NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter announced Ann Duplessis has been added to its Board of Directors.
“Ann has a keen understanding of our Shelter’s mission and vision to transition each woman and child that we serve from homelessness to independent living,” said Dan Silverman, president and co-founder of the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter. “She is a great addition to our Board and I am confident that the Shelter will benefit from her leadership and expertise.”
With more than 32 years in the financial services industry, Duplessis is the Senior Vice President of Retail Banking, Marketing & Sales, and Strategic Planning for Liberty Bank and Trust Company. In 2002, Duplessis was elected to the Louisiana legislature as Senator for District, serving New Orleans East, Holy Cross, and the Lower Ninth Ward communities. Duplessis retired in June 2010 to accept the Deputy CAO position in her hometown of New Orleans. During her time in office, while serving on the Senate Education Committee, Senator Duplessis fought successfully to expand educational options for Louisiana's children by authoring and supporting numerous pieces of school choice legislation.
Duplessis currently serves as the Chairwoman of the LSU Board of Supervisors and she also serves as President of the Louisiana Federation For Children, a project of the American Federation For Children. Among the many previous Boards and Commissions, she served on the National Council of Negro Women (Chairwoman); the Louisiana Serve Commission (Chairwoman); the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families; the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO); and the Governor’s Study Task Force of Higher Education Consolidation of Boards.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to join an outstanding board and to build on the momentum they have already created for the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter," said Duplessis. “I look forward to helping serve the most vulnerable homeless population in New Orleans as I embark on this new chapter.”
The New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter is the largest shelter of its kind in New Orleans. Its mission is to transition homeless families to sustainable and independent living. Since its relocation in early 2014 to the old Liberty House in Central City, New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter has more than doubled in size and now serves twice the number of women and four times the number of children.
Having aided more than 900 women and children since 2007, the Shelter continues to stay filled to capacity. This year, the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter will serve 65 women and 130 children for an average stay of four months. Two-thirds of the individuals at the Shelter are children, and one-third of all operating costs go to caring for their needs.
