Organization issues awards for nonprofit and community leadership, celebrates top-5 year for philanthropy, elects new board members Baton Rouge, LA – The Baton Rouge Area Foundation today announced the appointment of three new members to their board of directors. Thomas “Tim” Barfield, Anita Byrne, and Milford “Mike” Wampold were elected by BRAF’s members at their […]
By Amy Alexander It’s the kind of March day you’d like to bottle and pop open on a stifling July afternoon–seventy-odd degrees, piercing blue skies, just the right amount of snap in the air. Eric Romero and I have the best seat at Parrain’s Seafood Restaurant, out on the broad, breezy porch, amid the flinty […]
By Mary Ann Sternberg Cottonwood Books existed for over 40 years and several iterations in the shadow of the Perkins Road overpass. But, since 1986, that name emblazoned in white on a royal blue awning has been synonymous with a single person: proprietor (and often sole employee) Daniel Robert Plaisance, known to everyone as “Danny.” […]
Currents Q2 2022
By Gary Perilloux At the riverfront headquarters of the Water Institute, Justin Ehrenwerth discusses the future of water. He’s surrounded by it. Behind him, a workboat struggles up the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, while thousands of cars travel over the Mississippi River Bridge. The mission of The Institute, which Ehrenwerth leads, isn’t limited to […]
By Sara Bongiorni A network of paved trails, bike lanes and quiet streets with wayfinding signs will reach from Pecue Lane through downtown to Scotlandville by mid-decade. BREC is taking the lead on multi-agency work to complete or begin construction on nearly 20 miles of greenways over the next three to five years. The network […]
By Sara Bongiorni The Gardere Initiative runs summer and holiday camps and an after-school program from a homey Ned Avenue fourplex that serves as the neighborhood’s de facto community center. Murrelle Harrison makes sure the neighborhood kids learn and enjoy their lives. | Tim Mueller photo The grassroots organization has made an outsize impact in […]
By Mukul Verma Imagine your first day of high school. Everyone is dressed to impress. You’ve shown up in gym shorts. It does not go unnoticed. It’s freshman year at Caddo Magnet— among the best schools in the state. The kids with driver’s licenses are rolling up in their luxury cars. But not you. Your […]
Currents Q1 2022
Struck by hurricanes and endangered by higher seas, Cameron Parish has become sparsely populated. Is there a future for the largest parish in Louisiana? By C.E. Richard Riley Marks, 17, paused to get her bearings, trying to recall where exactly her tall lifeguard chair had stood overlooking the deep end of the public swimming pool. […]
Seattle writer Nathan Harris’ debut novel, The Sweetness of Water, has won the 2021 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, presented annually by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to an emerging African American fiction writer. He will receive $15,000 to continue his craft. The 15th annual Gaines Award will be presented to Harris at […]