Tag: Baton Rouge

The Boot: A New Chapter for Louisiana’s Military Service Members

The State of Louisiana proudly introduced a forward-thinking initiative named The Boot, which is dedicated to recruiting, retaining, and returning military service members to the state after they complete their service. As per this article from The Lafourche Gazette, this initiative marks a significant step in ensuring that those who have served the country find a welcoming and supportive environment in Louisiana as they transition to civilian life. The Boot was born from a collaborative effort between the Governor’s Office, the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, and various influential leaders, including its Founder Andrew Ward and CEO Ben Armstrong.

Governor Jeff Landry was enthusiastic about the initiative, emphasizing the importance of supporting military personnel as they return to civilian life. He pointed out that the men and women of the armed forces have made tremendous sacrifices for the nation, and it is now the state’s responsibility to ensure they receive the necessary support during their transition. According to Governor Landry, The Boot would play an essential role in providing the resources and assistance needed for these individuals to succeed in Louisiana. His remarks reflected the state’s deep commitment to honoring and supporting those who have served.

Secretary Charlton Meginley of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs underscored the significance of The Boot in aiding service members as they transition to civilian life. He highlighted that Louisiana has always been a state that deeply values and honors military service. With The Boot, the state not only aims to welcome back its heroes but also to ensure they have the resources and opportunities required to thrive in their post-military lives. Meginley stressed that Louisiana is committed to being a welcoming home for military personnel, reinforcing the state’s dedication to its veterans.

Andrew Ward, who founded The Boot, shared insights into the organization’s mission and objectives. He emphasized that The Boot is committed to creating a smooth and seamless transition for military members returning to Louisiana. By collaborating closely with state agencies, local businesses, and communities, The Boot seeks to establish a comprehensive support system tailored to meet the unique needs of service members transitioning from military to civilian life. Ward described this transition as moving from one “duty station” to another, with The Boot ensuring that the journey is as smooth as possible.

CEO Ben Armstrong elaborated on his vision for The Boot and its future impact. He conveyed that the organization’s primary goal is to make Louisiana the top destination for military service members concluding their service careers. Armstrong stressed that The Boot is not solely focused on recruiting and retaining these individuals but also on guaranteeing their access to high-quality jobs, education, and healthcare. He envisioned The Boot as a beacon of support, ensuring that service members and their families receive the assistance they need to build successful lives in Louisiana. Armstrong’s vision aligns with the broader mission of The Boot, which is to create a thriving community for veterans within the state.

The Boot will be headquartered in Baton Rouge, specifically located at 453 Louisiana Avenue, and its operations will extend statewide. The organization’s leadership and staff will be embedded in key military and civilian communities across the state, including Barksdale Air Force Base, Fort Johnson, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, Lafayette, and the New Orleans Metro region. This strategic placement will allow The Boot to effectively reach and support military service members throughout Louisiana. Additionally, The Boot will provide linkage to educational opportunities, access to benefits and healthcare resources, and post-service integration programs. By partnering with local businesses and organizations, The Boot aims to build a robust network of support that will enable military service members to lead successful and fulfilling lives in Louisiana.

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From Creativity to Consciousness: Evolution of ThreeSixtyEight

ThreeSixtyEight, a creative agency based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, recently celebrated its eighth anniversary with a remarkable accomplishment. As per this article from The Advocate, they became the first company in Baton Rouge to achieve B Corp Certification, a recognition bestowed upon for-profit businesses that prioritize making a positive impact.

This certification acknowledges companies that meet rigorous standards concerning governance, employee treatment, environmental responsibility, and community engagement. Among the prestigious roster of B Corps are globally renowned brands such as Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia, Tillamook, and PosiGen, a solar company based in New Orleans.

Obtaining B Corp status was no small feat for ThreeSixtyEight; it entailed a meticulous two-year certification process, which even involved amending the company’s legal agreements. Adrian Owen Jones, the chief growth officer of ThreeSixtyEight, spearheaded this endeavor, emphasizing the importance of aligning the company’s mission with social and environmental responsibility.

The origins of ThreeSixtyEight trace back to the merger of two local entities: Big Fish Presentations, specializing in corporate presentations and conferences, and Hatchit, a web development firm. The agency derived its name from the distance between the former offices of Big Fish and Hatchit, precisely 368 feet.

Kenny Nguyen, the CEO of ThreeSixtyEight, has long been committed to making a meaningful impact in the community. Initiatives such as Assembly Required, a speaker series fostering collaboration among diverse groups, reflect Nguyen’s dedication to community building. Moreover, ThreeSixtyEight’s involvement in leading the Better in BTR campaign underscores their commitment to promoting Baton Rouge as an attractive destination for young professionals, thereby enhancing regional pride.

