NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — St. Anna’s Episcopal Church on Esplanade Avenue, home of nonprofit, Anna’s Place, is aimed at helping children in Tremé.
The organization now has a new home, with hopes of helping even more.
“Anna’s Place is a beacon of hope for a community that is at a point where it needs something to grasp to, to see success, ” said Anna’s Place NOLA Executive Director Cavin Davis.
That beacon of hope provides everything from after-school tutoring to STEM for the children of Tremé. While it’s always nice to have a home, the nonprofit has used every space in and around St. Anna’s Church to serve the community.
“Any hallway, any classroom corner, if it’s 10 x 10, we can use that space to make sure our kids get what they need,” said Davis.
The program sits in the heart of where our music grows, Tremé. Music is also offered at Anna’s Place, not necessarily to train musicians, but to open the students’ minds.
“If you look at the results of an arts education and you look at the schools in the city that use the arts as a basis for their curriculum, the arts obviously have a very strong impact on kids, not only in terms of their current learning but also opening up avenues for them to explore avenues for them as they get older,” said Director of Arts and Administration Darryl Durham.
The good news for Anna’s Place is that it’s got a brand-new home. Just down Esplanade, the Dodwell Community Research Center is being custom-fitted for Anna’s Place to include a coffee cafe and commercial kitchen.
The summer program hosted about 60 kids per day, but their new home offers more opportunities.
“With this new space, it’s going to allow us to have a capacity of 150 kids at any given point. We just want to make sure that our kids have a fair shot of getting everything that they have earned and everything that they deserve in the future,” Program Coordinator Kristie Eugene.
For more information on the nonprofit, visit Anna’s Place website.
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