French Quarter Economic Development District.

Whereas the city of New Orleans is renowned for its food, its festivals, its famous citizens and foreign visitors, and whereas the city council takes great pride in paying tribute to events and activities, special events and activities, now therefore be it proclaimed by the city of New Orleans that the city council today is recognizing Ranjai, Lindsay, and also Lena, Jane, Ranjai being a student at George Washington Carver High School and Lena, Jane being a student at Benjamin Franklin High School, congratulations on being chosen as one of only two students to represent the entire state of Louisiana at the 2026 America's Youth AI Festival, which is a national event running from July 17th through 19th at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute, and other Boston landmarks. It's signed by all seven members of the council, and we say to you thank you for representing us, and let us know how it went, and we look forward to hearing more from you relative to AI. I'm going to come forward and we're going to take a picture. I'm going to ask Mr. Huff to take a picture while you hold these proclamations. But one more time everybody, let's give a nice round of applause to our students. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Dwayne Prince Holmes, Jr., would you come forward and have a seat here, and anybody else who wishes to stand around him can do so. Thank you, Dwayne, for being here today. United Fellowship. United Fellowship. I'm going to ask Elise Williams, as a member of United Fellowship Church, I don't want to put you on the spot, but you're welcome to come. Thank you. What's your name again? O4. O41258. Oh, yeah, right. Not a total world. I know, yeah. Sorry. Not a total world. It's good to see everyone, and you can balance it off, but we're going to take the picture on this side eventually, but he is going to take some pictures now. Ms. Williams, have a seat. Yes, representing United Fellowship and the family. I have a proclamation today that I'll read first before I ask Mr. Dwayne Prince Holmes to comment, and it's a proclamation recognizing his work, especially with Youth Building New Orleans, but also his contributions to our city and our region as someone who's concerned and wants to work especially with youth, but he's a committed person relative to this city. And so, whereas Dwayne Prince Holmes, Jr., is the executive director of Youth Rebuilding New Orleans and a proud Algiers native who has dedicated more than 15 years to strengthening communities across greater New Orleans through affordable housing, workforce development, development, youth mentorship, environmental resilience, and disaster recovery. And whereas, and it's a little bit lengthy, but I want to read it to everybody because Mr. Holmes has done so much. Whereas Dwayne Prince Holmes began his journey with YRNO as a volunteer before advancing to intern, assistant construction manager, and ultimately executive director, a position he has held for nearly a decade. Whereas Dwayne Prince Holmes Jr. has a leadership that reflects a deep commitment to empowering young people, expanding access to affordable home ownership, and building stronger, more resilient neighborhoods. And whereas over the past decade, Dwayne Prince Holmes Jr. has mentored more than 60 young people annually, connecting them with long-term employment opportunities, skilled trade training, financial literacy, education, leadership development, and pathways to home ownership. And through his guidance, countless youths have gained the tools and confidence needed to build successful careers while giving back to their communities. And whereas under Dwayne Prince Holmes' leadership, Youth Rebuilding New Orleans has completed 15 affordable housing projects, including both home renovations and new constructions throughout the Bayou St. John, Lower Ninth Ward, and Seventh Ward communities. And whereas recognizing the growing impact of climate change and aging infrastructure, Dwayne Prince Holmes Jr. has expanded Youth Rebuilding New Orleans' mission to include environmental resilience and green infrastructure. And during the past three years, he has led efforts to plant more than 100 trees and completed over 30 green infrastructure projects. And whereas Dwayne Prince Holmes Jr. has coordinated thousands of volunteers following hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes, organizing debris removal, home gutting, cleanup operations, and emergency recovery services. Now therefore be it resolved by the City of New Orleans that the New Orleans City Council today recognizes Dwayne Prince Holmes Jr. at my request and is signed by all seven members of the New Orleans City Council. It's great to see you here today, and it's also great to see family, friends, church members in support. I'm glad to see you all here today. So I'm going to ask us all to give a round of applause to Dwayne Prince Holmes. Mr. Holmes, and then we're going to hear from a couple of family members and also Elise representing United Fellowship. Mr. Holmes. Family, you want to speak first? I would. They got to get a chance. Welcome. We got to hear from you, and then they'll respond to you. Go ahead. 100%. Well, good morning, everyone. First, I need to honor and thank God for placing me in this position. And it's a true honor. I want to thank all my family and friends, church members for coming out and supporting me during these times. I need to give a special acknowledgement to Bob Whitman. He is our board president, Youth Rebuilding New Orleans board president. He saw something in me at the age of 17 that I didn't see in myself. I had no business degree. I didn't have all the fancy accolades of my colleagues, but he saw the passion and the love that I have for community, for people, and he identified me as the executive director of Youth Rebuilding New Orleans at the age of 23. So I appreciate you, Mr.

