Since 2020, the fund has helped make payments on the Entergy New Orleans bills of grocery store employees who have experienced financial impacts from the pandemic. In partnership with the United Way of Southeast Louisiana and Anthony Mackie, a New Orleans native, we have been able to provide a one-time $400 direct credit toward 75 grocery store employees’ utility bills.

“The relief fund has given a helping hand to customers who help us feed our families every day,” said Jean Walker, senior associate, corporate social responsibility. “We recognize the negative impacts that the pandemic had on families and their ability to make ends meet. The relief fund and our additional bill help services have allowed us to partner with the community and our customers to help keep their lights on, so they may have one less bill to worry about.”

Fund recipients can apply their credit toward current and past-due bills. Eligible applicants for the United for Grocery Workers Relief Fund must meet these requirements:

• Work in a business that sells groceries
• Live in Orleans Parish
• Provide current pay stub to show proof of employment��
• Provide current Entergy New Orleans power bill to show proof of residence (address on pay stub must match power bill)

The online application is available at and includes directions on how to use smart phones to submit required documents.

During her latest meeting with U.S. Representative Troy Carter of Louisiana’s second congressional district, the��conversation centered on initiatives that are critical in providing relief for low-income customers in Louisiana, many of whom are struggling with financial impacts related to the ongoing pandemic and severe weather events. The second congressional district comprises nearly all of the city of New Orleans and stretches west and north to Baton Rouge.

“As a former member of the New Orleans City Council Utilities Committee, Representative Carter was very familiar with many of the issues and challenges our low-income customers face, such as rental assistance,” Riddlebarger said. “He expressed concern about the challenges that various parishes and agencies were experiencing in getting rental assistance funds to customers in need.”��

Riddlebarger and Carter also discussed the vital role that the federal Low Income Home ���ϳԹ��� Assistance Program plays in providing utility bill-payment assistance for customers experiencing financial hardships. As a long-time advocate of LIHEAP, Entergy has been working with peer utilities to increase LIHEAP cooling assistance funds for warm-weather states, where extreme heat poses health hazards for many vulnerable residents.��

“Representative Carter pledged his assistance for LIHEAP and was interested in learning more about Entergy’s efforts to expand relief for residents in Louisiana and throughout our four-state service area,” she said. “We plan to meet again in coming months to review the status of low-income initiatives and work together to secure more resources for individuals and families in need.”��

For more than 100 years, Entergy has powered life in our communities through strategic philanthropy, volunteerism and advocacy. The company secured nearly $300 million in LIHEAP funding for low-income customers and helped them pay more than 1 million utility bills over the past five years. Entergy’s corporate social responsibility initiatives help create and sustain thriving communities, position the company for sustainable growth and are aligned with the��United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

If there were a NASCAR event based on running the cleanest vehicles rather than the fastest, Entergy would be on the leader board, helping the Greater New Orleans community capture a green checkered flag.

Last year, ���ϳԹ��� operated one of the cleanest fleets of vehicles in the New Orleans metro area, helping the business community accomplish sustainability goals and set new records for fuel and emissions reductions. The company ranked in the top ten among 30 businesses that received a from the Regional Planning Commission’s Clean Fuel Partnership and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.

“As an environmental leader, Entergy has been on the forefront of investing in clean transportation technologies for many years,” said Byron Montgomery, Entergy’s vehicle fleet superintendent for South Louisiana and Texas. “We’re pleased to see that our strategy is making a positive impact on the environment and setting the stage for even greater fuel and emissions reductions in the future.”

Entergy has earned recognition as a clean transportation fleet leader in the New Orleans metro area for eight years. Locally, the company currently operates 34 electric vehicles, 196 vehicles that use biofuels and 11 forklifts fueled by propane. By employing cleaner technologies in daily operations, Entergy reduced nearly 69,000 gasoline gallon equivalents and averted 523 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.

Throughout its four-state service region, Entergy operates 138 electric vehicles, 808 biofuel vehicles and 76 propane forklifts. In 2018, these technologies resulted in total reduced of 1,243,725 gasoline gallon equivalents and avoided of 16,167 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Awardees’ combined efforts last year set two regional records by reducing approximately 4.7 million GGEs and averting 31,917 tons of GHGs —��the air quality equivalent of taking nearly 7,000 typical passenger vehicles off the road, as measured by the .

