GLOBAL GREEN USA NAMES THE HOME DEPOT FOUNDATION ITS LEAD FUNDING PARTNER TO DEVELOP AFFORDABLE, HEALTHY
HOMES IN NEW ORLEANS

Lower 9th Ward Housing Development the Result of Brad Pitt’s
 Sustainable Building Competition

New Orleans, May 10, 2007 – Global Green USA today named The Home Depot® Foundation its lead funding partner for a green affordable housing community in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The Home Depot Foundation is the largest supporter of this project aimed at fostering support for “greening” the entire rebuilding effort in New Orleans.

The Holy Cross neighborhood will be rebuilt based on a winning design selected from among 125 concepts created by the top designers and architects for urban sustainable building from around the world. Brad Pitt combined his passion for intelligent architecture with Global Green’s commitment to green affordable housing and sustainable cities to co-create and chair the Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans, announced last April. Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen of Workshop/APD in New York created the winning design, which will be unveiled today and can also be viewed at www.globalgreen.org.

“The Home Depot Foundation has been an important partner in our work to ‘green’ affordable homes for several years – it is the leading and largest grant maker committed to the development of affordable, healthy homes for working families,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA. “We are pleased it is now helping to make it possible to rebuild a healthier, ‘greener’ New Orleans.”

"I'm so happy that this dream is going to become reality,” said Brad Pitt.  “Today we are one small step closer to a future of smart design and a rebuilt New  Orleans.  We hope this project points the way to that future, and we want to thank the Home Depot Foundation for helping us take this important step."  

“Efficient, healthy and affordable home building can be a part of the future of New Orleans,” said Kelly Caffarelli, executive director of The Home Depot Foundation. “The Home Depot Foundation is committed to the families of the Lower 9th Ward and this community for the long term. The Holy Cross project will provide a model for the rest of the country of how we can help reshape and, ultimately, strengthen entire neighborhoods through smart community design.” 

“We are excited about Global Green’s initiative and partnership with the Home Depot Foundation,” said New Orleans City Councilmember Cynthia Willard Lewis, who represents the Lower Ninth Ward.  “I hope this will attract more sustainable projects not only to the Lower Ninth Ward, but to the entire city.”

The mixed-use residential development will feature an 18 unit multi-family building, five single-family homes and a community center with essential services for working families, such as day care and retail space. The first housing unit will be completed this August and the entire project is expected to be completed by August, 2008.  The project will be developed by Douglass and Andry Sustainable Development, LLC.

“We are so grateful to Global Green USA and the Home Depot Foundation for their commitment to sustainable rebuilding in our wonderful neighborhood of the Lower 9th Ward – the risk they were willing to take in moving forward to build the design we selected from the competition has helped make many things possible,” said Holy Cross Neighborhood Association President Pam Dashiell.  “Now, the project is one step closer to reality thanks to the Home Depot foundation’s generosity and belief in bringing back New Orleans greener and healthier than ever.”

Today’s announcement and groundbreaking will also mark the kickoff of Global Green’s initiative to rebuild “green” schools in New Orleans, a project funded in part by a grant from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. More than 1300 students will also form a spectacular aerial art mural depicting a student’s vision of a “green” New Orleans on the Mississippi River levee, in a formation selected from a student art showcase held throughout the New Orleans Public School System. The students will be joined by dozens of community leaders to plant trees around the Holy Cross neighborhood site.  The design for the aerial display was inspired by an outstanding concept expressed through multiple students’ artwork.

About Global Green USA
Global Green USA, the American affiliate of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, was founded by Diane Meyer Simon in 1993. Its newly opened field office and green building resource center will serve as a focal point of green building expertise for New Orleans residents and is the face of its “Healthy Homes, Smart Neighborhoods” initiative whose Honorary National Task Force includes: Julian Bond, Gen. Wesley Clark, Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, Lee Hamilton, Pat Mitchell and David Orr. Global Green USA has been a national leader in green building for affordable housing, schools and communities for more than a decade and has influenced more than $20 billion dollars in green construction.

About The Home Depot Foundation
The Home Depot Foundation was created in 2002 to further the community-building goals of The Home Depot throughout the United States and Canada. The Home Depot Foundation is working to improve the health of communities by supporting the development of affordable, healthy homes for working families and by planting and preserving trees in parks, in schoolyards and along city streets. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted nearly $30 million to nonprofit and government organizations, supported the development of more than 40,000 healthy, affordable homes, and planted and preserved more than 1 million community trees.

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For more information, contact:
Sam Boykin
Fenton Communications for Global Green USA
(212) 584-5000
sboykin@fenton.com

Jeanne Nathan
Creative Industry USA for Global Green USA
(504) 218-4807
Nathan@creativeindustryusa.com

Mandy Hunsicker
Manning, Selvege & Lee for The Home Depot Foundation
(404) 870-6815

mandy.hunsicker@mslpr.com