Library Guides: Latin and Spanish New Orleans: Find Community

About

Looking for resources relating to Latinx/e/o/a, Latin American, Hispanic, Spanish, and Caribbean New Orleans today? Below you'll find links to cultural, educational, and social justice organizations, as well as social media sites to connect with local communities.

Please feel free to email suggestions for community resources not on this page!

Culture & Education

Ashé Cultural Arts Center
Ashé Cultural Arts Center is an initiative of Efforts of Grace, Inc., a nonprofit organization that creates and supports programs, activities and creative works emphasizing the contributions of people of African descent, including the African diaspora in the Caribbean & Latin America.
CubaNOLA Arts Collective
CubaNOLA Arts Collective brings together artists, tradition bearers, scholars, educators, youth, community activists, media professionals, and everyday people to identify, understand, enrich, and expand ties between the cultural and musical traditions of Cuba and New Orleans.
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The HCCL is a non-profit organization committed to creating and facilitating a business climate within the Hispanic community which will result in economic development and progress for Louisiana. Included within its focus is a dedication to the expansion of trade relations between the State of Louisiana and Latin America.
Latin American Resource Center
The Latin American Resource Center at Tulane University's Stone Center promotes the study of all subject matter relating to Latin America at the K-12, community, and university levels. In order to ensure accurate, integrated content for the classroom, they provide services such as teacher training workshops and conferences, free lending library curricular materials, documentary and feature film series, slide and curriculum publications, faculty and graduate student speakers, and personalized consulting.
Los Isleños Heritage and Cultural Society
Founded in the 1970's, this society is dedicated to preserving the language, legends, crafts, customs, folklore, rituals, music and history of immgirants from the Canary Islands and Spain to New Orleans, past and present. Activities include maintaining an Isleños (Canary Islanders) Museum and multi-cultural village; promoting an annual student of Isleños heritage; and promoting annual Museum Days.
The Pebbles Center
The Mission of the Pebbles Center is to enhance the learning and lives of the children of New Orleans by offering them resources and opportunities to experience the rich diversity of Latin America and its people. Their reading program is a collaboration between Tulane's Stone Center for Latin American Studies and the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL).
New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Foundation (NOHHF)
Non-profit community organization whose main purpose is to cultivate and promote the Hispanic heritage within the New Orleans community and the greater region. The NOHHF supports activities that provide an opportunity to experience Hispanic culture through art, education, culinary flavors, and music with the aspiration of creating a stronger more diverse and culturally rich community.

Casa Samba
A New Orleans-based, authentic Brazilian Escola de Samba (samba school).
Dile Que NOLA
A non-profit community organization dedicated to the dissemination and preservation of Cuban culture in New Orleans with a focus on dance, art, workshops, and educational activities.
New Orleans Argentine Tango Group
Weekly and monthly Tango classes in New Orleans & Mandeville.
Liquid Rhythm Inc. Salsa
LRI offers group and private salsa classes and performance services infused with other dance styles. They also organize social salsa events at bars, clubs, and other locales.
Capoeira New Orleans
Capoeira New Orleans is the first contemporary Capoeira group on the Gulf Coast and has been in the area since December 2006. Their mission is to perform community outreach activities to people of all backgrounds, ages, and abilities through the education of students in the art and culture of Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art.
Flamenco Classes at New Orleans Dance Academy
Flamenco is an art form originating with the gypsies of Spain. NODA offers weekly classes for adults.
Chakra Dance Theater: Dances of the Diaspora
Children and adult classes and performances focused on Modern and Haitian folkloric and spiritual dances, contemporary dance, and African, Haitian, and African/American History.
Tekrema Center for Art & Culture
The mission of Tekrema Center for Art and Culture is “the maintenance, development and perseverance of African and African Diaspora art and culture through the performing and visual arts, humanities, and programming addressing issues which affect the African-American community, particularly wellness and environmental justice.” Among its activities are workshops relating to the African diaspora, including Afro-Caribbean and Latin cultures.

Third Eye Theater
Interdisciplinary Performance Ensemble based on the history and culture that connect New Orleans and Haiti.