In an interview, Adrian Owen Jones and Kenny Nguyen discussed the significance of B Corp certification for ThreeSixtyEight and its alignment with their efforts to attract more young professionals to Baton Rouge. Their dialogue shed light on the transformative power of conscious business practices in driving positive change at both the local and global levels.

ThreeSixtyEight distinguishes itself as the creative agency for companies shaping the future of learning. Their portfolio encompasses brands and digital products that redefine how people acquire skills, pursue education, and engage in the workforce. With a keen understanding of the evolving learning landscape, their team crafts innovative brand identities, websites, and campaigns infused with the warmth of southern hospitality.

Since 2016, ThreeSixtyEight has served over 100 brands worldwide, including industry giants like Unilever, The Miami Dolphins, and KIVA. Their work extends beyond traditional marketing; it serves as a catalyst for breaking barriers, transforming education, and facilitating talent acquisition for Fortune 500 companies.

Amidst a landscape inundated with distractions, ThreeSixtyEight prioritizes meaningful interactions over intrusive marketing tactics. By crafting authentic brand narratives, immersive digital experiences, and community-centric campaigns, they forge deeper connections with audiences, fostering engagement and loyalty.

In embracing conscious capitalism, ThreeSixtyEight not only enhances its brand reputation but also attracts socially conscious clients and top talent who seek meaningful work. By fostering a culture of purpose-driven innovation, they inspire employees to align their personal values with the company’s mission, fostering a sense of fulfillment and belonging. This holistic approach to business not only benefits stakeholders but also contributes to a more sustainable and equitable future for all. Through their relentless pursuit of excellence and social responsibility, ThreeSixtyEight sets a high standard for business ethics, paving the way for a new era of corporate leadership focused on positive impact and long-term sustainability.

In conclusion, ThreeSixtyEight’s journey toward B Corp certification exemplifies the transformative potential of businesses to drive sustainable change. By embracing conscious capitalism and prioritizing purpose alongside profit, they set a compelling example for companies seeking to create lasting value in an ever-evolving world.

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Baton Rogue’s Red Stick Farmers Market Celebrates 26 Years of Growth

Recently, Lauren Cheramie, a nola.com staff writer interviewed Darlene Adams Rowland, the executive director of Big River Economic and Agricultural Development Alliance (BREADA), which oversees numerous locations of Baton Rogue’s Red Stick Farmers Market. The interview gave insight into how this farmers market grew from its origins as an LSU thesis project into much more.

BREADA, the nonprofit organization of which Darlene Adams Rowland is the executive director, works to connect itslocal community to fresh, healthy food and to create more economic opportunities for small family farmers in Louisiana. The Red Stick Farmers Market, which now has four locations that are overseen by Rowlands, originally began as the thesis project of an LSU architecture student named Chris Pampany, under professor Suzanne Turner’sdirection. The first market was then held in November of 1996 in the Government building parking lot in downtown Baton Rouge, and it was officially recognized as a 501© 3 non-profit organization that same year.

Rowlands sees BREADA as “more than just a farmer’s market,” especially since the popularity of farmers markets has risen across the country in the 26 years since the Red Stick Farmers Market’s original conception. Farmers markets not only allow for food distribution and commerce, but for many areas of the country, they stand as a tenet of community gathering.

Rowlands stated the nonprofit’s mission by saying, “we look at our mission as sort of three-pronged. First, supporting and sustaining small family farmers. Second, connecting the community with fresh, healthy food. Third, creating community and a space for people to connect and be together. We saw that was so important right after Hurricane Ida, and of course after the pandemic.”

One of the largest events in BREADA’s growth was the establishment of the Louisiana Small Farm Survival Fund at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation in 2005. This fund, which has since given approximately $400,000 in direct grants to small farmers since its 2005 conception, was designed to assist small farmers after any type of natural disaster or weather-related event. This is obviously needed in south Louisiana when devastating hurricanes continually threaten farm infrastructure and crops, so when this happens BREADA’s fund is able to be distributed to get farmers back on their feet.

Another milestone in BREADA’s history is its ability to accept the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at all of its farmers market locations. Additionally, they are able to double all transactions for low-income families that use SNAP thanks to, according to Rowland, “a successful campaign with the legislature to fund that on a statewide level so that every farmers market in Louisiana will have access to match and double those transactions.”

Rowland is a member of the LSU Agriculture Leadership Class’s Class XVII, and she regularly meets with state and national agricultural leaders in order to address issues facing Louisiana farmers. For over a decade, she has also been a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and has even served on their board of directors as secretary, vice president of communications, and governmental relations chair.

Additionally, Rowland is also an accomplished writer, as she is a contributor to Country Roads Magazine, where she curates compelling stories that highlight local foodways and travel. Furthermore, she is the recipient of the 2022 John W. Barton Sr. Excellence in Nonprofit Management Rising Star Award.

