Bryan Bell Metropolitan Leadership Forum
Our annual Forum brings together emerging leaders from across New Orleans to learn about the issues facing our city, and work toward solutions.
About the Forum
From Housing to Disaster Recovery, Economic Development to Cultural Preservation, the Forum takes a deep dive into the issues New Orleans faces and equips the next generation of leaders to impact change. Together, we learn, discuss, and grapple with the question — How do we build a Better New Orleans?
Each year, 50 emerging leaders are selected to participate in the Forum. Through weekly sessions, Forum participants learn from subject-matter experts, engage in an open discussion about New Orleans issues, and work toward solutions. We close with a retreat that gives hands-on, practical training on how to understand, navigate, and influence the decisions that impact your community. Since 1968, we’ve trained over 2,600 leaders.
Introducing The Front Porch Lab:
This year’s Forum is a bit different: cohort members will continue working together after forum sessions to implement a community project that tackles a city issue they care about.
Each working group will receive a budget of $10,000 to bring these transformative ideas to life and contribute to a thriving New Orleans.
More information can be found in our blog post.
2026 Forum Session Schedule
Regular sessions are held on Wednesday evenings from 6:00pm - 8:30pm September 9th through November 18th, 2026. Dinner is provided. There are two Saturday sessions at the beginning and end of the program, from 9:00am - 5:00pm. Saturday sessions include lunch.
This year’s Forum and Front Porch Lab is a 17 month commitment. The first three months are dedicated to Forum sessions, and the rest are dedicated to working group times to create and implement community projects.
SEPTEMBER 9: What is Equity?
SEPTEMBER 13 (SATURDAY): City Tour
SEPTEMBER 16: Who & How: Government & Public Systems
SEPTEMBER 23: Climate & Environment
SEPTEMBER 30: Housing
OCTOBER 7: Health & Food
OCTOBER 14: Streets & Transportation
OCTOBER 21: Economy
OCTOBER 28: Youth & Education
NOVEMBER 4: Immigration
NOVEMBER 11: Crime & Legal System
NOVEMBER 18: Who is New Orleans for? Balancing locals, newcomers, immigrants, and tourists
NOVEMBER 22 (SATURDAY): Closing Retreat - Turning Knowledge into Action
DECEMBER 4 (THURSDAY): Graduation/Reunion Celebration
*Weekly location and exact titles subject to change*
Join our next cohort of New Orleans Leaders. Apply by August 12th!
“You can't advocate for changes if you don't know who to go to or how to do it. I really appreciated the organizing portion and the power mapping with information about New Orleans's governmental structure and decision-makers. "
— Shirani Jayasuriya, Leadership Forum graduate (2022)
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