1. Green Light New Orleans
believes that a mass
movement of individual
actions creates a
significant impact on our environment and
community. Our mission is to strengthen
our community through programs that
improve household sustainability and also
reduce our carbon footprint. We currently
have two programs underway:
• Free energy-efficient light bulb distribution
(“Compact Flourescent Lamp” or CFL program)
2006 – present
• Backyard Vegetable Garden program
2012 – present
While both of our programs are important, our current focus
is on expanding the Backyard Vegetable Garden program.
Our goal is to establish 500 new gardens over the next two
years with a long-term vision of 10,000 new gardens in a
ten-year period. With a strong history of success in
community-based programs and a broad-based network of
volunteers, we believe we can meet this goal together with
our funding partners.
A unique beginning…
Green Light New Orleans was founded in 2006 by Andreas
Hoffmann, a musician originally from Switzerland, who had
lived in New Orleans since the early 1990’s. Concerned with
the CO2 footprint left by his touring band, he began installing
energy efficient light bulbs—first in his own home and then
in the homes of friends and neighbors. Word of the ‘free light
bulbs’ spread quickly. Fans of his band provided the seed
funding; volunteers joined the effort to canvass
neighborhoods and exchange the bulbs. Today, over 26,000
homes have been reached by Green Light and over a half
million bulbs have been installed.
In addition to replacing light bulbs, Green Light volunteers
have enrolled over 4,000 residents for curbside recycling,
connected hundreds of residents to the city of New Orleans’
smoke detector program, and distributed thousands of air
filters to improve indoor air quality and energy efficiency.
Green Light is working towards completing its energy efficient
light bulb program by 2018, and by then will be fully engaged
in its newest program, the Backyard Vegetable Garden
program.
Did you know? Exchanging just 30
incandescent lights to CFL (energy efficient)
bulbs saves over $1,300 in electricity bills
over the life of the bulb AND lowers the
household’s carbon footprint by 13,410
pounds.
Green Light
New Orleans
GREEN LIGHT NEW ORLEANS IMPACT
Homes served 26,000
Energy efficient light bulbs installed 552,000
Savings in energy cost $25 million
CO2
reduced 250 million pounds
Residents signed up for recycling 4,000
AC filters distributed 1,988
Volunteers involved 13,000
*data as of 7/15/2015, over the lifetime of CFL

2. From light bulbs to gardening:
TACKLING COMMUNITY NEEDS,
ONE OKRA PLANT AT A TIME
Green Light’s Backyard Vegetable Garden program began in
2012 after an AmeriCorps team conducted extensive surveys
at 1,100 homes in three of New Orleans’ lowest income
neighborhoods. The AmeriCorps team members went door-to-
door, asking residents about their needs, with the purpose of
identifying new programs that would build community
resiliency and sustainability in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Nearly half of those surveyed (46%) reported an
interest in vegetable gardening, and identified healthy food
access as a major concern in the city.
Urban vegetable gardens address environmental, health, and
economic challenges faced by the residents of New Orleans:
• Environment:
According to Cornell University, food in the United States is
transported an average of 1,500 miles from farm to table. The
average American is responsible for the consumption of
50,000 gallons of gasoline per year by eating food that is not
locally sourced, which creates 16,600 lbs of CO2
per person,
per year.
• Health:
The latest annual “F as in Fat” report from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation and Trust for America’s Health reports
that 33.1 percent of all Louisiana residents are obese. Diet
related diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and stroke are
some of America’s top killers.
• Economic:
According to the US census, 27.3 percent of New Orleans
residents live below the poverty line. Food insecurity is
tracked by Feeding America, a nationwide network of Food
Banks, and is determined by county poverty rates,
unemployment and median income. According to Feeding
America’s “Minding the Meal Gap” survey conducted in 2013,
15.8 percent of all households in America are food insecure.
However, in New Orleans the rate is higher and 1 out of every
5 households is deemed food insecure.
Home gardening contributes to healthy eating habits and
increased physical activity. Growing food in one’s own
backyard also builds more resilient communities. Families who
grow their own food at home become less dependent on
external factors, such as proximity to a grocery store selling
fresh produce and their available food budget.

