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Go North

A project to reclaim Plank Road would link the area to downtown, LSU with rapid transit By Sara Bongiorni Planned redevelopment of Plank Road in north Baton Rouge centers on a model of fast, comfortable and reliable bus transit with a record of sparking investment in blighted corridors of big U.S. cities. Transit-oriented elements of […]

Meet Chris Csonka

The Foundation has hired a coordinator for a Safety and Justice Challenge project. Chris Csonka will collaborate with local justice officials to reduce the local jail population. The goal is to create an framework where justice system officials can partner to implement reforms across the system, such as measures to improve the efficiency and effectiveness […]

Conversation with Serena Pandos, new director of Louisiana Art and Science Museum

Serena Pandos is the new executive director and president of Louisiana Art and Science Museum, replacing Carol Gikas, who retired after 39 years. Pandos was president and executive director of the International Museum of Art and Science in McAllen, Texas. She is a native of Baltimore. Why did you choose to take the LASM executive […]

Something to prove

New Schools for Baton Rouge offers radical reform model, the country is watching By Sara Bongiorni The stakes were always high for New Schools for Baton Rouge, which set out to give 12,000 students in the parish’s worst schools better options by recruiting top charter-school operators to Baton Rouge. It has opened 15 schools in […]

Lanes of their own

Under a new plan, BR could build extensive bike, pedestrian network By Sara Bongiorni The draft of a master plan for developing a parishwide network of bike and pedestrian paths recommends 140 miles of new bike lanes and other on-road features, including 50 miles of new bike lanes separated from car traffic by curbs or […]

Jamel Brinkley, Gaines Book Award winner

Jamel Brinkley won the 2018 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence for his debut collection A Lucky Man. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation started and oversees the $10,000 book award, which this year is underwritten by the McMains Family. In its 12th year, the award recognizes the best work of fiction by an African-American […]