The Clean Fleet Award program recognizes businesses in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St.��Charles, St. John the Baptist, St.��Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes that champion domestic clean fuels, fuel-saving technologies and energy-efficient vehicle programs and policies.��

The new awards recognize the progress North American communities have made in executing Smart Cities projects and also create a forum for sharing best practices to help accelerate Smart City development in the region. “River Lights in the Rock” was specifically recognized for providing an easily recognizable aesthetic benefit to Little Rock and contributing to civic engagement, tourism and economic development.

“The lighting of our bridges is one of my favorite projects I have worked on as mayor, and it is a testament to the foresight of the coalition that made it possible that over four years in, the project is still recognized as a Smart City leader,” said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, who conceived the project along with Phillips Lighting and the Mayor’s Tourism Commission. “This recognition gives the City of Little Rock added encouragement to continue seeking Smart City solutions like our CitizenConnect, open data portal, and more.”

Little Rock and other winners were honored in May during a Smart Cities New York event at Manhattan’s Pier 36.��Additional project supporters included the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock, the Clinton Foundation, Koontz Electric and Philips Color Kinetics.��

“River Lights in the Rock” provides lighting on three bridges over the Arkansas River with more than 2,000 LED lighting fixtures that can be controlled remotely and coordinated with one another using cloud-based, remote-management software. Specifically recognized by IDC was the civic engagement component which allows civic organizations, individuals and groups hosting conventions in Little Rock to submit lighting requests in recognition of special events from among the 18.6 million color combinations.

“Little Rock’s night skyline is immediately recognizable, thanks to ‘River Lights in the Rock,’ and we continue to see families flocking to the light shows and lit pathways,” said Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Gretchen Hall. “We also enjoy the civic engagement aspect with numerous special events each year made more memorable through the customization of the lights.”

“I met LisaBeth when she was out taking photos of utility crews in Carversville, Pennsylvania, where we were working after Hurricane Sandy,” said Christian Gioia, senior lineman in New Orleans’ Metro Region. “She told me about a song she’d written about linemen and sent me a link.” 

Weber said she was inspired to write “” when she saw utility crews from different parts of the country restore service in her area after Hurricane Irene in 2011. The following year when Sandy knocked out power to her home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, she made an effort to thank utility teams restoring service — and to share her song. 

“I stopped to say hi to a crew from Louisiana, and little did I know it would turn into a friendship,” said Weber, a freelance writer and musician whose song includes this chorus:

I know it’s no walk in the park
When some feel like they’re left in the dark
But I say thanks for all that you have done
You bring light back to everyone 

When he got home, Gioia posted the link to “Trouble Man” on his Facebook page, and it ended up getting thousands of likes and shares, especially by utility workers and their families. A few years later, Weber’s song was noticed by a producer of “Life on the Line,” a film about linemen released in 2016 starring John Travolta. Weber’s song was chosen for the closing credits. 

Weber said the support she received from Gioia and others in the industry has been pivotal in the growing popularity of her song and video, which features photos sent to her by crews restoring power in the Northeast.  

“I wrote the song from my heart,” she said. “After more people began discovering ‘Trouble Man,’ I started getting notes from linemen’s families, and that really hit me. My mission in life is to make a difference in the world, and knowing that my song is special to linemen and their families means a lot to me.”

Whenever crews arrive to restore power, “there’s a feeling that heroes are coming to save the day, and people want to thank them,” Weber said. “Most of us can manage for a few days when we lose power, but winter outages like we just experienced are harder, especially for elderly folks when they lose heat.” 

In 2014, Weber wrote another song, “,” that includes these lyrics: 

When a lineman falls, it’s like we all fall down
You are your brother’s keeper
I’ll keep the lights down low,
And when you get the call to go
I pray it’s a day like any other 

This year, Weber and Gioia reconnected when he and his fellow employees returned to Pennsylvania in March to help restore power after a series of nor’easters. 

“We had checked into a campground in Bucks County and were awaiting our next assignment,” Gioia said. “LisaBeth’s power was out again, and it turned out that she was only ten minutes away. We got to talk and catch up, and I introduced her to my coworkers.” 

