< Back to Oral History project: Mutual Aid Through Food: Community Care Networks in New Orleans

ORAL HISTORY

Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo

El Pueblo NOLA-NOLA Village

Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo (she/her) was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1977. Her family moved to New Orleans because of her father’s work as an offshoreman when she was young. Rosales-Fajardo—or Ms. Cristi, as she is affectionately called—leads El Pueblo NOLA-NOLA Village, a grassroots community organization in the Village de l’Est neighborhood of New Orleans East. The group serves the area’s Black and Brown residents, and is especially focused on the Latinx community.

Early in the pandemic, many people in the community lost their jobs in the hospitality and construction industries. Rosales-Fajardo began running a food distribution site from her home and focused on securing ingredients specific to her community’s cultures. The effort grew during Hurricane Ida, when she organized a shelter for dozens of her neighbors at a local school, and started a food drive at her home.