means we keep track of laws, policies, and decisions that affect children and families. We provide information, training, resources, and technical assistance.
Phone: (504) 586-8509 or 1-800-486-1712 (toll free)
Website: www.agendaforchildren.org

Families Helping Families of Greater New Orleans
Families Helping Families of Louisiana is a group of families who, through our own experiences, are committed to reaching out to other families who have members with special needs and self-advocates. The term "special needs" includes physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and/or academic issues.
Phone: (504) 888-9111 or 1-800-766-7736 (toll free)
Website: www.fhfgno.org

Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL)
Through it’s “Schools First” project, JJPL is working to prevent children from becoming entangled in the juvenile justice system and stem the “school-to-prison pipeline.” “Schools First” advocates for public schools in New Orleans that serve and support all student, use effective school-based interventions and protect the rights of students with special learning needs. “Schools First” provides training and support for families of children who are facing disciplinary procedures.
Phone: (504) 522-5437 (ask for “School First” project)
Website: www.jjpl.org

Pyramid Parent Training Community Parent Resource Center The mission of the Pyramid Parent Training Community Parent Resource Center is to strengthen the community by reaching underserved families of children and young adults with disabilities with the information, training and support they deserve to achieve their maximum potential. Pyramid provides one to one assistance to parents of school age children preparing for IEP, 504 and discipline meeting. Pyramid also provides workshops and IDEA Roundtable meetings to help parents understand their rights under special education law. Phone: (504) 899-1505

Greater New Orleans Immunization Network
The primary objective of the Greater New Orleans Immunization Network is to protect all children from vaccine preventable diseases. This is accomplished by raising parental awareness on the importance of timely infant immunizations, by establishing a systematic method to locate and immunize children and by providing convenient access to immunization services. Immunizations are free for all children.
Website: www.gnoshots4kids.com

The Parenting Center at Children's Hospital
The Center is a multifaceted community resource that provides support and education to parents. The goals of the Center are to promote confidence and competence in parents, to encourage optimal child development, and to enhance the well-being of the family as a whole.
Website: www.chnola.org/Parenting/about.htm

Children's Hospital, New Orleans | The Tooth Bus, Partnership with LSUHSC School of Dentistry
Children’s Hospital is pleased to introduce The Tooth Bus, a community service providing free dental care to children in need. The Tooth Bus is a mobile dental office that travels to various locations throughout the New Orleans area to provide dental exams and other standard procedures to children of all ages who meet eligibility requirements.
Website: www.chnola.org/Parenting/about.htm

Legal Resources

The Louisiana Justice Institute
The Louisiana Justice Institute is a nonprofit organization devoted to fostering social justice campaigns across Louisiana, concentrating in the Gulf Coast region. Along with its community partners, LJI has embarked on its “Education – Equity – Now!” Campaign, using community-lawyering techniques to train parents and students to become their best advocates for education equity. We invite the community, our parents, and students to join us in this fight.
Phone: (504) 390.4642
E-mail: tracie@louisianajusticeinstitute.org

NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
LDF uses class action lawsuits and other forms of advocacy to seek racial injustice and equal educational opportunity in Louisiana and nationwide. Through its "Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline" Initiative, LDF has sought to stop the flow of students out of schools and into juvenile detention centers and prisons. This work includes litigation, conducting free community training sessions, publishing materials that expose the links between harsh school discipline policies and educational equity, and providing strategic counseling to parent and community groups working on these issues.
Phone: (504) 599-5909 (ask for Damon Hewitt)
Website: www.naacpldf.org
E-mail: dhewitt@naacpldf.org

Southern Poverty Law Center Special Education Project
The Special Education Project is staffed by attorneys from JJPL, Southern Poverty Law Center, and Southern Disability Law Center who work collaboratively to address special education issues statewide. In addition to legal representation, the special education project team conducts trainings and seminars for parents, advocates, and service providers, and coordinates with other attorneys and advocates around the state to address issues affecting students with disabilities.
Phone: (504) 522-5437 (ask for Eden B. Heilman)
E-mail: ebheilman@jjpl.org