2009 - Q2 Barton Award winners. Students at SJA and CHS join to ...

thecorridor Southwest Louisiana/LAFAYETTE/BATON ROUGE/NORTHSHORE
funding and spearheaded the creation of the plan
for Old South Baton Rouge. Now, it is also serving
as a model for the role of the Northshore
Community Foundation as it addresses the needs
of the West 30s. “It provides us with a model to
follow,” he says.
The plan for Old South Baton Rouge is a sound
The support and involvement of the Northshore
Community Foundation in creating a revitalization
plan for the West 30s “is the only hope for its future,”
says Maureen Clary, president and chief executive
officer of Habitat for Humanity St. Tammany
West, which has been building homes in the West
30s since the early ’80s.
“People don’t realize that a few
blocks north of charming, downtown
Covington you have real poverty.”
—Frank Saxton
56
model for the West 30s because of numerous
similarities between the two areas, Saxton says.
Although the West 30s comprise a smaller geographic
area, like Old South Baton Rouge it lies just
blocks from prosperous neighborhoods and busy
traffic arteries. Moreover, the West 30s lack a unifying
blueprint to guide existing momentum on issues
like affordable housing—as Old South Baton
Rouge did before the completion of its own revitalization
plan.
Unity of purpose provided by a clear, overall plan
strengthens local projects while better positioning
local organizations’ pursuit of various funding
sources, Saxton says.
“We see our role as facilitating a process to bring
the synergies in the area together, because there
is a risk of losing those synergies without that,” he
says.
Current momentum in the West 30s includes a
$20 million, 94-unit affordable housing joint venture
by Habitat for Humanity and Volunteers
of America and a land trust operated by the
Northshore Housing Initiative, which has built numerous
houses in the neighborhood, Saxton says.
The comprehensive neighborhood assessment
that will take place over the coming year is part of
what makes the planning process itself so valuable,
says Clary.
“This is a chance to really look closely at the
problems in the neighborhood,” she says.
As in Baton Rouge, community leaders in the
West 30s will play a critical role in the formulation
of the plan. The foundation’s initial focus has
been identifying and recruiting local leaders from
the West 30s to serve on a steering committee to
guide the planning process—and the end result.
“This is a neighborhood revitalization plan and it
has to be led by the neighborhood,” Saxton says.
“This can’t be a foundation plan, but a plan driven
by the community and the West 30s itself.” •
Baton Rouge Area Foundation