3. The Backyard Vegetable Garden program builds upon the
relationships Green Light has established with the 26,000
participants of the energy efficient light bulb program.
Residents hear about the Garden program from neighbors,
friends, social media and during the energy efficient light
bulb installations. As with the light bulb program, Green
Light’s Vegetable Garden program embodies three key
principles:
1. Environmental sustainability should be accessible to all
New Orleans residents, regardless of income. Like the light
bulb program, the Garden program is free and open to all
residents.
2. Environmental sustainability doesn’t have to be
complicated. With the proper help and education, growing
one’s own food is easy to do. Green Light partners with urban
farms to provide organic gardening classes and guides
residents through the process of growing a small backyard
garden for five years.
3. Small actions taken by many households have a large
collective impact. Imagine the impact on our city when we
reach our goal of 10,000 new gardens! Collectively, our
actions will help transform the city into a more sustainable
place to live.
Green Light’s Backyard Vegetable Garden program is
specifically designed to grow successful gardeners and
bountiful harvests. Over half of Green Light’s applicants have
never tried to grow food before. Therefore, participants are
guided carefully through the process. New gardeners attend
the basic “Intro to Organic Gardening” class at Green Light’s
Edible Teaching Garden, a blighted lot that has been
transformed into a demonstration food garden. Composting,
watering techniques, planting calendars and general garden
care are all topics covered in the class. In addition, gardeners
put together a garden plan and plant seeds for their new
garden bed. Roughly two weeks after the class, when their
seedlings are ready to be transplanted, Green Light volunteers
travel to their home to help build the 4’ x 4’ raised garden
bed. In addition to bringing the raised garden bed, volunteers
transport the nutrient-rich soil (which ensures there is no
possibility of lead contamination), seedlings, landscape fabric
and additional educational material. Gardeners are followed
up with every six months during the first five years of their
participation in the program to ensure successful harvest and
to give support throughout the process. There are currently
over 400 households growing their own food through Green
Light’s program, and 300 more are on the waiting list.
Green Light’s Backyard
Vegetable Garden Program:
ORIGINAL AND SCALABLE

4. PARTNERSHIPS
Green Light has established many key partnerships to
strengthen our ability to serve the community. Some of these
organizations are listed here:
Edible Schoolyard New Orleans (ESY NOLA) empowers
schoolchildren to build and maintain healthy relationships
with food and the community through school gardens. Green
Light provides gardens for the families of students who are
active in ESY NOLA’s program. By reinforcing the habits
learned at school in a home garden provided by Green Light,
ESY NOLA and Green Light aim to close the gap between a
child’s garden-fresh lunch at school and fresh vegetable
supper at home, making healthy eating habits possible.
Backyard Gardeners Network works to strengthen urban
farming in the Lower Ninth Ward, a neighborhood in New
Orleans that is considered food insecure. The Backyard
Gardeners Network provides referrals to Green Light’s program,
seeds and tools for the gardeners, and post-garden build
support and training.
Second Harvest Food Bank aims to alleviate hunger in the
New Orleans community. Green Light gardeners are invited to
participate in the six-week Cooking Matters course, hosted by
Second Harvest, which covers cooking, nutrition and food
budgeting.
Green Light refers gardeners to additional educational
opportunities available from nonprofits and urban farms such
as Sustainable Produce Reaching Our Urban Table
(SPROUT), Urban Farmstead, Grow Dat Youth Farm,
Faubourg Farm, Recirculating Farms and Parkway
Partners.
EVALUATION AND
DATA COLLECTION
Green Light tracks the progress of gardeners and their food
gardens. Initially, the plant variety and quantity of seeds and
seedlings planted is recorded. Routine household surveys
track the amount of food successfully grown, eating habits,
and the adoption of sustainable practices (i.e. composting and
rain barrel installation). Green Light partners with Tulane
University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
and the North American Partnership for Environmental
Community Action in creating a carbon reduction
methodology for eating homegrown food.
HELP US GROW
Green Light seeks funding to expand the Backyard Vegetable
Garden program and reach more New Orleans households. To
reach our goals, funding is needed for staff to lead volunteer
garden builds, coordinate classes and workshops, and manage
an online calendar of continuing gardener education courses
from Green Light’s urban farm partners. Funding is also
needed for garden build materials, and to expand the Edible
Teaching Garden. As the network of gardeners grows, there
will be residents in every neighborhood with Green Light
gardens. Green Light aims to connect nearby gardeners via a
mobile phone app on a neighborhood level so that they have
the opportunity to connect to each other, share their
knowledge, experience, tools and harvest. In addition to the
educational support provided by Green Light, residents will
then be able to guide and teach one another through forums
and neighborhood meet-ups
To learn more about Green Light New Orleans, please visit our
website at www.greenlightneworleans.org or contact
Executive Director Andreas Hoffmann: 504-342-4966,
andreashoffmann@greenlightneworleans.org