Bob, all your love and your support. I'm honored to receive this proclamation, and I accept it with sincere gratitude. I am blessed with the opportunity to lead at YRNO. Youth Rebuilding New Orleans provided a platform where I could create and be the change that I wish to see, being able to point to the community by providing job opportunities, teaching skills, cultivating young leaders while honoring our neighborhood by showing love to those in need. I've never done this work for recognition or applause. I do this because I believe communities deserve hope, young people deserve opportunities, and neighborhoods deserve people who are willing to serve with love and consistency. Receiving this proclamation tells me that those efforts have been seen, and for that I thank you. At the same time, I cannot accept this honor without re-speaking my truth. While the city recognizes my service, I've also endured one of the darkest chapters of my life because of the poor investigation skills by New Orleans' 8th District Police Department and the misuse of facial recognition technology by Caesars Casino. I was publicly accused of something I did not do. My name, my face, reputation, and character was put on display, causing harm to me, my family, and an organization that can simply not be undone. To this day, there has yet to be any acknowledgement, apology, or correction of harm caused by Caesars or New Orleans Police Department. I didn't come here to place blame, but I do ask for accountability and meaningful change. So one of the policies that I wish to see is before someone's face is shared publicly in connection with any alleged crime, there should be a thorough investigation and evidence. And when mistakes happen, because mistakes do happen, agencies should be just as committed to correcting them as they were in making the accusation. We should ask ourselves where the resources are best spent expanding surveillance or strengthening the communities we want to protect. Investing in our young people, neighborhood programs, education, and violent prevention does more to build lasting public safety than technologies that have been shown to be disproportionately misidentifying people of color. Today, I accept this proclamation with gratitude and also with the hope that my experience can lead to change so that no one else can endure what my family and I have endured. I ask the city to remember that recognizing service should never replace correcting injustice. Thank you for this honor and thank you all for listening. Thank you Mr. Holmes and your services are appreciated, greatly appreciated, and the issues that you addressed, we certainly as a city want to make sure that people are treated fairly. I'll go into the family and then we'll come back to the discussion. I'll start with Elise, a member of United Fellowship. Good morning. Tell us where United Fellowship is. Let the public know. United Fellowship is in District D, 2401 Annette Street. Everyone should come. We have service on Sundays at 730 and 930, so it's a great service. You'll definitely be blessed if you come in. I was not prepared to give remarks, so please know that this comes from the heart, Prince, when I say that I met Prince through United Fellowship, and our first interaction was helping kids, helping the youth ministry at the church, so I'm very blessed to be learning from him and growing in how to interact with kids, how to be a good role model for them, and I thank you for being that example, not just for me, but for all of the young adults who are coming up in UFC who have to bring in these kids. We have a great population of youth at the church, so thank you for being that model for us, and I hope that this acknowledgement is only one step in your joy returning. That's it, and the joy for your organization returning as well, and that's what I have to say. Thank you so much, Councilmember Green. Okay. Thank you, Elyse. Yes, thank you. Good evening. Good morning, everyone. You said good evening. I'm sorry. Good morning. It's been a hard night. Listen, God is good, and I truly love him, and I thank you so much for allowing my nephew this opportunity to express his gratitude to serving the city and the people of New Orleans and you having him here to present him with your honor and recognition. Dwayne Prince Home is exemplary as a model, as a young adult model in the community, in the home, in the family, in the church. United Fellowship Pastor by Pastor Brandon M. Boutin is his uncle, and we're very proud of Prince because he displays the character that we want most of our young adults to display in this city to help our city be better and well-informed and practice good citizenship. In the recent experience that Prince did speak about, it's honorable that he would present it to you in a professional manner so that it would help others and our city to be more accurate in our declarations of people's innocence or non-innocence. We thank you so much for having the listening ear to hear what he has to say and what his experience has been. We hope that it will be a benefit to the city and all young adults. Thank you so much for your service and for having us. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, and thank you very much. You're welcome. Tell us who's with you for a second. Let's just, come on, for the record, a lot of people are watching. State your name and if you're affiliated with the youth rebuilding or with the church or just family members. Just tell us real fast. My name is Mike Long, friend of Prince. Okay. Yes, sir. I went to law school. I'm a recipient of the services of the library. Great. John Coyle, friend and co-worker. Tammy Mark. Prince is my boxing coach. Prince is your boxing coach? Yes. Well, let me add this to the proclamation. You're a boxing coach, too? I didn't have that in here. Great. Kristen Johnson. I'm a member of UFC as well. Minister Joseph Johnson.

I'm a member of UFC and a friend of the Prince's. Good to see you, minister. I am Reverend Candice DeSales. I am Prince's aunt. Okay. My name is Joanna Rose Robinson. I met the Prince at my job so I can say to the Prince that this is my loving son. You said you met him at your job and what? Yeah. Okay. Good. I just want everybody to know and I want them to hear that he's brought such an array of family members and friends and church members here in support. Gary and Dyson, lifelong friend as well and I'm really happy with the leadership he has in the community. Okay. Melissa Given. He's a friend of mine. He's also a partner with the Regional Planning Commission as we wrap up our Louisiana Watershed initiative as well as our climate adaptation planning, long range plans. He's provided a lot of good information about how to engage the workforce development with our youth in our emerging industries as we look to grow as a region. Thank you. Mr. Coley. I'm Darryl Holmes. I'm Prince's brother. My brother is an exceptional leader, man. I hope everything that's been said does not go on deaf ears. He's an exceptional leader, like I said, and I just want justice for my brother. We have definitely appreciated the prestigious award he just received, but please hear everything that he said, please. Go ahead. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Harris, this is Mr. Dwayne Prince Holmes. He is the Executive Director of Youth Rebuilding New Orleans, and he's involved with youth and his church on multiple levels. And I just want you to, if you wish, to say anything to Mr. Holmes. Mr. Holmes, I know and understand what happened, and I just want to thank you for being here today, and I want to thank all of your supporters for being here today as well. I know it's tough, but you're strong, and we'll all get through it. So thank you for being here. Thank you all very much for coming. We're gonna do a photo with Mr. Holmes in the middle. We're gonna surround him, and we're gonna take a picture so that we have the seal in the background. So come on this side, if you will, all right? Yeah. Thank you. Trinson, Louisiana, Sarah Jane, come on down. Are you waiting? Okay, you wanna do it now? It's fine. Okay. Okay, great. Yes, please, please, please, sit at the dais. Council Member Green. All right, good morning. Good morning. Many of my favorite people are sitting in front of us today. You wanna go ahead and introduce yourselves? Yes, good morning. Thank you so much for having us, Council Member Harris. My name is Sarah Jane Guidry, and I'm the Director of Policy and- Excuse me for one second. Everyone, if you could, if you could, Council Member Green. All right, if you'd start over. Yes, good morning. Thank you so much, Council Member Harris, for having us. My name is Sarah Jane Guidry, and I'm the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Crescent Care. We're a federally qualified health center. And we're really fortunate today to have our Transcend cohort that is here with partnership of Louisiana Trans Advocates. And it is in its second year, and we're very excited to have also our partners, Britton. I'll actually let you guys introduce yourself. Yeah, Britton Forsyth. You know me as the team from the Workers' Bill of Rights that's lobbying you for something else right now, and a trans advocate in the community. Good morning, Monique Blossom, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. We're really proud to work in coalition with these good folks at the legislature and here locally as well. And then we have our star Transcend member. Hi, yes, my name's Nola, cohort member. Happy to be here with the council and all of these lovely and talented people that I get to work with. Great, thank you. Transcend Louisiana is a six month advocacy and leadership training initiative developed by Crescent Care in partnership with Forum for Equality and Louisiana Trans Advocates. It's designed to give trans plus individuals across Louisiana the tools, knowledge, and skills to create meaningful change in their communities through legislative advocacy. This is more than just a training program. It's about building a community of empowered trans plus leaders, ready to change and advocate for equity, justice, and systemic change. So I just wanna please want everyone to join me in thanking Transcend Louisiana's leadership cohort and Crescent Care Forum for Equality and Louisiana Trans Advocates for their extraordinary commitment to building a stronger, safer, and better Louisiana together. And we do have a proclamation. Council members, would you like to say anything? Council member Green. I like the way you said that. You know I was gonna say that. I know, always. First, I'm so pleased. I wanna start off with Crescent Care. Crescent Care has a strong presence in the district that I represent. But just in general in our community, in areas that would be difficult for people to get services in if there were no Crescent Care. So I would just wanna tell you that I appreciate that. I appreciate any time that I have an opportunity to go to the building for an activity. Activities that I know are reaching people who would not be so comfortable walking into some of the other medical facilities. So I'm trying to parse my words and just use it correctly by just saying thank you for that. And Transcend, you have an important role to enhance education opportunities and to promote people understanding what the world involves. So I just wanna thank you for what you're doing, Transcend, and also Crescent Care. And thank Council Member Harris for bringing you forward to be recognized today. Thank you so much for your kind words. I very much appreciate that. Council Vice President Willard. Thank you, Council Member Harris, for bringing this esteemed group forward. I've had the privilege of working with most of you in the city council, as well as in the legislature.

So I know individually, you all are mighty full, and collectively, you all are a force to be reckoned with. So keep up the great work, and proud to have a relationship with all of you. Thank you. And just thank you for being here today. I know it's early, but we do have a proclamation, if you'd like to take a photo. Yes. All right. Thank you all. Thank you. You My daughter My daughter I'm ready to start Previous all right. Come on everyone. We're going to start the French Quarter Economic Development District meeting Roll call Councilmember Willard Councilmember Morrell Councilmember McCarran Councilmember Harris Councilmember King Councilmember Green Councilmember Hughes We have six members, we have a quorum Thank you Madam Let me do this real quick Quarterly budget and expenditure reports of the French Quarter EDD Trust Fund Michelle Corso, Executive Director of the French Quarter Management District Christine Bondo, Board Chairperson of the French Quarter Management District Board of Commissioners A report on the fiscal and operational administration of the French Quarter Economic Development Trust Fund Item 2, we have motion M-20-26-02 by District Member King Consideration of a motion to authorize District Member Freddie King III and in the event of his absence, District Member Leslie Harris and in the event of his absence, District Member Leslie Harris as representatives of the French Quarter Economic Development District to execute future legislative instruments, cooperative endeavor agreements and other documents related to the governance and operation of the French Quarter EDD The FQEDD Thank you Madam Clerk, this is a housekeeping motion to reappoint myself and Councilmember Harris as authorized representatives of the FQEDD which will allow us to execute any future legislative instruments, CEAs or other documents related to the governance and or operation of the FQEDD We pass the motion to the same effect in the last term, this simply reauthorizes us as representatives for the duration of the current term at this time of adoption Seconded by Councilmember Harris, all in favor, please say aye Aye's, no nay's Motion is adopted Any nay's? Hearing none, okay. Motion is adopted Madam Clerk Good morning, I'm Michelle Corso, Executive Director for French