Coalition Updates: Progress on Our Mission to Address the 9 Drivers of Poverty
We recently convened our three key coalitions—Education to Career, CAFE (Coalition for Access to Food Equity), and T&M (Transportation and Mobility)—for an impactful meeting focused on advancing our mission of addressing the 9 drivers of poverty in our community. These coalitions are crucial to our strategy, each focusing on different aspects of the complex challenges that contribute to poverty.
Education to Career Coalition
Our Education to Career Coalition continues to gain momentum in bridging the gap between academic achievement and meaningful employment. During our meeting, we discussed several new initiatives aimed at enhancing career readiness programs and improving access to quality education. These initiatives are designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in a rapidly changing job market.
The coalition is also working with apprenticeship programs, providing students with hands-on experience and a direct pathway into the workforce. We are excited about the potential impact of these programs on reducing unemployment and underemployment, key drivers of poverty in our area.
CAFE (Capital Area Food Equity)
CAFE is dedicated to ensuring that all community members have access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate food. During our meeting, we had the pleasure of welcoming representatives from the Department of Children and Family Services and the Department of Education. They provided valuable insights into the recent Sunbucks program, an initiative designed to support families in accessing healthy food options.
We also reviewed the progress of ongoing projects, including community gardens, food distribution networks, and educational workshops on nutrition and cooking. These partnerships are helping to create a more resilient and sustainable food system that benefits everyone, particularly those most affected by food insecurity. We are committed to continuing this work and exploring new ways to address the root causes of food inequity.
T&M (Transportation and Mobility)
Transportation is a crucial factor in economic mobility and access to essential services. Our T&M Coalition is focused on improving public transit options and ensuring that all residents have reliable and affordable transportation. At our meeting, we were joined by representatives from Commuter Krewe LA, who shared insights about their program, which offers benefits and rewards for being a transit rider, carpooling, and vanpooling.
We also had a presentation from Build Baton Rouge on the Florida Corridor Plan in which they laid out all the exciting improvements that are to come.
Moving Forward Together
Each of these coalitions plays a vital role in our broader mission to tackle the 9 drivers of poverty. By addressing these key areas—education, food equity, and transportation—we are working to create a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
We are grateful for the dedication and hard work of all our coalition members and partners. As we move forward, we remain committed to collaborating across sectors and working together to create lasting change. The progress we’ve made so far is just the beginning, and we are excited to continue this important work.
Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to advance our mission and make a difference in the lives of those we serve. Together, we can create a brighter future for all.
Notes
Casey Phillips: On Alexis side in particular her grandfather, I think was a member for 57 years and never missed a meeting, like ever his entire life. And they wound up naming a park after, he was also a surgeon in Wichita Falls, so the movie Twister, when it actually happened in real life. He was the surgeon on his feet for 24 hours, taking care of people after the tourneys and stuff and he would talk to all the younger people in the family about Rotary as well and encourage people to, just understand you have an obligation to each other in service. And so for me, whether I'm a member of an organization or not, if that's at the center of what they do they're A okay with me. So I was just congratulating Adonica for being second term on the board and welcome to One Rouge Friday, everyone. Everybody's in a good mood. Everybody's happy to be here. Everybody's happy about the three day weekend. And yeah, it's a good day. It's a good day today. So this is our check in with everybody that we'd like to have every two, six weeks to eight weeks just to report out on the work. And today, Tia if you want to maybe queue up anything for today or say hello to everybody and then we'll move to our amazing co chairs.
Tia Fields: Sure. Good morning and happy Friday. One Rouge family. As Casey stated, this is going to be our quarter report out. So if you've been curious of what One Rouge has been doing, if you haven't been attending the meetings now is the time for you to listen and see where you can pitch in your work and help us out. Right back to you, Casey.
Casey: Awesome. Awesome. Yes. And that is an encouragement. As we are going into the last quarter, I know the summer can be crazy for everyone. But if you are interested in getting involved in the three coalitions that you are going to hear about today there is plenty of room to fit in and several of our coalitions are growing. And I said, and you'll hear that on the report outs this week. We will start, actually let's go out of order. Helena, I'm going to come swing it over to you because you and Jan and everybody on CAFE has been, that's the OG coalition, as Jan is happy to say it's the number one, it was the first and the best. I do believe I heard what's said this week. So please take it away for CAFE.
Helena Sato: Awesome. Thank you. And good morning, everybody. I know I'm usually off camera, so I'm making a special appearance. But I'm Helena Sato. I am the parent of the One Rouge CAFE Coalition, the Capital Area Food Equity Coalition. My co chairs are Jan Ross and Dr. Nichola Hall. And we also have a new working group leader for the Teach to Grow, which is Kina Reed. So we are happy to report out what is happening with CAFE so far. So I'm going to first turn it over to Nichola if you're ready to talk about the 18 and below feeding?
