VAYLA-NO formed in 2006 when the Versailles community of New Orleans East mobilized to protest the opening of a toxic landfill less than a mile from their neighborhood. Over the years, VAYLA has expanded into a multi-issue organization, adding education equity, health access, and civic engagement to its portfolio of youth organizing work. VAYLA-NO works to challenge institutional forms of oppression by developing low-income youth of color as agents of social change, and by supporting multi-racial, youth-led issue campaigns to improve the environmental and educational conditions plaguing their communities. Alongside this strong organizing focus, VAYLA is committed to offering cultural, recreational and educational services. Particularly in a city where oppressed youth faced both natural and man-made disasters, VAYLA has developed into a multi-pronged program that addresses the immediate social, emotional and academic needs of low-income youth of color while simultaneously empowering them to mount institutional challenges and work towards systemic social change.