The reunion also presented an opportunity for a group photo of Weber with her friends from Entergy. 

“I have so much respect for people who do this job, especially when dealing with hazardous conditions,” Weber said. “I feel like I have new friends for life, and I feel privileged to be welcomed into the lineman family.” 

Photo: LisaBeth Weber (center) is shown with New Orleans’ Metro Region employees (kneeling from left) Shelton Hudson, Christian Gioia, Jordan Labat and Dru Richard; and (standing from left) John Dubuisson, Craig Canepa, Chad Gould, Matt Chaisson, Joey Tatman, Clyde Scales, Chris Bowers, Damian Fahr and Aaron Morehead. 

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Entergy New Orleans’ customer service��representative Drew Thompson appreciates the support he received to make a successful transition from high school to college. Thanks to Posse New Orleans, he’s returning the favor for a new generation of students.

Thompson was one of several local business leaders who recently presented a career workshop for Posse New Orleans students. The national Posse program provides college preparation, access and support for high-school scholars and enables many low-income minority students to attend Tier 1 universities.����

The program’s name refers to the practice of sending scholars to campus in multicultural teams — or posses — of 10 students who provide critical support for one another.

“In high school, I participated in a similar program called INROADS that helped students make the transition to college,” Thompson said. “When I needed help in a subject, they would provide tutors and other support services. It was the same concept of a community of students helping each other.”��

After graduating from Sarah T. Reed High School in New Orleans, Thompson received an electrical engineering degree from Southern University A&M College and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.��

During the Posse workshop, Thompson and other business leaders reviewed job interviewing basics, participated in mock interviews and gave feedback to help future job seekers polish their interviewing skills. After the program, he received personal thank-you cards from students.��

After helping present a job-interview workshop, Drew Thompson received personal thank-you notes from Posse New Orleans students.

Thompson made a point to reach out to Posse New Orleans when he became president of Entergy New Orleans’ Diversity & Inclusion Council. After learning about the program, he wanted to get involved.

“Drew regularly looks for opportunities to work with and mentor others in the community,” said Tad Patella, senior customer service manager for Entergy New Orleans.��“He selflessly devoted his personal time to meet with students, share his experiences and answer questions. I’m sure his involvement in the workshop made a positive impact.”��

Thompson said the next Posse workshop will focus on writing effective résumés, and he plans to encourage his co-workers to help students succeed by becoming Posse volunteers.��

“Entergy’s support has been critical to Posse New Orleans’ success, and I want to help continue the partnership,” Thompson said.�� “It’s a very positive program, and I appreciate the work they’re doing. They’re going to make a difference in kids’ lives.”��

Events will be held at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites on Feb. 24 in Lafayette and Vacherie, and on March 3 in Lake Charles. As always, Entergy employees will be among the trained volunteers providing free, personalized assistance on tax returns and ensuring that local customers claim the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Super Tax Day kicked off Feb. 3 at VITA sites in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. At the East Baton Rouge Parish Library VITA site on Goodwood Boulevard, 275 qualifying residents received free assistance, including Joe Williams, who said an Entergy volunteer helped him save a considerable sum on his tax return.

“I checked with one tax preparer who wanted to charge $200 to do my taxes,” said Williams, a retired truck driver. “That was over half of what I was expecting to get back. The Entergy employee who helped me reviewed my return after he finished and went out of his way to explain everything. It was a wonderful experience.”

Baton Rouge resident Shaune Wells said she found out about Super Tax Day on the radio and had a positive experience at the Jones Creek Regional Branch Library VITA site in 2017. She made sure to sign up for the 2018 event and even received help from Entergy volunteers she met last year.

“The hours are very convenient, and Entergy employees who help me are always very thorough,” said Wells, who works at a child-care center in Baton Rouge. “If a question comes up, they always refer to their manuals and don’t give up until they find the answer. I’ll be waiting to hear about Super Tax Day next year – I wouldn’t miss it.”

Senior Customer Service Specialist Dana Jones began volunteering for Super Tax Day when she worked for Entergy in Mississippi; this was her second year to volunteer for Super Tax Day in Baton Rouge. She said the gratitude expressed by customers motivates her to participate.