Dr. Nichola Hall: Yeah, sure. Good morning, everyone. Morning. Okay. All right. Smiling faces. Great. Now I have a lot of energy. Caffeine was not working this morning. So what's been happening with CAFE One Rouge one CAFE coalition, the One Rouge coalition. So the summer was exciting, long and tedious. However, we accomplished a major goal. We set out to feed as many kids as we can and partner with as many organizations as we can and pushing the envelope. And we did accomplish that. With that being said, and with all this being said, y'all, we had no director, child nutrition director. We're down a couple of dietitians and a couple of key staff, but we made it. We rock and roll. So first things first. Last year, summer meals 2023, I'm just going to give you a quick overview of that. The total sites that we did last year's was 48 and this year 53 community sites. Last year, but 33 this year, 43. The total sites went up by six. So last year 2023 was 81 and this year, 87 total meals serve. Last year was 198,000, 190,000 and this summer was 210,000 so we increased by 5.6%, about a little over 11,000 meals, which is a huge undertaking because we extended ourselves and we were not you know, staffed appropriately, but we handled it like a pro. What we've done was not only expand our community sites, but we also extend our meal dates. In the past, normally, summer starts a week or 2 after school ends, and then it ends a week before or 2 weeks prior to the new school year begins. We literally just kept it going. Just kept moving along the way because kids are still hungry. It doesn't matter what time a school ends. In addition to that we had a rural feed inside at Northeast. Which is pretty cool. We were able to tap into Baker and Zachary. I wish we could do more. I don't know what we envisioned for next year as yet, but we want to be able to do more on that side of Baton Rouge next year and we were able to collaborate and market our efforts with community stakeholders. For example, the mayor's office built out a really cool mapping system, which helped to drive our participation rate. We were able to let parents log in on the site, put their zip code, and you'll be able to find all of the sites that are close by, which is pretty cool. For us we live in this transient population. It is what it is, but we move along the way as things are moving. Training is a big thing for us. And not just training, but progress monitoring, right? So you train the folks, not just community sites, but our own staff or my staff, I should say, we still have to progress monitor. We did got ding for a few in our audits and we did lose some meals, but nothing too crazy. It's a learning curve and it comes with the territory for next year. Definitely need to start sooner because we did start sooner this year in February. But now I think we need to start in December to iron out a logistical outreach and logistical planning. So moving forward for this fall, we're expanding our weekend and holiday meals. We're tapping into that territory. We started to engage back in the spring, did a pilot at a few organization. It went okay. And I say, okay, it's just okay. It wasn't something like, oh, my God, this is over the top. However, I am going to be super psyched about the summer this fall because of the weekend meals and holiday meals. A survey was sent out in June. We surveyed the same organizations that we provide some meals for and thus far, we only had 7 folks that responded and they're mostly libraries and I'm going to keep it at that because it's easier to manage and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I don't believe in failure. So I need to make sure this is successful. So pretty much that's it. That's where we're at. I'm super excited. So if anybody wants to join us please don't be shy.
Helena: All right, thank you so much. I'm still under the 18 and below feeding Jan. Would you like to talk a little bit more about the sunbucks that got released this summer?
Jan Ross: Yeah. And I will give you all some details and some numbers as to success. But I'm going to want to give you some details so that you all can help us in reaching out to families that have not applied yet. So the summer EBT or sunbucks is to ensure that kids have access to not only food, but healthy, nutritious food all year long. And as we know, especially in the summer when kids don't have access to feeding through the school system, they have an additional source of food. And so what summer EBT allows is $120 per child. And the funds are to be used on qualifying foods through like the SNAP program or through the SNAP program. It is for children school age 5 through 18 as of last year. And those children that attend schools that are what are classified as CEP schools and in reality, or in layman's terms, that is schools that qualify for free and reduced lunch. There are a number of schools in our community, or all schools in our community, receive all public schools in our community receive free and reduced lunch, but and they don't have to go through a qualifying qualification process, but in order to receive the summer EBT for families that don't that haven't gone through the application process, they will have to apply because EBT is an income based program. So the funds are issued to each child on a separate card and it is mailed in a white envelope in the child's name. And the return address is Erie, Pennsylvania. And I say that specifically so that as you inform people that may have applied or considering applying a lot of people, because it is just a plain white envelope, they'll throw it away seeing that a child's name is on there. So as if they are informed that to look out for that white envelope, but having that Erie, Pennsylvania return address, that's the key that's your card. And that's where the money is. A person, a recipient has 122 days in order to spend those funds. And that's 122 days from the date of issue. And the program to apply ends September 20th. So we are coming to an end of this program. Currently they are in the phase three of disbursements. And that is for families that again, that the children attend a CEP school, but they did not apply. So they have to go through that income verification. In phase one that went to Children that are already on qualify for snap and that. They started distributing those funds in June, mid June, and then in mid July, it went to those families that are already a part of other governmental programs that are income based, but it also went to children that are experiencing homelessness as well as migrant children. As of July 23rd over 46 million has been distributed to more than 380,000 kids in Louisiana. Again, phase three started August the 19th, and it closes September 20th. So we really want additional help in getting the word out to families that may not be informed of this to apply. I'll put some websites in the chat that you to get more information and then also to apply. But there is a website that families can go to determine if the school that their child went to is a CEP qualified school. And recognize that it's not just traditional public schools. It can be public charter schools, it can be some private schools, as well as some parochial schools. It typically does not apply to children that go to school virtually or are homeschooled because those typically are not CEP qualified. Again, this program does in September 20th. And, this program and our efforts in getting the word out and ensuring that families are qualified and are receiving the funds is that it goes towards one of the goals of CAFE, and that is to increase the utilization and access to existing feeding programs. So again, we could use your help in getting the word out, and if you'll give me a moment, I will put the websites in the chat for you all to access. Helena, do you want to?
