Louisiana Appleseed

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Louisiana Appleseed Louisiana Appleseed is a networked nonprofit advocating for Justice, Opportunity, & Education.

Louisiana Appleseed uncovers and corrects injustices and barriers to opportunity through legal, legislative and market-based structural reform. Working with our huge pro bono network, we identify, research, and analyze social injustices; make specific recommendations; and advocate for effective solutions to deep-seated structural problems.

Mediation Books are here! Our CLE, Mediation and Heirs' Property Disputes is tomorrow, November 5. This free event comes...
11/04/2026

Mediation Books are here! Our CLE, Mediation and Heirs' Property Disputes is tomorrow, November 5. This free event comes with lunch and this printed training guide with a resource list for review, future study, and reference. The only thing you need to do to join us is register (https://www.louisianaappleseed.org/calendar).

This interactive session provides continuing mediation education for new and experienced mediators who want to work with families to help resolve heirs’ property disputes. Through text-based lectures, conversations, case studies, and role plays, participants will learn what heirs’ property is, why and how mediation can effectively resolve heirs’ property disputes, and what special considerations these cases require compared to other matters.

A 2020 analysis by Louisiana Appleseed estimates more than 175,000 parcels of probable heirs’ property. To help families resolve disputes and reach agreements about inherited family land or heirs’ property, we need skilled mediators with proper training. That’s why we are so excited to host a free CLE, led by Karama Neal, PhD. Dr. Neal is principal of the Neal Firm, which provides consulting and mediation services informed in part by her work in rural community development, heirs’ property, and personal and community finance.

Thursday, November 5, 2026, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM CT
Simon Peragine Smith & Redfearn, LLP, 1100 Poydras St Ste 3000, New Orleans, LA, 70163

CLE credit approved for 3.75 hours total, including 1 hour of ethics and 1 hour of professionalism, with a 1-hour lunch provided on-site. Mediation credit has also been approved for 4 hours. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance to verify mediation credits.

This event is free thanks to the Players Coalition, Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, and the Louisiana Bar Foundation. Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, LLP has graciously donated the event venue.

TODAY IS ELECTION DAY IN LOUISIANA. Polls are open from 6am to 8pm. Everyone in line at 8pm has the right to vote. This ...
11/03/2026

TODAY IS ELECTION DAY IN LOUISIANA. Polls are open from 6am to 8pm. Everyone in line at 8pm has the right to vote.

This election has a statewide senate race, house of representatives races, judges, many amendments, and more. At Louisiana Appleseed, we know local leaders make a lot of decisions that directly affect you and your neighbors. Make a plan to vote and contact at least five friends to make sure they have a plan as well! (Did you already vote early? Or already remind friends and family to vote? Celebrate in the comments below!)

Want to know what’s on your ballot? Go to GeauxVote.com for ballot info, your polling location, and where you can vote early. You can also download the GeauxVote Mobile app for smartphones.

(thanks sos.la.gov for the the voting info)

One week from today! Mediation CLE: Heirs' Property Disputes. This Thursday November 5th CLE is free and comes with lunc...
10/29/2026

One week from today! Mediation CLE: Heirs' Property Disputes.

This Thursday November 5th CLE is free and comes with lunch, and a printed training guide with a resource list for review, future study, and reference. Register now to secure your spot! (https://www.louisianaappleseed.org/calendar)

A 2020 analysis by Louisiana Appleseed estimates more than 175,000 parcels of probable heirs’ property. To help families resolve disputes and reach agreements about inherited family land or heirs’ property, we need skilled mediators with proper training. That’s why we are so excited to host a free CLE, led by Karama Neal, PhD. Dr. Neal is principal of the Neal Firm, which provides consulting and mediation services informed in part by her work in rural community development, heirs’ property, and personal and community finance.

This interactive session provides continuing mediation education for new and experienced mediators who want to work with families to help resolve heirs’ property disputes. Through text-based lectures, conversations, case studies, and role plays, participants will learn what heirs’ property is, why and how mediation can effectively resolve heirs’ property disputes, and what special considerations these cases require compared to other matters.

Thursday, November 5, 2026, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM CT
Simon Peragine Smith & Redfearn, LLP, 1100 Poydras St Ste 3000, New Orleans, LA, 70163

CLE credit approved for 3.75 hours total, including 1 hour of ethics and 1 hour of professionalism, with a 1-hour lunch provided on-site. Mediation credit has also been approved for 4 hours. Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance to verify mediation credits.

This event is free thanks to the Players Coalition, Huey and Angelina Wilson Foundation, and the Louisiana Bar Foundation. Simon, Peragine, Smith & Redfearn, LLP has graciously donated the event venue.

A big thank you to everyone who attended our October 15th Good Apple Luncheon at Arnaud’s! It was a great party full of ...
10/28/2026

A big thank you to everyone who attended our October 15th Good Apple Luncheon at Arnaud’s! It was a great party full of wonderful people, and a joy to celebrate our honorees, Marla K. Nelson and JPMorgan Chase, and showcase Appleseed's work. Special thanks to board member and luncheon chair Courtney Nicholson for planning this incredible event; to Michael Hecht for serving as our emcee and keynote speaker; to Appleseed Board President Hope Spencer; and to all our sponsors and guests who made it such a memorable afternoon. Everyone who attended the Luncheon was a Force Multiplier, supporting policy solutions that increase wealth for low-income residents of our state.

Supporting Louisiana Appleseed in 2026 is especially powerful because of the Freeman Foundation Challenge—for every $2 donated in 2026, we get an additional dollar matched. The challenge? We have to raise at least $50,000 for our funds to be matched. The good news? We’re less than $6,000 away from that goal, which means every dollar counts. Help us cross the finish line by donating now.

It’s Pro Bono Week! What is Pro Bono Week? Louisiana Pro Bono Week is a statewide observance held in conjunction with Na...
10/28/2026

It’s Pro Bono Week!

What is Pro Bono Week?
Louisiana Pro Bono Week is a statewide observance held in conjunction with National Celebrate Pro Bono Week to connect residents with free legal assistance and recognize volunteer attorneys who close the justice gap.

What is Lawyers in Libraries?
The centerpiece of Pro Bono Week is the annual Lawyers in Libraries program (marking its 13th year), where volunteer attorneys provide free, limited one-on-one civil legal consultations across Louisiana’s 64.

How Is Louisiana Appleseed Getting Involved?
Securing Your Legacy, A Will Writing Clinic in Donaldsonville. Today at our free event at the Ascension Parish Library, attorneys will be helping people create their wills. A will can be intimidating, but with our friendly attorneys will be there to make it easier and protect the generational wealth of Louisianans.

Does finding the time and money for creating your will scare you? Let Louisiana Appleseed make it less trick and more tr...
10/21/2026

Does finding the time and money for creating your will scare you? Let Louisiana Appleseed make it less trick and more treat at our Will Writing Clinic on October 28th! Carve out time to join us for this Lawyers in Libraries Week event. You'll get a free attorney consult so you don't have to be scared, you can be prepared.

Where: Ascension Parish Library, Donaldsonville Branch,
500 Mississippi St, Donaldsonville, LA, 70346

When: Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM CT

Register for this FREE event at https://www.louisianaappleseed.org/calendar

Don't live near Donaldsonville? Stay tuned to our social media for future will writing clinics, and check out the Lawyers in Libraries events taking place all over the state.

TOMORROW IS THE GOOD APPLE LUNCHEON! Join our celebration at Arnaud's from 12- 2 p.m. (GoodAppleLuncheon.com for details...
10/14/2026

TOMORROW IS THE GOOD APPLE LUNCHEON! Join our celebration at Arnaud's from 12- 2 p.m. (GoodAppleLuncheon.com for details. It’s not too late to snag your seat! Tickets are available online and at the door.)

Enjoy an afternoon of delicious food and beverage among some of the most impactful people in Louisiana, and become a Force Multiplier, supporting policy solutions that increase wealth for low-income residents of our state. With you, and our extensive network of pro bono professionals, entire communities are better empowered to capitalize on wealth-building strategies, fight blight and abandonment, and ensure long-term economic sustainability.

Thank you to our Diamond Sponsors JPMorganChase and Leger & Shaw, all of our sponsors, and everyone who has already made a plan to join us. Supporting Louisiana Appleseed in 2026 is especially powerful because of the Freeman Foundation Challenge—for every $2 donated in 2026, we get an additional dollar matched. Unless otherwise requested, every 2026 sponsorship and ticket sale will go even farther with the support of the Freeman Foundation!

It’s an exciting week at Louisiana Appleseed! Tomorrow, Executive Director Adrienne Wheeler will participate in the Urba...
10/13/2026

It’s an exciting week at Louisiana Appleseed! Tomorrow, Executive Director Adrienne Wheeler will participate in the Urban League of Louisiana's 2026 Empowerment & Policy Conference, Declaration: Equity, Innovation & Black Futures. Adrienne is part of an impressive panel that also includes Louisiana Appleseed board member Ashley Aubrey Harrison, SVP and director of Community and Economic Development at Hancock Whitney Bank.