When asked about what plans BREADA has for Baton Rouge farmers markets in 2023, Rowlands said, “we’ll be starting the renovation of Main Street Market. A lot of people don’t realize that BREADA also manages the brick-and-mortar facility downtown, Monday through Saturday, six days a week. The state will be embarking on a renovation of that facility sometime in 2023, so that will be exciting. We’re also moving into advocacy so that we can look out for those smaller markets that are just starting like BREADA 26 years ago. We consider ourselves a mentor to other small markets throughout the state.”

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New Conservatory School for Visual and Performing Arts Coming to Baton Rouge

A new arts-focused conservatory school that many are calling “the Juilliard of Baton Rouge” may be going to a vacant campus on Goodwood Boulevard, according to The Advocate. The proposed new school will focus on preparing local area teenagers for career paths in the performance and visual arts, including music, dance, theatre, and more.

The proposal of this new conservatory school is part of East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Sito Narcisse’s plan to add more attractive academic opportunities to the parish in an effort to counteract the declining enrollment numbers from the past few years.

If implemented correctly, this arts-focused public charter school could very well attract new families to the district. In addition to these new families, many students begin their public educational career in various elementary arts programs but are left with fewer and fewer options as they get older; this is seen in the Baton Rouge area, as there is no currently no high school dedicated to the visual and performing arts.

Recently, Superintendent Narcisse had organized a large delegation, which included six EBR School Board members, to visit several education art schools in Miami. Coming away from the trip, many board members were able to see the benefits of students attending high schools like the New World School of the Arts, a downtown Miami arts high school of about 500 students.

School Board member Mike Gaudet, who was impressed by the survey, said, “after what I saw at Miami-Dade, it makes me jealous that we haven’t had this before. It’s just the kind of thing that we just need to get on the boat and get it going and make it happen. Our students deserve this.”

Superintendent Narcisse has previously worked in school districts with conservatory schools, and he has been pushing the idea that Baton Rouge needs its own school dedicated to a particular focus ever since he took over as superintendent in January. He officially proposed the idea in July, but after it was met with initial resistance from the board, he set is aside to better prepare its introduction.

At the November 18th East Baton Rouge Parish School Board meeting, the board voted to reopen Broadmoor Middle School, a facility that has been closed and vacant since 2019, to be recreated as a conservatory school for sixth through twelfth graders. The newly approved magnet school is scheduled to open in fall 2023 with the school also serving as the home to summer camps and after-school art classes that will be accessible to students across the district.

Executive director of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Renee Chatelain had said that this new school will serve as a catalyst for improving arts education in the larger surrounding community. Chatelain has already begun talking to Baton Rouge artists who have left the city to return and teach at the new school at least for short stints. She commented saying, “I’m asking them, ‘Please come back and be adjuncts.”

It stands to reason that charter schools championed by the school district can be a draw for families at their educational options. In fact, preliminary enrollment numbers for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools have increased by approximately 800 students since last school year with nearly all of that growth being attributed to students attending district-sponsored charter schools. On the other end of the spectrum, enrollment is down at non-charter schools. When compared with last year’s data, non-charter school enrollment has decreased by approximately 800 students and a total of 2,200 students from two years ago.

Chair-elect of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge Ralph Bender said of the opportunity, “investment in an arts conservatory will lead to a sizable return on investment due to retention of talent, recruitment of master teachers and professional artists. If you look at great artists who left Baton Rouge to go elsewhere and make their mark, perhaps they would be here if there were more opportunities like this. It will elevate the artists and master artists who live in Baton Rouge but whose work could be expanded.”

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Subsidized Internet Service and Free Tablets Available to Qualifying East Baton Rouge Students

After a school year of hybrid, virtual, and unconventional instruction, students in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System will have a chance to receive free tablets and lower internet costs this school year, according to BRProud.

With the influx of technology in classrooms across the country, more and more students become reliant on computers, tablets, and smart devices to ensure equitable education. Educational technology has been called a spectacular “equalizer” in regards to all students regardless of socioeconomic background having equitable access to the same learning materials- as long as all students are in the same learning environment, namely a school.

This equitable education begins to become less attainable when students are kept out of the classroom as they are in the summer months, contributing to learning gaps the following school year. Though the learning disparities had never before become more obvious in Louisiana than when schools closed or adapted to hybrid or virtual instruction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly students living at homes without internet or reliable devices on which to access the internet were kept out of the virtual classroom in addition to the physical one.

This lack of access to reliable internet and technology in Louisiana’s more underserved communities is seen by many as a crisis, but a new program has been implemented in East Baton Rouge Parish that has parents applying for free tablets and reduced internet costs thanks to federal funding from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The “Lifeline Program” has been offered by Phoenix Marketing since 1985 to low-income consumers who seek out a discount on phone services. Lifeline is part of the Universal Service Fund, an FCC initiative that connects Americans with telecommunications companies. According to the FCC’s webpage explaining the facets of Universal Service, “today, the FCC recognizes high-speed Internet as the 21st Century’s essential communications technology, and is working to make broadband as ubiquitous as voice, while continuing to support voice service.”

