[Excerpts]

As Mayor-elect Helena Moreno's transition ramps up, a coalition of community leaders are launching their own transition to hold the mayor-elect and other elected leaders accountable for the promises they made on the campaign trail.

The "People's Transition Team," an initiative of the nonprofit Together New Orleans, will focus on four issue areas identified by city residents the group surveyed — cost of living, public works, jobs and energy.

Over the next two months before elected officials’ Jan. 12 inauguration, the organization will develop a plan for those officials to tackle the issues in their first 100 days in office.

In April, Together New Orleans plans to publish a report card, grading the mayor-elect and council members on their performance. The group said it has raised the funds needed to mail the report card to 50,000 registered voters.

At a press conference outside City Hall on Thursday, Shawn Anglim, a pastor at First Grace United Methodist Church and leader with Together New Orleans, said the old-fashioned approach, "where you go cast a ballot, and then you go sit in the bleacher seats and you either boo or cheer your elected officials," hasn't worked.

"Together New Orleans has a second approach," he said. "You gather 50-plus faith, unions, civic institutions deeply rooted in the city they love, and they get very, very clear about what they want to see change."

The People’s Transition effort is a part of a broader push by Together New Orleans and its member institutions to "do democracy differently" and take on a more assertive role in shaping local government.

Its kick-off caps work that began in March 2024, when the organization’s delegates agreed to start a listening campaign to figure out the most pressing issues facing the city's residents. More than 1,500 people participated in small group meetings, and the organization eventually settled on the four focus areas....

"We asked one very important question: what is one thing our city needs to change?" said Katie Jacob, a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church.

The work also comes after the group’s delegates in July ratified a "People's Platform." At an assembly in September, Moreno and six of the seven incoming council members vowed to support the platform. (Councilmember Lesli Harris, who ran unopposed, didn't attend the assembly.)

As Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno's Transition Ramps Up, this Nonprofit Forms its own Effort, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate [pdf]