This year's conference challenges conventional thinking, confronts the policies and systems shaping our communities, and elevates a more ambitious vision for Louisiana's future. Conference speakers will draw on their expertise, experiences, and perspectives to challenge assumptions, speak truth to power, and illuminate what must change to advance equity, innovation, and opportunity, particularly for Black Louisianans.

Declaration 2026 calls on attendees to Declare More of Louisiana: to insist on equity, advance innovation that expands opportunity, and build thriving Black futures. What more should we declare of Louisiana, what must change to achieve it, and how will we use our power to make it happen? Adrienne will share her legal expertise to examine how families can acquire or inherit property yet remain vulnerable to losing it because of unresolved succession, heirs' property, unclear title, or limited access to legal assistance.

Heirs’ property challenges affect Black families' ability to preserve land, access financing, and transfer wealth across generations, and we're grateful for this powerful platform to illuminate and help solve this pervasive problem.

Interested in learning more about Heirs’ Property in Louisiana? Check out our free guide at LouisianaAppleseed.com/resources. If you’re an attorney who would like more training on this subject, you can register for our Mediation CLE on November 5 at LouisianaAppleseed.com/calendar.

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day—when states and cities across the country celebrate and honor the native tribes and the...
10/12/2026

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day—when states and cities across the country celebrate and honor the native tribes and the First Nations, those here long before European colonization. In Louisiana, with many tribes contributing so much to the tapestry of our state, we seek to honor the beautiful, but often painful history of those who were here first, and on whose land we currently live.

Want to know about the current work being done by some of the many tribes across Louisiana? Take some time to find out more about the Inter-Tribal Council of Louisiana Consortium (ITCLA).

ITCLA consortium members include the:
Coushatta Tribe of LA: coushatta.org
Chitimacha Tribe of LA: chitimacha.gov
Jena Band of Choctaw Indians jenachoctaw.org
Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of LA: tunicabiloxi.org
United Houma Nation Tribe of LA: unitedhoumanation.org

These five tribes have run successful employment and training programs in the state of Louisiana for over 49 years. They also formed the Institute of Indian Development in 1981 to “promote self-determination, identify and develop existing resources, promote comprehensive community planning, and finally to package these assets for the future growth of the member tribes.”

Louisiana also provides ample opportunity to visit historic and pre-historic sites, sacred to First People but also incredibly important to understanding the earliest settlements in North America. Louisiana is home to over 800 Native-built mounds, the architectural wonders of the prehistoric world? Some of the sites can be visited today, like the LSU campus mounds, which are older than the famous pyramid complex at Giza, Egypt!

And Poverty Point, built around 1700 BCE, has the largest mound in Louisiana, and is a National Historic Landmark and UNESCO World Heritage Site. These first people were building mounds to commemorate their dead heroes at the time of the mythical Trojan War. The map above (courtesy Center of Archaeology at Tulane University) shows some of the many places you can visit. These sites are a great honor for Louisianans to be allowed near; contemplate the ancients respectfully.

How will you mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day? Let us know in the comments!

10/08/2026

ONE WEEK AWAY! Thursday, October 15, 2024, at Arnaud's from 12- 2 p.m. we'll be at the Good Apple Luncheon (GoodAppleLuncheon.com). Together, we will celebrate our accomplishments over the past year and take time to honor volunteers and community members who have gone above and beyond. Just take a look at how much fun we had last year with keynote speaker John Bel Edwards (), and honorees Ronald J. Scalise Jr., and Players Coalition represented by Jeremiah Brown (, ). We are so excited to tell you about the honored guests we have in store this year.

Next week, we’ll be honoring Dr. Marla K. Nelson of LSU New Orleans and JPMorganChase, with Michael Hecht as our keynote speaker and master of ceremonies!

Get your ticket now to enjoy an afternoon of delicious food and beverage among some of the most impactful people in Louisiana, and to become a Force Multiplier, supporting policy solutions that increase wealth for low-income residents of our state. With you, and our extensive network of pro bono professionals, entire communities are better empowered to capitalize on wealth-building strategies, fight blight and abandonment, and ensure long-term economic sustainability.

Supporting Louisiana Appleseed in 2026 is especially powerful because of the Freeman Foundation Challenge—for every $2 donated in 2026, we get an additional dollar matched. Unless otherwise requested, every 2026 sponsorship and ticket sale will go even farther with the support of the Freeman Foundation!

We will see you at Arnaud's on October 15, 2026!

For more information, visit us at GoodAppleLuncheon.com.

Address

935 Gravier Street Ste 2155
New Orleans, LA
70112

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+15049101767

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