Helena: I got it. I got it for you, Jan. I already got it. Yeah, so you should see the link. It's not a hyperlink because the way I pasted it, but the link forward to see if your school's on the list and also the sun books website, which should have the application at the bottom and any other details that you need to refer someone over to and I'll contact our members who are at DCFS to see if they have a 1 page or anything that we can send to the coalitions for you guys is to send out to anybody that you think would benefit from this. But as a reminder, September 20th, we have less than a month to get those last applications and. And just as a reminder, when we entered this year in January, this was not on the table for us in Louisiana, and part of what we helped amplify as One Rouge as the network is making sure that we were not happy with that, and we wanted to see food in children's bellies during the summer. So this is definitely a win in that direction. All right. Let me get back to where I was. Now we're going to talk about one of our upcoming goals, something that we're working towards in the coalition and something I really want to see happen, which is creating more SNAP onboarding partners. 34%, based on the SNAP gap map, 34 percent of eligible families are not actively enrolled in SNAP. So there is an application gap of people going through the process and finishing the process before they're even qualified for SNAP. And so I did a cursory look at the DCFS website to see who is listed as a SNAP onboarding provider partner. Who is not DCFS and I found about 7 to 8 organizations who do snap onboarding. There could be more. This is just what was listed on the website. I'm currently collecting a repository of who is providing that. If someone is providing. SNAP onboarding, which is walking someone through the snap process, getting, helping them find the documents that they need to apply things like that. Please let me know so I can add you to that repository, but also I want to work with DCFS to increase partners who are able to do snap on boarding. In our last meeting and earlier this month, we asked what does that pipeline look like for staff on boarding for people to become snap providers that is going to be something that we're going to be working on in the coalition. If you are interested in being a part, becoming a snap on boarding partner or anything like that, just please join us. Our next meeting is in September. We'll shout that out. Our last thing now is Teach2Grow and we have Kina Reed with us and Kina Reed is our new working group leader. So Kina, would you be able to lift up what has been started in Teach2Grow?
Kina Reed: Hi. Good morning everybody. So yes, I am the new co-chair well chair of Teach to Grow. And our working group is pretty, pretty much committed to increasing the amount of people who both create food, all right, such as farmers, but independent growers. And then also increase the amount of people. So not only to increase the amount of people who are growing food, but increasing the amount of people who are distributing it, and we're being really careful about those terms because we recognize that the concept of farmer has evolved in the last couple of years. And there are people who create. Food who grow food who aren't necessarily identifying themselves as industrial farmers, but people who are committed to just growing food for distribution in their communities, their neighbors seeing that food insecurity is the issue. So we're trying to speak to both what, We're trying to speak to both the people we traditionally see as farmers, but also people who may not always see themselves as food growers and food distributors. So with that, with those, that basic nucleus in mind the working group met and our, the goals we have this quarter are to create two, Resource hubs one is going to be a resource hub that contains all the ways in which food can be distributed beyond just what we typically think of in terms of like grocery stores or farmer markets. And then lastly, we're going to create another resource hub, which is like all of the different programs involved that exist rather at a state level, city level, federal level that teach people how to grow food. All right, so we're looking at this from a macro. And micro sense of creating conversation. We want to know what those resources are because the next step of our work is going to try to funnel in again people who typically aren't considered farmers or who even think about food growth. So we're doing this 1 step at a time and strategically, but I'm excited because the people who are part of our work group everyone has a very a commitment to seeing. Everyone eats in our state. So that is where we are. And I'm excited to partner with the CAFE coalition to bring this next part of the work forward. And that's what I have.
Helena: Thank you so much. And it looks like Jan was able to get a flyer. Hopefully let me see, make sure it's downloadable, but awesome. So we were able to bridge that gap quickly. Thank you, Jan. So that you can guys you can pass out the flyer to anyone and we'll include that in our meeting notes as well. But yes, CAFE has been busy. We are excited. We're looking forward to what we're going to be accomplishing as we close out this year. With the next quarter and I want to thank everyone for listening and learning about from us.
