About Us

Below Sea Level Aid is a community run, harm reduction group that supports our unhoused neighbors in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here at Below Sea Level Aid, we believe in meeting people where they are at and supporting them how they best see fit. We prioritize helping marginalized communities advocate for themselves and be at the forefront of the conversation. We value the relationships that we cultivate with the communities that we serve and aim to give them back their power and autonomy.

How We Help

  • Direct Services

    We offer a wide range of different harm reductio supplies including but not limited to; emergency contraception, safer drug use supplies, hygiene products, and more. We also offer case management services for emergency shelter linkage, crisis intervention, food insecurity, and other social services.

  • Policy Reform

    Stigmatizing policies create barriers for those trying to receive necessary services. We focus on local and national policies that deal with encampment sweeps, criminalization of homelessness and drug use supplies, and accessing harm reduction services in rural communities.

  • Education

    Overdose Reversal Training and Street Based Outreach 101 are offered to community members and organizations. Each training is facilitated by trained staff members and are offered in-person or via Zoom.

Our Team

  • Jack Waguespack

    Executive Director

    Born and raised in Louisiana, Jack has a strong passion for being from the South. Jack started working in harm reduction as a researcher for the NHBS PWID cycle and moved onto running the largest needle-exchange in the gulf coast. While working full-time as a capital post-conviction paralegal, Jack founded BSLA to better serve the community and help them break down barriers they face everyday.

  • Lauren Hall, Esq.

    Policy Director

    Since moving to New Orleans in 2015 from Southern California, Lauren has graduated from Loyola University with a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and a Juris Doctorate. She has experience working with law firms and social justice nonprofits throughout the city. Her lifelong career aspirations are to protect disadvantaged communities from poverty disparities, cultural eradication, and incarceration.

  • Eden Artigues, MFT

    Board Member

    Eden Artigues is a sex and relationships therapist who works with individuals, relationships, and families across the South. They provide pleasure-positive and anti-oppressive services that help people cultivate sexual and relational health practices that affirm their lived experiences. 

  • Jenn Vigue, LCSW-BACS

    Board Member

    Jenn is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Board Approved Clinical Supervisor with a decade of experience working in the New Orleans community. Beyond their clinical practice, Jenn serves as the co-founder and co-director of the nonprofit, Wellness Project New Orleans. This worker-led initiative is committed to enhancing accessibility to mental health and wellness services within the community while providing support to wellness practitioners.

  • Joan Jungbin Lee

    Board Member

    Joan Jungbin Lee (she/they) is a nonprofit professional who specializes in operations and fundraising/development. She is originally from NYC & has lived in New Orleans for almost 6 years. She currently works as a Central Services & Operations Manager at Acceleraise, a consulting firm that supports Black and Brown nonprofit and education leaders. She believes that creativity and rooted community are the only ways to collective freedom.

  • Jess Wiley

    Board Member

    Jess is originally from Cincinnati but has grown strong roots in New Orleans. With having lived experience of being unhoused and substance abuse, Jess is able to provide meaningful insight to better structure harm reduction programming. She is one of the founding members, of Gnardawgs, a street outreach based harm reduction program that serves the New Orleans area.