Jim Pate
Executive Director
Habitat For Humanity
New Orleans, LA USA
“It doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican-none of that stuff matters. We can all agree on one thing and that's that everybody ought to have a decent place to live.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationJim Pate
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Calls New Orleans the most interesting city in America-no matter what your background is, everyone has a place in New Orleans.
Growing up, he expected he'd go into a more "traditional" profession like his parents, have a nuclear family.
Studied and practiced law-started to resent the "us vs. them" mentality; lawyers were pursuing money rather than justice.
Says the greatest part about Habitat for Humanity is that there's no one there who resents it; everyone there wants to be there.
He left law, found Habitat through his church, where he'd been running a soup kitchen.
Started as a "house leader" volunteer in 1984; says he caught "infectious Habit-itis."
Seeing the families they were impacting, the areas they were rebuilding had him hooked.
Now he's committed himself to rebuilding his favorite city, New Orleans; says little by little, the city is rising back up like a "phoenix out of the ashes."
Keep following my journey
Education
Career
Executive Director
I lead the New Orleans area Habitat for Humanity, building homes for hard-working low-income families.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Engineering
Non-Profit Organizations
Working with Others
Interviewed By
Austin - New Orleans
: In a restaurant at the Grand Canyon, the Roadtrip Nation team unexpectedly books an interview with a documentary filmmaker named Bennie Klain in Texas. Then they head to New Orleans to interview jazz musician Irvin Mayfield. After this interview, the team heads across the bridge to the Ninth Ward, where they talk with Jim Pate, the executive director for Habitat for Humanity in the city, and then help to build houses.