Casey: We were paying attention to as well, Helena. Thank you.
Helena: I did that, but, because I know it was a little long, but yeah.
Casey: Yeah, it's no, it's good. I said, that's the work, right? Whenever there are lots, sometimes people get frustrated, and they think that talk talk talk. And, Maxine Crump has always reminded us that talk is action, in fact. So the Fridays we're talking, we're learning, we're sharing, we're stretching the way that we think about things, but the work is getting done inside of the coalition work and not just at the meetings, but in between the meetings. I just want to give a big shout out to everyone that spoke today on CAFE, not because of how wonderfully you communicated information, but doing the damn work. Like doing the work and actually moving things forward. And especially the work that y'all did feeding young humans in our communities this summer and continuing with that work that matters. So thanks for thanks for working so hard and diligently that brings us to our second coalition education to career. This is the Education to Career Coalition has really coalesced around its four pillars. And the first one that we're going to talk about today did I lose Dustin? I was actually going to cue him up first. Are you still there, Dustin? Yeah, there you are, buddy. I'm sorry. I lost you on my screen. We're gonna actually start with Dustin because it's the start of school. And everybody, a lot of people who do have young children or young children in your life, you're watching the chaos of the first couple of weeks of school. And that's just seems like a natural chaos. But as the dust settles, these buildings are, they are strategically placed in every corner of our community. And all these schools are surrounded by very different neighborhoods. They're all vibrant in their own ways, but they're all, everything's different. Not everything's monolithic. And the idea of looking at all these school buildings as in creative ways and sharing what's being done and what could be done. That's the work that Dustin and his committee is attacking. So Dustin, please start us out, please, sir.
Dustin LaFont: Thank you. Yes, my working group is school as community hubs. So we're working to identify How we can have a model of schools as a community hub and which schools are actually serving to have nonprofit partners right now. 1 of the 1st action items that we're able to make progress on this summer is I met with Jasmine Johnson over at BRAYN, the Baton Rouge area youth network and was able to identify who all the BRAYN partners are and what schools each BRAYN partners in right now, which is up on their website. It is still a working document for this landscape assessment. We're trying to identify who already have these relationships. Who's already trying to work with nonprofits in the school setting. It is not complete, but it's a great framework. It's a great start. Cause they at least have everything listed from every school. I had great conversations as well. Let me pull my notes quickly. I'm right here. Just a second ago. I'm sorry for. Stalling for a second. There we are with Jaleesa Thompson. And being able to have conversations with her relationships to some of our school partners and helping us to maybe really breathe more life into the landscape assessment of where people are and what's being done. Because I think we can learn a lot from the relationships that have been attempted. I think BRAYN is really trying to go to the district to build out a structure. Then there's a lot of individual nonprofits that have gone directly to principles directly to schools. So there's a lot to be learned here that needs to be Coalesced and brought into a better structure so that when we are advertising, what is a school as a community have really mean we have what it has meant to some people with their first thoughts are because they're thinking, oh, that's, this program in my school, or is it going to be something that has more of a, a model or framework for us to build at each individual school. So aside from that, we're also having the research model of which schools are really taking a step forward. Jesse Watson with Discovery Schools really wanted to share about his programs and what they're doing as a community hub model. And we also have Principal Jackson over at Scotlandville. They're already doing adult education and doing highest education after school. So they're already making their campuses available in the afterschool hours. What's those contracts look like? What's those agreements look like? What does cleaning the facility look like? What's safety look like? And that structure over at Scotlandville high that is replicable, that could be scalable to more environments, more schools. So that we're not reinventing, but more so utilizing what's successful and what's working at a great school like Scotlandville. It's aside from that, we have a digital landscape. We're working with a few different leaders. Bonnie Shalette's name has come up a number of times as she's worked with East Baton Rouge parish. In terms of digital access, and we're getting more action items delegated to partners. I think that's what's really mattering the most. I think me and Sherreta were doing the heavy lifting, trying to figure everything out all the time, looking for national models. And now we're honing in. On who we are here right in East Baton Rouge Parish, what's successful. I think there was a little bit of a distraction this summer as we're trying to find some new leadership. So there's a lot of attention focused on who's going to be the leaders of East Baton Rouge Parish schools and how is our, how are we going to be better collaborators across the table in this sector? And I think we have the, probably one of the best starts we've had since COVID, if I can be transparent as a former teacher and, current, partner with a lot of schools and my wife being teaching for 13 years. I think there's a lot of hope and positivity and I think we're gonna continue to build on that in our working group and I'll see if anybody has questions at the end.
Casey: Right on. Thank you, Dustin. Everyone, if you do have questions about the work or want to get involved in the work, please use the chat. Our co chairs are all in, monitoring it right now. And then, of course, we'll give room for everyone's voice at the end. Thank you again Dustin and for the ray of hope. It's good to hear that. I see that hope it gleamed in your eyes, brother. Okay. So Adonica, would you, I know that you've been working on the literacy working group for quite some time and the work continues to move forward. Can you update everybody on that?
