ORETHA CASTLE HALEY BOULEVARD MERCHANTS & BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
“There has been progress on one level: we have successfully addressed overt racial discrimination. But mostly, we have an illusion of progress. Racism, which is quite different, is embedded in every institution. Reforms must begin with education. Otherwise, we are an obsolete people. The cotton has all been picked.”
- Oretha Castle Haley
Civil Rights Activist
Many years of planning and steady reinvestment in the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard corridor by private, public, and community stakeholders has resulted in a neighborhood that is more lively every day.
Central City's Main Street offers opportunities for working, shopping, business and social services, visual & performing arts and other cultural activities, dining, seeing historic preservation in action, attending church services, hearing live music, gardening, sports activities and residential living.
Big Freedia at the Central City Festival, 2014 (Photo by Peter Nakhid)
The mission of the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Merchants & Business Association is to cultivate economic sustainability throughout the organization’s service area by:
retaining and facilitating growth and enhancement of existing businesses and organizations;
recruiting new enterprises that complement the Afro-Caribbean arts and cultural vision of the community;
developing diverse economic resources to assist member businesses, non-profits, artists and culture bearers;
promoting the commercial district; and
responding to the needs of the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard district business and artisan community.
HISTORY
Since the late 1990's, the Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard Merchants & Business Association (OCHBMBA) has been the lead organization engaged in a strategic plan to revitalize the Boulevard. OCHBMBA has facilitated significant investment for the corridor over the years, especially in the post-Katrina environment, and the Boulevard is making a spectacular come-back.
In 2006, OCHBMBA successfully applied to become a Louisiana Main Street Community, and the area became a Louisiana Cultural Products District in 2009. Both initiatives are managed by OCHBMBA, which is a 501 c3 non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Louisiana.
Since hiring its first executive director in 2006, OCHBMBA has strengthened existing businesses and organizations; developed financial and other resources; procured technical assistance and university partners to assist property owners with redevelopment; and recruited new businesses identified as desirable by the community’s residents.
Once a thriving commercial district for New Orleans’ Jewish and African-American communities, Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard, formerly known as Dryades Street, is on its way to once again becoming a beacon for culture, history, commerce and so much more.
The Boulevard is home to long-time cultural and non-profit anchors such as the Dryades YMCA (since 1905), Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Café Reconcile, Gulf Coast Housing Partnership, Good Work Network, Living Witness Social Services, the New Orleans Mission, Zeitgeist, and the Youth Empowerment Project. Other socially conscious organizations have made the Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Main Street commercial district home, like HOPE Community Credit Union, , Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools, Stay Local, Pelican Bomb and Bike Easy.
Restaurants and other culturally-oriented businesses have opened, including Casa Borrega, Toups South and the Southern Food and Beverage Museum.
Streetscape enhancements were completed in the spring of 2017, which complement the existing community art murals and restored buildings.
The corridor was renamed in the late 1980's for Mrs. Oretha Castle Haley, a civil rights pioneer in New Orleans beginning when she was a young college student. Mrs. Haley was the president of the New Orleans chapter of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, and dedicated her life to social justice issues including education and healthcare.