“I call it an honor because it allows me to help hardworking families keep additional dollars for their households,” Jones said. Residents she helped included a disabled couple who for years had been paying for tax preparation services.

“Last year they spent almost $300 to have their taxes done, and their return was not even $1,000,” she said. “My heart broke. I shared with them that I expect to see them every year on Super Tax Day.”

Raj Shenoy, a design engineer at River Bend Station in St. Francisville, said volunteering for Super Tax Day is his way of giving back to the community.

“The VITA program has been out there for years helping a lot of low-income residents,” he said. “In fact, a VITA site helped prepare taxes for me during my college days. Volunteering gives me a chance to meet new people, hear their stories, get their blessings and help them get maximum benefits from their taxes.”

“Everybody I work with would have done the same thing,” said Walsh, construction and maintenance mechanic at the company’s New Orleans East Service Center off Dwyer Road. “They’ve probably all helped someone like I did but just didn’t get recognized.”��

The stalled driver had turned on her hazard lights and was trying to change the tire herself when Walsh passed by in his service truck. She was alone and appeared to be struggling with the tools.��

“When I pulled over, I turned on my truck’s flashers as a safety precaution and to get other drivers to slow down,” Walsh said. “It only took me a few minutes to change the tire. I told her to get it checked right away because she didn’t want to be driving on the donut tire for too long. She shook my hand and thanked me and asked for my name.”

Not only did Dahlia Troublefield record Walsh’s first name, but she also noted the identification number on his truck and sent a message to Entergy New Orleans via social media about her experience.��

“He changed the tire so quickly!” she wrote. “I just wanted Entergy to know what a truly upstanding employee you have, who’s representing the company well, even when duty doesn’t require. I am so impressed I just had to tell you.”

Tad Patella, senior customer service manager in New Orleans, said he wasn’t surprised when he learned the identity of the employee who stopped to help Troublefield.��

“What Sean did was a true reflection of the Entergy culture and a testament to the great men and women who are part of the Entergy family,” Patella said. “I’m proud of Sean for going above and beyond by taking the initiative to help others in addition to providing outstanding service for Entergy’s customers.”��

Walsh��is celebrating his five-year service anniversary��this month and is a second-generation Entergy employee. His father works for the company, as do two of his uncles. Walsh said that helping others is a value that was ingrained in his upbringing and is now reinforced in his professional career.��

“I know that if it was my wife, or my mom or dad, I would want someone to stop and help,” he said. “It was a perfect example of what I’ve always been taught — to have integrity and to do the right thing when no one is looking. It’s how I was raised and how I’ve been trained. My son just turned 2, and I also want to pass those values down to him.”

“We’ve been pleasantly surprised by the level of interest in our new plant,” said Ross Thevenot, an analyst in Entergy New Orleans’ resource planning and market operations group who frequently leads the tours. “The fact that it pairs solar energy with battery storage makes it a forward-looking project — there aren’t many plants like ours in the country. The tours are a great way to explain how solar power works and show that Entergy is on the forefront of advancing renewable energy.”

Entergy New Orleans’ 1-megawatt pilot project is located on a company-owned 14-acre site off Chef Menteur Highway and consists of more than 4,200 solar panels and associated equipment. It’s the only utility-scale solar installation in the Entergy system to integrate state-of-the-art battery-storage technology, as well as one of only a few in the country. The plant generates enough electricity to power approximately 160 homes and feeds electricity directly to the distribution grid.

The project will allow Entergy to study the feasibility of utility-scale solar in New Orleans and the extent to which battery storage can help compensate for the intermittency of sunlight. During tours, visitors can get a close-up look at the solar panels and a large energy-storage system that allows the plant to store and deliver solar energy to the electricity grid when customers need it — not only when the sun is shining.

It’s the up-close aspect of solar plant tours that sets them apart from conventional power plant tours, Thevenot noted. Visitors aren’t required to wear hard hats and other protective gear, and they don’t have to keep a large distance from power-generating equipment.

“Unlike most of our other plants, almost all areas of the solar project are accessible,” Thevenot said. “People can walk closer to the panels and the battery system than they normally would be allowed. Even though you’re standing near something that’s generating electricity, it’s not making noise or producing any emissions.