Adonica Pelichet Duggan: Yeah, I want to echo Dustin's positivity about this moment in education in Baton Rouge. I'm very excited. It has been a long summer. I think the working group last time Liz from our team subbed in and as Casey has said, what's great about these coalitions is that in our absence, they continue to move the work. So Liz from my team subbed in for me last time. But the group really worked on continuing to define literacy for early grades and adults. Making sure that we have the definitions and those baselines set for how we're going to measure progress over the years. There's upcoming what we understand is that the Department of Education is going to be releasing new kind of literacy definitions. And so I think at the last meeting, the group decided to take a pause and wait for the K-12 literacy rates to wait for the department's definition for the early grades as well. There's also some discussion about whether or not we substitute the strength of the early childhood centers for that pre k literacy rate because 1 of the things that we know is that we don't actually have data on whether a kid is reading on grade level or, as it were in early childhood, but if you looked at the number of students who were in high, what we call high quality, early childhood centers, or high quality child care centers, that might be a way to measure whether or not. Those students were going to be on track for the outcomes that we want for them. I think for the early grades, that was the decision of the group. The last time to really substitute in the number of students who are in those high quality child care centers for adults, what we've continued to focus on as a working group is that we're not just thinking about the K-12 students were also thinking about the whole continuum of literacy in the community. And so really getting some additional measures for what functional literacy looks like, as opposed to just literacy and working to identify some organizations that could help us with that adult space and bringing up some other adult partners. And so the ask to the group is, if, someone who is working in the adult literacy space. Please bring them to the table. Make sure that we can identify other organizations who can help us understand what those numbers look like. Better. A lot of the folks who are at the table are people who generally focus in the K-12 space. And we've been bringing in some more of our early childhood partners, but we continue to look for ways to plug the gap on making sure that we're measuring things successfully for, for all of the people in our community that we want to make sure that this coalition serves. For us, right now, the work is to really establish those baseline rates that we're going to be using as a measure for our progress moving forward and continuing to identify folks who should be at the table and getting the work done.
Casey: Awesome. Thank you, Adonica. I want to make sure we're going to move over to ECE Tia, and I also wanted to invite Aimee if she had any thoughts to share with that as well with Tia, but also Martha from the Continuous Learning Group. I wanted to give you a little Fairly infamous on throwing people on the spot, but at least I'm being maybe a two or three minute warning if at all possible, but I'd love to hear your voice in this work as well. Tia, do you want to maybe guide us through the updates on ECE with with Aimee or anybody else who's in attendance?
Tia: Sure. Thank you, Casey. So as Adonica was touching on literacy rates early childhood education, we've discovered is the foundation for students who have access to quality life success in school and improve their overall health incomes. So what we've been doing at ECE is just trying to figure out a framework to collaborate with those who are already working in the space. One of our big partners in this work is GoFundMe Louisiana, where they have a coalition of not only child care providers, but also parents to hear what their voices to hear the voices and make sure that we're amplifying it. One of the main action items that we took away from our working group was to support the East Baton Rouge school system by investing in micro centers. Right now, we are making a list of underutilized facilities. Potentially this micro centers. And so the next thing that we would do is to go and do we made a list. So now we have to drive by the sites and see where they are. What's the plan for that particular facility? We spoke a little bit about not needing the facility doesn't need to be a massive facility because we have to look at the overall cost on what it would take to manage that facility. And then outside of that, we're just really looking at other collaborative operations and going from there. And Aimee, if you had something to add please jump in.
Aimee Moles: And no, you did a great job. Nothing from me.
Tia: Okay.
Casey: Awesome. Thanks to you both. And Aimee, thank you for building with us the coalition for so many years. I said, it does not escape to me that we've seen your presence and felt your work for several years now in one region. I also saw a shout out in the chat on to Eugene and Emily too I said, I want to say that too. And summer, it's awesome that I got to see you in the real world yesterday, just in passing. So I said, it's good to be surrounded by friends and the work today on this fine Friday. Martha, were you able to come off of mute? And do you feel comfortable maybe sharing out? The continuous learning working group folks is really a pretty wide range. Not only is this E2C coalition from early childhood on all the way to people's encore careers and, second, third, fourth, fifth career. It spans the lifetime of our community members. And I would say that the continuous learning group really spans almost 16 to 18 all the way to people in their 70s and 80s. And so it's a lot of ground to cover, but I feel like Martha being ingrained in the work From the very beginning of this, plus, I don't know, several decades of her work and passion before it would be best person to maybe give an update. So Martha, thanks for being here today.
Martha Sealy: You are talking to me, not Martha Moore, correct?
Casey: I am talking to you, Ms. Sealy, but I welcome for Martha Moore to come off mute as well because she did a great job at the meeting.
