Support Mental Health Advocacy for Black New Orleans
NOLA Black Mental Health Matters is committed to creating better access to quality mental health care for Black New Orleanians. Through the NOLA Black Mental Health Matters Therapy Fund, we will be able to provide free mental health services to members of the Black community who are uninsured or underinsured and cannot afford to pay the out-of-pocket cost of therapy. Your donation will help us launch our pilot program!
About NOLA Black Mental Health Matters
NOLA Black Mental Health Matters is a collective of mental health stakeholders committed to mental health advocacy, education, and access for the cultures of Black New Orleans. Through our shared responsibility to NOLA’s Black communities, NOLABMHM demonstrates commitment to reducing mental health stigma and eliminating barriers to treatment by providing programming that advocates for healing and wellness within the cultures of Black New Orleans.
Why support NOLA Black Mental Health Matters? The research is clear.
Recent research (Raj, 2025) reveals that one in nine adults in Louisiana are experiencing severe depression and anxiety. For Black New Orleanians, behavioral health concerns are closely linked to issues like systemic barriers (e.g., structural racism, economic inequality) and community violence. The 2024 Health Disparity Report, produced by the New Orleans Health Department, revealed that reports of mental health distress in predominantly Black neighborhoods like Gert Town and B.W. Cooper was almost triple the rate of what was reported in predominantly white neighborhoods like Lakeview. As of 2021, over 23,000 people in Orleans Parish were uninsured. While 27% of Black households live below the poverty line, another 44% are working but financially strained—often earning too much to qualify for Medicaid, but too little to afford private insurance or out-of-pocket costs. The local mental health crisis is compounded by Louisiana being one of many mental health shortage areas in the United States, which makes finding care exceptionally difficult especially for those who are under-resourced. Your support will help launch the first cohort of the program through direct service funding.