Skip to Content

Her beat goes on

By Sara Bongiorni Laurabeth Henderson Hicks, PhD, spent her elementary years inside a segregated, one-room school in Depressionera Las Cruces, New Mexico. The teacher was Laurabeth’s mother, who had moved her family to the New Mexico desert from Galveston, Texas. She taught Laurabeth and seven other African American children subjects from math to piano. Outside […]

Lakes project shows how Foundation selects civic initiatives

By Bill Balhoff, Foundation board chair Seeing is believing. Like the blossoming of some great, repellent flower, a months-old algae bloom has left no room for doubt: The time to save our lakes has come. Bill+Balhoff.jpg The Foundation, with support from our members and donors, had produced a $1 million master plan in 2016 to […]

No 1 in this, too

LSU collaborates with Pennington to change sports science. That teamwork rarely happens elsewhere. By Sara Bongiorni Sports-science research is accelerating inside LSU’s football program and changing injury-prevention strategies on the field in Baton Rouge and on campuses nationwide. Driving the research is a highly unusual collaboration among LSU kinesiologists, athletic trainers and scientists from Pennington […]

Foundation Finances 101

To some, The Baton Rouge Area Foundation’s finances can be confounding. To answer some of the questions about our finances, Currents sat down with John Davies, president and CEO, and Debbie Pickell, chief financial officer. They also took a measure of the accomplishments from last year. Currents: The start of a new year is a […]

Neighborhood, radically reimagined

A $29.5 million grant brings the principles of New Urbanism to North Baton Rouge By Maggie Heyn Richardson J Daniels, CEO of East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority | Photo by Tim Mueller J Daniels, CEO of East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority | Photo by Tim Mueller Built in 1970, Ardenwood Village in Baton […]

On a good note

Symphony’s executive director brings energy and ideas to new post By Maggie Heyn Richardson Austin, Texas, is known for lots of things. It’s chock-full of young people who crave edgy food and entertainment. It’s got electric scooters, bike sharing and bus lanes. It has a robust music scene girded by the live PBS show, Austin […]

Q&A: Kinder Baumgardner, Baton Rouge lakes lead planner

Last week, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that a coalition of state, local and university officials has been formed to save the six lakes surrounding the LSU campus. Partners include the State of Louisiana, EBR City-Parish, BREC, LSU and the LSU Athletics Department, and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation […]

An Interview with the late Ernest J. Gaines from 2007

Ernest J. Gaines died Nov. 5, 2019, in Oscar, Louisiana. He was born into a family that picked cotton on land along False River. He became among the greatest writers of his generation. And with the money he earned from his books and movies, Mr. Gaines bought the land in Oscar that he worked as […]