Rev. Tyronne Edwards is the founder and executive director of the Zion Traveler Cooperative Center of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. He has over 45 years of experience in community organizing and human services. After Hurricane Katrina, he organized the Cooperative Center to provide relief to east bank residents, bringing over $600,000 in grants and millions in donations for rebuilding. Through the center, he developed programs that rehabilitated homes, created affordable housing, and addressed youth and community needs like a technology center and park.

1. Founder/Executive Director
Rev. Tyronne Edwards is a native of downtown
Phoenix, Louisiana on the east bank (best bank) of
Plaquemines Parish. He has 45 years of community
organizing/human services experiences on local,
state, national and international levels. Rev.
Edwards is the husband of Gail Gregory Edwards, a
father of four, and the grandfather of four. He is a
facilitator, paralegal, playwright, photojournalist,
ordained Baptist minister, local historian, and
substance abuse specialist. Rev. Edwards has a
Bachelor of Theology –Christian Bible College of Louisiana, Paralegal Certificate- University of
New Orleans, Substance Abuse Certificate,- Tulane University, and Cooperative Management
Certificate,- University of Georgia. Rev. Edwards is the founder and Executive Director of the
Zion Traveler Cooperative Center of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana which was organized in the
aftermath of Hurricane. Anchored in the biblical revelation and conviction of “Let Us Arise and
Rebuild”, the Cooperative Center was the only relief program available to east bank residents
after Hurricane Katrina. Rev. Edwards successfully written proposals that brought over
$600,000 in grant monies and millions of dollars of in-kind donations for rebuilding the
southern east bank of Plaquemines Parish ; created an Afforded Housing Program that
recruited, trained and coordinated thousands of volunteers from national and international
faith-based organization and universities to rehab 40 homes and built 12 new homes;
developed staff and managed a technology center, youth entrepreneurship project,
health/wellness and nutrition programs, successfully motivated youths to organize and develop
a community park and playground; brought national attention to Plaquemines recovery work
by effectively collaborating and networking with local, state, regional, and national,
organizations and created an open forum for community residents to address their concerns,
demands, grievances, and needs to local elective officials. Rev. Edwards has participated on
congressional hearing panels and lobbied representatives to support the continuing work of
rebuilding the Gulf Coast. For 35 years, Rev. Edwards as a trainer for the People’s Institute for
Survival & Beyond has facilitated Undoing Racism workshops throughout the United States. He
was active in the Civil Rights movement of the sixties. Rev. Edwards work on the Steve
Wonder’s Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday Committee; a staff member with his son (Saddi) on
the historical Million Man March. As Executive Director of the Fishermen & Concerned Citizen
Association, he brought national attention to the grassroots social change in Plaquemines
Parish. Rev. Tyronne Edwards is proud that he has helped his community to get a sense of
their own collective power and self-determination.