Quarter Management District. We have the operational and fiscal oversight responsibility for the French Quarter Economic Development District funds. That is the quarter for the quarter tax. This is our second quarter report. We are pleased to share that we are collecting more taxes, thank you to the City for quarter one and quarter two. We are at 56% of what we anticipated this year and a little bit lower at 35% for the expenses thus far. The expenses largely are low just because of timing of different projects that we ensue, so you'll see those numbers go up in subsequent quarters. The purpose of the French Quarter Economic Development District is to provide funding for supplemental patrols public safety, and attend to homelessness in the quarter These are the key performance indices for the supplemental patrols All of these patrols really look good. You'll see the numbers have significantly exceeded the expectations for citizen contacts, business checks, and all of the KPIs are above where we anticipated them. Additional categories that we track, you'll see all of those numbers there. Again by and large, the supplemental patrols, those are those blue lights that you see that go all throughout the French Quarter are there to be responsive to the incidents in the quarter, be proactive in deterring any safety concerns, and being a direct link to the citizens and businesses that we support. You'll have in front of you our French Quarter Task Force app. This is one of those tools that is paid for by the quarter for the quarter tax This is the residents and businesses direct link to those supplemental patrols On average, we're looking at five minutes or less, I believe excuse me, six minutes is the average that we have for the first six months of 2026 in terms of response time, but we are actively promoting this right now to our businesses, the employees in the quarter, and certainly the residents as well. While we have Covenant House as our contractor or vendor for our youth homeless outreach, we are also in coordination with the Office of Homeless Services with Dr. Vegno and his team and Taylor Diles We will be starting the tag team approach. It's simply a replication of the Home for Good plan last summer to have an Office of Homeless Services professional go out with one of our patrol officers, literally 24-7 There's some variation to that, but we will be starting that probably August 1st Those positions are posted right now. I know Dr. Vegno is anxious to get those positions filled so that we have some good reporting to give for you for next month. Finally, we are in our budget process right now, as are so many departments across the city. We are seeking engagement from our partners in DPW for those public safety issues, with NOPD certainly for what they need for the supplemental patrols, and certainly Dr. Vegno's team for what their needs are for 2027 for homelessness We always seek input certainly from our council members and also from the city on what other things you want to see in 2027's budget. I'll take any questions that you have. Any questions? I want to really quick ask Captain Palumbo the overall safety of the crime in the corridor. What is it looking like for someone on the streets? So overall we're about 26% down. That equates to 17% down on the violent crime side, and about 24% down on the property crime side. The only category that we've seen an increase in on the person's crime side is aggravated assaults. We're roughly 22 this year going against 18, so that's an increase of 4 crimes. All 22 of those have been solved, so there's either an arrest made or warrant issued.

On the property crime side, thefts and shopliftings are what drives our downward trend. We have seen increases in business burglaries as well as residents and simple burglaries. However, if you look at business burglaries, we're only going against 10. If I go back to 2024, that number was at 30. So we had a major decrease last year, and we have been at 20 for about 4 weeks now. So although we're up for the year, the trend over the last 4 weeks is a reduction. You see the same thing with auto theft and auto burglary. While we're up for the year, the trend over the last month is down, and that's attributed to many of the arrests that have been made, not only in the 8th District, but we did have a crew that was hitting the 8th, the 2nd, and the 6th, and we worked in coordination together to make apprehensions on those. I believe that's it for comments. Nothing else? Nothing else from us. I make a motion to adjourn. Second by Council Vice President Willow. All in favor? All opposed? No nos. Six yays. Motion to adjourn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.