Martha: Our group lost our leader, we lost BJ, so we had you leading us on and what I remember the discussion was on apprenticeship. What we were trying to do is to get our high school kids to get to work earlier than normal, or then waiting till graduation and having businesses on board to take them in with their to help them learn the skills that they need to become the adults in the workforce. And we work with wasn't able to make it that day. But we had, and, and it was a good meeting and we're still working on getting our document completed. Do you have a question?
Casey: No, no questions. You're reporting out and that's great. And we also had a lady of the lake at the table specifically from the I department in really talking about widening the workforce pipeline from a very early age. And then so with folks who are in mid career pathways to actually, long term success. And so it was really great to have them at the table for that as well as LA STEM, in LA STEM, everything they continue to do out of the Kane Center, I believe is where they're located out of as said, really on the, in the tech field and beyond. They really are key components of this. So Martha, thank you so much for sharing out is Ms Moore here today.
Martha: I don't believe so, this is rare. This is a rare one missed off. So with that answer that chat. Dr. Don Hall Fleming is in charge of adult ed and EBR schools. We still have that. And we have JAG in the high schools also.
Casey: There you go. So yeah, apprenticeship was like a major thrust of the conversation. And then now that we're going to have a new leadership inside the working groups wink, if it's just on the outside chance you're interested Ms. Martha, as I said, we have some work to pick up. Back up from the summertime and move forward. And the goal is to have all of our, on our tracker, all of our tasks do complete so that we can start the new year, anew, so that is the education to career coalition. Thank you. Just like what Helena said, I know that was a lot of information. But as I appreciate y'all sitting in the space and I am going to pass it over back over to Tia actually, to talk about transportation and mobility. .
Tia: Thank you. And ours was gonna be short and sweet. So Transportation and Mobility Coalition. We are in our infancy of discovering how it is that we're gonna move this work forward. So the first big announcement that we have appointed a co-chair Brandon Songy Brandon, if you're on the call, you mind just coming off of mute and saying hey to the folks.
Brandon Songy: Sure, no problem. I'll even, okay. Alright. There we go. Alright. Bus in the background. Yeah, I'm very happy to be here. Just whatever anyone needs. I am the service planner and scheduler for the Capital Area Transit System. We have a lot of things that we have going on. The 1st thing that I'll plug is. We're currently doing public outreach for our comprehensive operational analysis. I will drop the link to the web page in the chat, what that is basically just going out and asking the public, hey, we did this study on here's what we think the system could look like to be a little bit more efficient. And there's maps, I'm actually working on schedules right now we look to implement the first routes October 20th of 2024 we'll be phasing in the routes over the next three years, so we'll have some changes next year culminating in 2026 with the launch of Louisiana's and Baton Rouge's first bus rapid transit route. Along Plank Road and Nicholson. Yes, it is happening. If you haven't kept up, we have broken ground on a new bus terminal, bus station. The new terminology is Transit Center in North Baton Rouge, right off of Airline Highway and McClellan, next to Our Lady of the Lake. Really trying to put our best foot forward and turn cats into the transit system that Baton Rouge deserves. I'm also overseeing the microtransit service that is in Baker. It's linked by CATS. It is also doing wonderful. We hit a ride record last month of 7,000 completed rides in Baker. I like to joke and say that is the one thing that CATS got right. We're not a complete dumpster fire. And we're also looking to recruit more bus operators, more mechanics and more customer service representatives. That way, once we get fully staffed, we can start putting out, really put our best foot forward and build the transit system that Baton Rouge serves.
Casey: Brandon, I just want to lift up that that's a long business card, but that we're not just a dump on a dumpster fire. That's an amazing business card. But in all truth, I really appreciate. I just want to lift up that since the transportation mobility coalition work, I can't really speak to power about what's happened all in the past, but just the evolution of transportation mobility. I really appreciate the honest assessment of where CATS is from CATS internally. The degree of increased transparency and owning where the improvements need to be. And, understanding that all the time, what y'all have to communicate isn't always going to be the most popular thing, but it's what you have to do. I just, I think that y'all are on the right track, to be honest. I think that's how everyone starts to rally around the work and help strengthen it as opposed to have a serial, becoming an adversarial relationship. And it's working. So I just want to publicly say it that, I would encourage y'all to continue with that. And I appreciate you dedicating your time to helping lead the coalition. Tia, back, yeah Tia, back over to you. And I know that we have Kendra here as well to speak on the Florida street plan, but I'm going to let you follow, keep going in your order.
Tia: Sure, and I was just going to add in that if anybody was curious about what the goal of transportation mobility is, it is to have inclusive and accessible, progressive mobility that meets the needs of all community members. So that's our goal. We want to see all of our partners in transportation come together and see how we can amplify any projects that's going on in the city. And speaking of. Projects that's going on our last coalition meeting. We had great presentation from Kendra with Better Baton Rouge as it relates to the Florida Boulevard Corridor Project and the bus transit rapid system As well as our friends with Commuter Krewe and they spoke a little bit about the micro transit and vanpool feasibility study Which led to the birth of commuter crew. So if you guys are not familiar with commuter crew I encourage you guys to check it out. It is a ride share van share. You System that saves money and time and lowers the emissions by carpooling or vanpooling with people going in your same direction for work. Kendra, if you want to come off mute, I'm definitely not making you, but if you want to, you can jump in and just share a little bit about how the presentation went. Okay. And if not, that's okay.