Carnaval Latino
Carnaval Latino is presented by the Hispanic-American Musicians and Artists Cultural Association H.A.M.A.C.A., a nonprofit dedicated to promoting and fostering the art and culture of the Hispanic community. The festival seeks to highlight Louisiana’s culture diversity by showcasing the Hispanic component of its rich history. Tends to be held in the fall.
NOLA Caribbean Festival
Founded in 2017, the NOLA Caribbean Festival celebrates Caribbean cuisine, music, dance, and culture while highlighting New Orleans' deeply-rooted cultural connections as the Caribbean's northern-most city.
Kenner Hispanic Fest
Festival honoring the rich and diverse Hispanic legacy of New Orleans. Event includes colorful activities for the whole family, Latin food, live music, dances and crafts. Tends to be held in the spring.
Qué Pasa Fest
Que Pasa Fest is a free admission, annual festival that celebrates Hispanic heritage in the Greater New Orleans area. It’s produced by Cervantes Foundation, a non-profit organization. Its first festival premiered in 2011.

Social Justice

Alas: Educational Access for Immigrant & Court-Involved Youth
Alas creates educational access for youth by training educators to connect undocumented students with legal representation and advocate for students to remain in schools instead of being in jail during the pre-trial period.
Congress of Day Laborers/Congreso de Jornaleros
Facebook page of the Congress of Day Laborers, an organization of immigrant workers and families founded by the day laborers who helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Includes news, announcements about meetings & trainings and more.
Immigrant Youth Empowerment Forum (IYEF)
Support undocumented youth in Louisiana through events, scholarships, and sharing information and resources.
Louisiana Folklife: New Populations Project
An initiative to reach out to Louisiana's immigrant and refugee communities. The goal is to provide an opportunity to engage these communities in the identification and documentation of their traditional culture and art forms.
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Populations include Cubans, Garifuna, Guatemalans, Hispanics, Hondurans, Latinos, Mexicans, and Nicaraguans, among others.
New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ)
Umbrella organization of the Congress of Day Laborers/ Congreso de Jornaleros.
Our Voice/Nuestra Voz (OVNV)
Our Voice/Nuestra Voz (OVNV) is a Spanish-speaking parent advocacy start-up based in New Orleans that seeks to build the capacity of Latino parents as advocates to ensure that children have access to great schools.
Project Ishmael
Project Ishmael is a pro bono immigration legal program for children located in First Grace United Methodist Church (www.FirstGraceUMC.org) in Mid City New Orleans. Project Ishmael was birthed in 2014 as a partner program of Hagar's House, which opened in 2007. Hagar's House is a sanctuary for women and children in New Orleans that provides an open and empowering residential community, resource coordination, and a safe space to transition into permanent housing.
Puentes New Orleans, Inc.
Nonprofit dedicated to overcoming economic, racial, and cultural divides and to providing Latin American families and communities with the resources, knowledge, and hands-on opportunities they need to thrive. Puentes New Orleans was established in 2007 as a nonprofit community development organization to address the needs of Latin American immigrants in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Vida in New Orleans
Geared at providing a cultural arts platform that brings together Latin American writers, poets, and activists to acknowledge the existence of their communities in New Orleans.

Social Media

The best way to become involved with and keep abreast of community organizations' activities is to follow them on social media:

Consulates

Foreign Consulates in New Orleans
The following countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and the Iberian Peninsula are represented in New Orleans: Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela.

Community Resources

Guía de recursos comunitarios en español
La presente guía cuenta con información de recursos comunitarios que pueden ser de gran utilidad para individuos y familias en el área de Nueva Orleans y en algunos casos de Luisiana y Baton Rouge. Los temas son básicamente tres: financiero, de salud y social, y de asesoría legal. La información ofrece los nombres de las instituciones en inglés, sus datos de contacto, tales como direcciones de internet, teléfono, domicilio, una descripción breve de los servicios otorgados ahí, los costos en general de los servicios, y la confirmación que recibimos por teléfono a la pregunta de si las diferentes instituciones cuentan con personal que habla español o no. Estos datos están cubiertos para el 95% de las organizaciones listadas en esta guía. La forma más fácil de manejar esta guía es dirigirse por medio de la tabla de contenidos y encontrar la página ahí listada según el tema que se necesite. Esta guía no es exhaustiva y las organizaciones aquí listadas no pidieron ser incluidas. Las incluimos basados en otras guías comunitarias ya existentes y tratamos de incluir casi exclusivamente aquellas organizaciones donde se ofrecen servicios en español.