Noreen Jacobs Presented with the 2017 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award
On Friday, April 20, 2018, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher A. Wray presented Noreen W. Jacobs, executive director of the Hope Community Resource Center, with the 2017 Director’s Community Leadership Award on behalf of the FBI New Orleans Field Office.
Ms. Jacobs has worked as an educator in the New Orleans Public School System for many years and recognized the need for programs aimed at supporting local youth, especially after Hurricane Katrina. She founded the Hope Community Resource Center (HCRC) in 2010 to provide educational opportunities to the underserved population of disadvantaged families in the Greater New Orleans area. The HCRC program provides weekly and summertime tutoring and mentoring, parental involvement workshops, and other resources for parents and children. Ms. Jacobs truly believes that families will succeed if parents and children receive the resources they need and work together to achieve their goals.
Ms. Jacobs and her staff of 10 volunteers tutor and mentor first- through eighth-grade students in English, reading, math, and other subjects in order to help students achieve steady improvements on report cards and in test scores. When HCRC began in 2010, there were 10 students enrolled in the program. In 2017, the program tutored approximately 250-300 students per year and students had shown improvement of at least one grade level in the program. Students who continued in the program over numerous years have even seen improvement up to two grade levels.
Director Christopher Wray with Noreen Jacobs. Select image for related material, including story and photos.
Through the years, Ms. Jacobs has built partnerships in the community with public libraries, which host the tutoring sessions; Southern University at New Orleans, which recruits college student volunteers; and community and corporate partners, who provide much needed supplies and funding for the program. In 2017, Ms. Jacobs was able to secure a partnership with Entergy, which provided the funding to sponsor 20 students in the program for an entire year. Ms. Jacobs also provides a monthly parent involvement class to ensure the students' academic success. She believes a parent’s sustained participation in their child’s schooling and education programs increases the student’s achievement.
On Friday, April 20, 2018, Noreen Jacobs, along with her family and friends, traveled to FBI Headquarters, where FBI Director Christopher Wray formally presented all 56 field office recipients with their 2017 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Awards for their tremendous efforts and work within their communities.