Casey: Thank you Kendra. Kendra, you did a great job. And look, if she can't come off of mute, the one thing I want to really lift up, let's all admit it. We don't read everything that we get sent to us. All the time and people put like a lot of effort into a lot of these plans into prospectuses and stuff. So if you can just pick one white paper ish moment next week and read the Florida Street corridor plan. I highly encourage that you do. I am, I was remiss. I'll own it with vulnerability. I was remiss in reading it early on. I was late on the bandwagon and, but when you really dig into it and you look at the six different areas that they've identified between downtown, like the I 110 downtown all the way to Sherwood into Sherwood forest, it really is a more localized solution. It's not this like monolith. And it's really culturally responsive and, sensitive and responsive. There were some things that were talked about specifically around the Sherwood Forest area and around Mid City, around, if there was a fire. The Florida street corridor plan, who's thinking about the people who are the residents who are already living in the neighborhoods there. If everything gets better, what happens if if the tax base raises too fast and people get priced out of their houses, are those conversations happening. And if the, and the only people to have those conversations, quite frankly, sometimes are the folks on this call. So getting engaged in that Florida street corridor plan and bringing your power in your groups. Into that work only is going to make it stronger. And there's some real opportunities to get some wins on the board on this plant, especially around the stitch the area, that kind of connects downtown and downtown east and mid city. Those are some really important projects, but there's a lot of momentum. That needs to come around Sherwood Forest area that was identified during the presentation. So just want to lift that up. And I appreciate everybody at Build Bad Rouge for working and also Franklin Associates who dedicated a lot of time into the transportation coalition. And then I want to shout out the downtown development district. Mr. Udoh is here. Would you like to come off of mute and share your thoughts before we move to leadership?
Iboro Udoh: Not this time. I'm actually about to head out to Helix to go to the work study mentorship program. They're doing the envelope opening, but no, we, I will say just shortly that we're very excited about. What's coming as far as multimodal to the downtown area.
Casey: Awesome. Thank you, sir. And pass along my props to Mr.Castile because Helix is tell you what, that education group right there, they are making some huge moves in the city in general. So thank you. I appreciate you, sir. And I still say renaissance to Trump's renaissance one, but it's cool. We can keep talking about it. All Tina, I'm going to move on to our friend Sherreta. This is certainly not last is certainly not least the work that Sherreta and MetroMorphosis have brought into the One Rouge coalition around collective impact cannot be understated and ultimately create the framework as Raymond says, the walls is the heart. And MetroMorphosis the science right to the work, and I can think of no better person to be leading the overall vision of One Rouge, then the CEO, Miss Sherreta Harrison so I turned it over to you.
Sherreta Harrison: We love when people introduce me that way. Good morning, everybody. As Casey said, I'm Sherreta Harrison. The new president and CEO of MetroMorphosis, although I've been around for a while, I still just like saying that. I have the pleasure of facilitating the One Rouge Leadership Council of which many of the people that you heard speak today are a part of, and they are working to really fulfill the One Rouge aspiration statement, which I always like to remind people is to foster an inclusive community culture in our city that leads to equitable opportunities for all. I know that's a lot of buzzwords and catchphrases, but what you should know is that the One Rouge Coalitions exist to ensure. That we are disrupting the nine drivers of poverty so that people can live great lives immediately. But we're also thinking about how do we do this systemically so that we're not repeating these conversations in 10, 15, 20 years. And that is what the Leadership Council is particularly focused on. The part of our work that is about building a community culture in our city that leads to this equitable opportunity. And so to do that we divided ourselves up into task teams. We have two task teams. The first one is about ensuring that people who are making decisions for our city and in our city are informed about those things that hold poverty in place. And so we have a working group that has launched a public awareness campaign. I'll let Tia tell you all the specifics around the public awareness campaign, but I will say that we were able to launch the One Rouge socials. And so we are launching that socials as a part of making sure that the general public and you all know exactly not only what One Rouge is, but those elements or those conditions that make it so that kids are hungry or that, so people do not have access to education and training or so that mobility is stifled in our city. So we want everybody to be informed because poverty can be a big term or a hot button term. But when you break it down to really understanding those drivers, we can see how all of our work is connected in that way. And so the public awareness campaign was launched on socials again. I'll turn it to Tia to tell us a little bit about it. But the first task team in the public awareness campaign brings me to my first ask of you all that if you are not following One Rouge on socials, please do so now so that you can amplify the messages again, not just about One Rouge Coalitions, but about the many issues that your work touches that feed into the poverty. And Tia, do you want to give us a rundown of all of the wonderful work that our public awareness campaign has done in just a few short weeks?