“And because it’s a new technology, people ask a lot of questions,” he added. “That makes the tours more of a conversational experience.”

High-school students enrolled in Xavier University’s LEAP/Unite Summer Scholars Program asked plenty of questions during their plant tour in June, said Lizzie Jackson, Xavier’s program manager for the Louisiana Engineering Advancement Program. The initiative is designed to build student interest in engineering careers.

“The students weren’t aware of the solar plant before the tour, and they were very inquisitive,” Jackson said. “They asked questions such as: What are solar panels made of? How do solar panels generate electricity? What’s the purpose of solar power? The tour increased their knowledge and understanding about solar technology, and now they’re better informed.”

Visitors also can get a close-up view of the battery system, which is housed in a secure shipping container with racks lining each side and a walkway down the middle. “People love going inside the battery house,” Thevenot said. “It resembles a server room. It’s air conditioned and safe to be inside.”

Recent tour groups have included environmental engineering students from Louisiana State University and members of the National Association of State ���ϳԹ��� Officials, the Society of Utility and Regulatory Financial Analysts, the American Public Works Association and EEI’s Business Diversity Conference.

Shortly after the plant became operational, Entergy added solar plant tours to its new-employee orientation program, which brings around 100 new employees to the site each month. The tours are now a program favorite, said Michael Wright, Entergy’s manager of human resources training.��

“I think it’s so popular because it offers a glimpse into just one area of our future as a company,” Wright said. “It also reaffirms Entergy’s commitment to the community and the environment by exploring innovative ways to supply renewable, sustainable energy to our customers.��New employees leave the tour and the orientation excited about the future.”

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The recent announcement that DXC Technology will locate a major operations center in downtown New Orleans is being called one of Louisiana’s greatest economic development triumphs. 

DXC Technology plans to hire a workforce of 2,000 over the next five years — a move that will create more permanent direct jobs at one site than any prior economic development deal in the state, .

Entergy New Orleans’ economic development team became directly involved in the recruiting effort more than a year ago when DXC Technology announced interest in locating its Digital Transformation Center in the Crescent City, said Steve Molnar, Entergy New Orleans’ business and economic development project manager.

He added that President and CEO Charles Rice was among several local business leaders who met with DXC Technology to promote the advantages of operating in New Orleans. Entergy also helped fund the production of a that envisioned DXC Technology moving to a building downtown — a vision that soon will become reality. The company plans to locate its Digital Transformation Center in the Central Business District at a soon-to-be-announced site.

“Louisiana was competing with 30 other states for DXC Technology,” Molnar said.  “Our economic development teams were able to demonstrate that the New Orleans market is getting stronger for IT-related jobs, and that colleges and universities in Louisiana are willing to customize curricula to help create a pipeline for their workforce needs.”

The DXC Technology project represents Louisiana’s largest single higher-education investment in a private-sector workforce partnership, reported LED. The State of Louisiana will fund a $25 million higher-education initiative to expand the number of degrees awarded annually in computer science, management and STEM fields.

Four campuses will lead the initiative: Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, the University of New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond and Delgado Community College in New Orleans. 

Formed in April, DXC Technology resulted from the merger of HP Enterprises, previously part of Hewlett Packard, and CSC, formerly known as Computer Sciences Corp. DXC Technology is headquartered in Tysons, Va., and employs a global workforce of 170,000.

Post-Hurricane Katrina investments in hotel, housing and office developments coupled with strong support from the economic development community have positioned New Orleans as a growing hub for the tech industry, Molnar said.

“There were some concerns in the real estate world about overbuilding,” he said. “But now we’re seeing supply meet demand with $2.5 billion in hospital industry development and growing IT investment. We’ll have 2,000 more people coming here to work for DXC Technology, which will be a boon for the local economy and expand Entergy New Orleans’ customer base.”

According to financial website SmartAsset, New Orleans ranks No. 1 for growth in technology jobs in the nation. Other major IT-related developments that have gone online in the Crescent City in recent years include the GE Capital Technology Center in the Central Business District, the University of New Orleans Research and Technology Park adjacent to the UNO campus and the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Atlantic on Lakeshore Drive.