Mary Queen of Vietnam: Community Developmet Corporation, Inc

Youth Programs

Youth Financial Literacy Program

The Youth Financial Literacy Program was developed to aid the youth community in New Orleans East develop skills to save money, build credit, and start investing. This program allows youth to become more responsible spenders and active financial savers to maximize their dollar. The program consists of bi-weekly workshops and interactive activities to cover the aforementioned financial tools. Workshops are open to youth ages 14 to 26 in the New Orleans East community, specifically the neighborhood of Village de l’Est, who are interested in learning about financial literacy and are either currently working part-time jobs or are full-time students.

With funding support from NeighborWorks, our youth will have the opportunity to develop leadership skills for their future because as they grow, they will apply knowledge from what they have learned offered by the program and implement it to their everyday financial decisions. Our pilot program will involve 20 youth. With future funding, we hope to expand this program to a larger base.

For more information on the Youth Financial Literacy Program, please contact Tuan Nguyen or Tap Bui at (504) 255-9170.

MQVN Field

Pre-Katrina, the MQVN field was available for youth to play a variety of sports including basketball, football, soccer, and volleyball. Tournaments and events were held in an effort to keep youth safe, engaged, and off the streets. However, the field was converted for desperately needed housing for 199 FEMA trailers immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Without a field for youth to play in, they will look for other avenues to keep busy. Youth tend to get in trouble when they remain idle, but sports and extracurricular activities prove to keep youth off the streets. The goal of MQVN Field is to provide space for community youth to play sports to encourage physical activity, teamwork, and build leadership skills while keeping them off the streets.

MQVN CDC will reconstruct the field by adding an additional six inch layer of River Sand to the field. Seeds will then be sowed to grow Bermuda grass. River Sand and Bermuda grass are ideal and widely used on playing fields. A total of 6,600 square yards of sand and grass seed will be used to reconstruct the field.

MQVN Field will impact the community by directly improving overall health by decreasing the overall rates of childhood obesity. It will also provide a safe space for youth by giving them a sense of ownership in the community through management and maintenance of the field. The field will also teach youth responsibility, leadership, organizing, and other life building skills. Youth from different communities within the metropolitan New Orleans will also be joined through tournaments and events held at MQVN Field.

For more information about the MQVN Field Project, please contact: Jennifer, Julie, Henry, Van, or Minh at 504-255-9170. Please visit our page on Facebook, "MQVN Field".