New Orleans Barber’s Start Non-Profit Campaign for Local Students

NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Millennial Mindset, a New Orleans non-profit working to bridge the gap by bringing awareness to  new and existing philanthropic opportunities, is proud to launch a campaign to provide school supplies, backpacks and free haircuts for more than 180 students at Lafayette Academy Charter School in the Carrollton area of New Orleans.

“Through this campaign we want to encourage unity and create a community that works together for the greater good of our entire city,” said Millennial Mindset Founder Joshua Ferrand. “We strive to remove division among generations and break down barriers that hold our community back by creating avenues for adults, community leaders and business to positively impact today’s young people.”

By adopting 180+ students at Lafayette Academy, Millennial Mindset aims to build a strong foundation for students to identify their personal goals and vision early in life. The non-profit will first focus on meeting the needs of the selected students by providing basic and essential school supplies all year long to guarantee each student has the tools for success. MM teamed up with Total Quality Logistics (TQL) and The Batiste Brothers who will be giving matching donations for all the proceeds raised during the back to school campaign.

In keeping with the legacy of service set by the late Wilbert “Chill” Wilson Sr., the barbers at Mr. Chill’s First Class Cuts will donate free haircuts in an initiative they are calling “Cuts for Confidence.” Students at Lafayette Academy will be able to visit the shop on select days before school starts on August 9 for a haircut to ensure they start the school year mentally and physically prepared by feeling confident about themselves. 

Wilson was a popular New Orleans barber known as a “true New Orleans hero,” and a “voice for the community.” He gained national attention after Hurricane Katrina when he was photographed cutting the hair of National Guardsmen under a tent at Napoleon and South Claiborne avenues. Wilson’s widow, Joyce Wilson, has kept the barber shop open in its Carrollton Ave. location since his passing in December of 2019. 

“I connect people together who wouldn’t normally be together,” Wilson once told an interviewer. More than two years after losing his battle to pancreatic cancer, that spirit lives on through the barbers who fight to continue making and building connections through haircuts in a barbershop that caters to a diverse clientele. Everyone from teens struggling with peer pressure and teachers from Lafayette Academy Charter School across the street to prominent citizens like Dr. Norman Francis, NFL players, clergy, politicians, doctors and lawyers have sat in the shop’s classic red barber chairs.

“We truly believe when a child has a nice fresh haircut, they feel good about themselves. Time after time, I have seen a teen standup from my chair and leave the shop with a newfound confidence after getting a haircut,” said Ferrand, who has managed the shop since 2019.

The community can support the campaign by donating now through August 9 at www.millennialmindset.net or by dropping school supplies off to Mr. Chill’s First Class Cuts located at 2736 S. Carrollton Ave. Tuesday through Friday 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. The barbers will be offering free haircuts to Lafayette Academy Charter School students on the days and times listed below: