About Orleans Parish, LA

KIVA is a program that extends loans to extrepreneurs around the world and is currently in two United States cities, New Orleans and Detroit. Micro loans as low as $25 can be contributed and anyone can lend money, you decide who you want to support, you are not contributing money to the organization but to specific individuals. Micro lenders around the world contribute. 450 individuals out of 100,000 started small businesses in the New Orleans area last year which is above the national average of 350 out of 100,000.

New Orleans is the model city for KIVA in the United States. Some points of the program.

$10,000 maximum loan

36 months loan term

15% interest/no collateral/no credit score - interest rate can be lowered with a good payment history

Borrowers need to have a viable business plan and the ability to repay the loan

Good Work Network processes the application.

The actual loans are posted on the KIVA site and are fully funded within 24 hours

Business support services available

Most banks don't make small loans and the borrowers from KIVA have been turned down by a financial institution

Loans are funding within 24 hours

KIVA New Orleans

The Times Picayune is reporting today that after the schedule was set Bruce Sprinnsteen requested to play at the Annual Jazz Fest held in New Orleans, LA. The line up this year is great and just got better. For the full line up, schedule and to buy tickets - New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Some of the other performers are:

The Beach Boys
Zac Brown Bandk
John Mayer
Herbie Hancock
Bon Iver
Neville Brothers
Al Green
Allen Toussaint
Bonnie Raitt

Jazz Fest and Bruce Springsteen Article from the Times Picayune

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

LSU is playing for the BCS title in the Mercedez Benz Superdome. The streets of downtown New Orleans are crowded with visitors and locals alike. No real problems to report other than parking. If LSU wins they will they have a chance of beeing the Greatest College football team every. Louisiana has a lot to offer in the form of winners. LSU and the New Orleans Saints have many excited. Real Estate buyers are in the game as well. Winners like to be around winners. All of our listings these last 10 days a have shown and produce a lot of activity. Come to the Greater New Orleans area and call a winner to help you find or sell your home. The City of New Orleans is also a winner. The tourist dollars that events like the BCS bring is estimate to be $550 Million.

GO TIGERS!

With 9 sporting events in two weeks New Orleans is hustling and busting. This evening is the LSU game and this town is packed, just packed. Large limos line the streets outside restaurants, streetcars packed and everyone it seems is wearing a LSU something, either a tee shirt or a hat. The excitement is in the air. All while Mardi Gras parades and balls have begun. From the New York Times:

"From Dec. 26 through Monday, the Superdome and the neighboring New Orleans Arena have hosted, or will host, nine sporting events. This includes two college football bowl games, including Monday night’s championship; three Saints games, including Saturday’s playoff contest against Detroit; and four N.B.A. matchups featuring the hometown Hornets.

This confluence of events, an athletic Mardi Gras of sorts, played out all over town. Crimson Tide fans waited for beignets at Café du Monde, while nearby a musician played jazz in a Saints sweatshirt. Lions supporters downed bottles of Abita at Bullet’s Sports Bar. Hotels turned on “no vacancy” signs and a parking garage downtown charged $100 a night.

“We’re going to see our city filled to the brim, to a magnitude beyond what we’ve ever seen, even with Super Bowls,” said Doug Thornton, senior vice president for the stadium and arena division at the arena management company SMG and the de facto director of Louisiana sports."

Read more - New Orleans is the Center of the Sports World

Greeting from New Orleans...it's Carnival time again! Though Mardi Gras day isn't until February 21 this year, 12th night (the feast of the Epiphany) on January 6 is actually the date the season gets started each year. If you've never been to our great city for the celebration, it's a bucket list item everyone should do once. The most congested time is the Thursday through Tuesday leading up to Mardi Gras day (Feb 16 - 21 this year). This is when the biggest parades role and the city hosts over one million visitors.

If you're looking for the experience but a bit less of a crowd, try the weekend before (Feb 10-12), locally referred to as the "first weekend of Mardi Gras". There's still plenty of great parades rolling, the locals are out and about, and we have a fraction of the revelers on that weekend. The photo below is one of the floats from the Krewe of King Arthur that rolls "first Sunday".

Another gem from the first weekend is the Mystic Krewe of Barkus. The name is a play on one of our larger parades, Bacchus. Barkus is a fantastic dog parade through the French Quarter, where the King and Queen are canine as are most of the participants in the parade. The Krewe raises funds for local animal shelters and groups. Below is their official poster from 2011 with the theme "A Broadway Tail: Barkus Brings Down The House". More info at their web site: www.barkus.org.

And keep in mind, the event is celebrated all over southern Louisiana, not just New Orleans. And in the metro area, it's not just in the French Quarter and Uptown. Our friends and neighbors on the West Bank (the other side of the Mississippi River) and in the suburb of Metairie throw a heck of a party too! Happy Mardi Gras, ya'll!!