justin massa

New Orleans has been called “the city that care forgot”. In many ways, this unfortunate moniker is true. Until now, my memories of local politicians and politics center around scandals, controversy, and missed opportunities. That changed when, a few weeks ago, I learned that James Perry was considering a run for mayor.

I first met James at the National Fair Housing Alliance’s 2006 conference in Washington D.C. We quickly bonded over our passion for fair housing and love of music and I’ve considered him a friend ever since. He is a passionate advocate, leader, and thinker whose expertise in housing would benefit New Orleans enormously. For a city still grappling with the destructive effects of Katrina while confronting a massive foreclosure and credit crisis, James is uniquely situated to take the reigns.

Visit his website at www.JamesPerry2010.com to learn more, tell him what you think NOLA needs, and make a contribution.

My sister Emily is a fantastic make-up artist and a member of the Sephora Pro Beauty Team. Check out her video below and then head over to www.facebook.com/sephora and give her your vote! The winner gets a feature in Allure magazine and their own column on Beauty and the Blog.

Change.org’s Social Entrepreneurship blog named me one of “Five Social Innovaters Who Would Make MLK Proud”:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stands among the giants of history. The story of the preacher who helped change a nation is a core piece of our American heritage. And it’s not hard to feel as though this year’s celebration of King’s legacy is just a little bit more special; that in some small way a piece of his dream is coming true in front of our eyes.

Yet for how far America has come, inequity and injustice persist, even if they look very different than they did in King’s day. Today will be filled with wonderful and moving tributes to his memory, but I can’t help but feel that the best way to honor MLK’s legacy is to embody his spirit in our action. To that end, here’s a list of five social innovators I think Dr. King would be proud to know.

Justin Massa, founder of Movesmart.org
More than forty years after the 1968 Fair Housing Act, American neighborhoods are still often segregated by race and ethnicity. This segregation impacts everything from access to education to crime rates, and remains an important social challenge. Justin Massa founded MoveSmart.org in order to “foster economic and racial integration” by unlocking data about neighborhoods…

Maybe the coolest part of this is that Pres. Barack Obama was also on the list. Any time someone puts you on a list of five people and our new president is one of them, you know it is incredibly flattering.

From Rooflines.org:

For the first 38 minutes, it almost sounded like the Senators pitied him.

The Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs spent nearly 40 minutes of the two-hour confirmation hearing warning President-elect Obama’s HUD secretary nominee Shaun Donovan that he would be taking over a neglected, under-funded agency rife with problems that has been relegated to the second tier of the federal bureaucracy and is facing a housing crisis of unknown proportions. Republicans and democrats alike praised Donovan for his “willingness” to take on this challenge and at times seemed genuinely surprised that someone of his experience and expertise would take such a challenging job. As many of the Senators noted, barring some startling revelation his confirmation is virtually assured.

Read the full post…