This recognition by the federal government that internet access is an essential resource in modern society has contributed to the funding of Phoenix Marketing’s new program that brings internet service (provided by Earthlink) to qualifying applicants. Any parents or guardians of a student in an East Baton Rouge Parish school who qualify for Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Section 8, Veteran’s Pension, or a specific income level threshold can qualify to be a recipient of either subsidized internet services or a free tablet.

Applicants can qualify if they have current, active participation in any of the above-listed government benefit programs or if their total household reported income meets Federal Poverty Guidelines. Internet services provided as a part of the Lifeline Emergency Broadband Benefit include unlimited talk time, unlimited texting, and 10GB of data a month for just $8.90.

CEO of Phoenix Marketing, Marcel Miner commented on the ease of the application and acceptance process saying, “once we’ve verified that they’ve qualified, then we go into Earthlink’s tool and we process the order and put their emergency broadband discount on that.”

Calvin Mills is the CEO and Founder of SLT Technology in Baton Rouge; SLT is a workforce development firm that provides Louisiana citizens with technology and certified training to advance their careers and businesses. Mills pledged additional support to East Baton Rouge Schools by announcing their efforts to offer IT certifications to students in the EBR school system and provide a pathway into cybersecurity careers to students who would otherwise be not college-bound.

This investment in the future of Louisiana education and workforce was commented on by Mills who said, “our state wants to put people to work; they want people to find careers that are sustainable for them, cybersecurity pays upwards of six figures.”

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East Baton Rouge Parish to Purchase Land to Prevent Flooding

In an ongoing effort to prevent flooding, East Baton Rouge is considering purchasing several hundred acres of land as a method of holding rain runoff, according to The Advocate.

Though the project is still in its early stages and doesn’t yet involve landowners, East Baton Rouge Parish has collected nearly $45 million to preserve 540 acres of floodplain areas across the city-parish. The funds were allocated from both federal hazard mitigation and the Louisiana Watershed Initiative, a 2016 recovery grant.

The aim of the city-parish to purchase the vast acres, including the 200 acres of low-lying swamp along Bayou Duplantier,  is partially to block the lands from being developed. If the goal of the purchases is to ultimately limit the flooding in the area, then new developments bringing the installation of new asphalt and concrete would undercut those efforts as these materials cause rain to run off and not be absorbed by the ground. Outside of merely sitting on these lands, another central aim is to create retention ponds on these acres, potentially easing ongoing flood problems.

Local area flooding has continued to be a hot topic for the state ever since more than 1,200 homes in East Baton Rouge Parish alone were inundated by the storms of mid-May. City-parish Transportation and Drainage Director Fred Raiford told reporters that weather patterns tend to indicate that severe rains are happening more and more frequently, and local leaders need to adapt as a result.

Raiford believes that these future detention and floodplain conservation areas can also help to reduce the risk of the downstream impacts that other proposed drainage improvements could have on surrounding parishes. To emphasize this point, he provided the example of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $250 million project to clear and “de-snag” Bayou Fountain, Ward Creek, Jones Creek, and two other waterways in EBR Parish. Despite the scope of the project, the Corps attests that the plan will ultimately speed up the flow of these waterways and not cause negative effects on the parishes located downstream, namely Ascension and Iberville Parish.

In speaking of the impact of the recent storms, Raiford said, “some of these storms, you talk about 50-year storms or 100-year storms, well, they’re happening two times, three times a year, and that ain’t good. You’ve got to look at some ways to reduce the flood risk.”

Fact Sheet estimates indicate that conserving the land around Bayou Duplantier near Lee Drive would cost the city-parish $8.5 million and the Ward Creek conservation project, which would purchase 140 acres of floodplain southwest of Airline Highway and the adjacent sides of Highland Road, would cost $5.7 million.

Both purchases will be funded through Governor John Bel Edwards’ signature $1.2 billion Louisiana Watershed Initiative that was implemented as a result of the detrimental 2016 floods. Previously, the initiative used $5 million to dredge and ultimately improve the stormwater storage capacity of the University Lakes near Louisiana State University’s campus. The effort also improved the ecology of the area in addition to decreasing the likelihood of flooding.

Presently, the University Lakes empty the waters accumulated by rainfall over a dam into Bayou Duplantier and end up draining through the 200-acres conservation area that is currently being surveyed by the city-parish. Current plans exist to clear two miles of the bayou’s drainage channel.

Often required by development rules, these detention and retention ponds are vital to the conservation of local areas that are prone to flooding, and as a result, they have become regular fixtures of newer neighborhoods and commercial developments in not just Baton Rouge but across the state.

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