Tia: Sure. Thank you, Sherreta. So as she stated a part of this awareness campaign is to just to do just that to make sure that the community is aware of what the nine drivers of poverty are, and then to use the platforms to amplify the work that us community partners are doing, looking for ways that we can all collaborate to get the things done that we're working on. In the few upcoming weeks, you'll hear from me trying to do testimonials to share the work that you guys are doing as it relates to the nine drivers of poverty and not letting the conversation die down. I'm not going to say I'm new to the space, but new to One Rouge family coming up on a year and being that you guys started during a time of COVID, it seemed like it was easier to convene virtually. But now that we're past that. We really just want to highlight people that's doing the work boots on the ground, and I'm looking for opportunities to amplify that message.
Sherreta: Yeah, thank you to you. And as we say over here at MetroMorphosis this is about movements and not moments. And so we are very interested in making sure that I are our entire community. Is aware of not just the problem of poverty, but what we all as a coalition are doing to disrupt it. So again, if you're not following us on socials, my first ask is that you do. So the second task team. Is concerned with ensuring that we have adequate financial resources to fund this work both now and in the long term. And earlier this month, we did a soft launch of our funding landscape. Analysis. And so that kind of has two, two kind of I guess goals. One is to really be able to track where funding from the federal level meets the road here in Baton Rouge and a identify any gaps where where there's work that is not being funded, but then also just to be able to track. How that funding is helping us achieve a community that does not support the drivers of poverty. And so we're doing that landscape analysis, but we're also interested in Y'all's appetite or desire for collaborative and shared funding if that can happen. And so we launched the the survey. Oh, I forgot exactly what it was called. Funding needs survey. I think it was you may remember on the fundraising call, Katie Pritchett talked about this funding needs survey. And so that brings me to my second ask, if you have not Good Lord, I don't know what's going on with these words, but if you have not taken the survey, submitted your information please do even if you're not necessarily interested in collaborative funding, really, the idea is to really be able to paint an entire story around how people are working to disrupt poverty in our community. And what resources are actually needed. And so that survey has a few questions to shape this story. Again, all of this is about how do we make sure that people who are making decisions for our city and in our city have all of the right information to support the disruption of poverty. So again, my first ask was to follow us on socials. My second ask was to please take. The funding survey. And then the third thing that I really want to lift up. And this brings me to my third ask and Ebony has a great segue to this conversation. If you notice in One Rouge is about building an inclusive community culture. And so we always want to make sure that we are being thoughtful about whose voices are being lifted up, whose voices are heard and whose voices are not at the table. Though the One Rouge Leadership Council is seen as the protector of One Rouge or the champion of One Rouge and its commitment to community voice and a whole bunch of other words that I'm not even sure right now I'm allowed to say. But we are the, we the One Rouge Leadership Council is focused on that inclusivity model. And so we ask people to serve for a year on the One Rouge Leadership Council with the idea that we would open, hello, with the idea that we would open up and open this up yearly for new voices and new energy and or the same energy. And so this in a couple of months, or nope, this is September. We're in September. Sorry y'all in September. We're going to open up the Leadership Council. So anyone who is interested in serving on the leadership council and helping to work on this public awareness campaign. And to, and or to work on this funding analysis please email us, drop your name in the chat, any of that kind of stuff. The current leadership council is looking at who else needs to be at the table. And so again, it's a one year commitment. And so if you are one of those people who gets on calls and say, Oh, it's. It's the same old voices at the table, then I would ask you to think of some new voices and send them our way. So three asked of you before I stop talking the first one follow us on socials amplify the message. We want as many people aware of the drivers of poverty in our work to disrupt them and our meaning everybody on this call and more. So follow us on social second ask, complete the funding landscape analysis so that we have a good idea of where resources are in our community and where they are not. And thirdly if the coalition work seems too specific for your taste and you want to take the big picture approach for the community, the leadership council is where it's at. So drop your name, in the chat and be a part of that work. I think that's it. I can answer your questions in the chat.
Casey: Yeah, that's right. I said yes, please put your questions in the chat. Sherreta, thank you for all that. And, I couldn't help I couldn't help smile a little bit, right? Like we're four years into this work together. Look at Dr. Bell right there, like hanging out better dressed than me today. It's cool. I know you're trying to show me off. It's cool. We've been in this work for four years, right? And we've been building in the coalition work doing the work and we're, ladies and gentlemen, we're just launching social media. I think that there's a lot of reasons for that, but clearly You can be in that organization that talks about what you're going to do. You can say what the problems are, but you really can't say what the solutions are and collective impact until you come to what those solutions are together. And that takes years of work together and dedication. Whether you snap, whether you clap. Or if you want to jump up and do a jumping jack, I want to give it up to everybody who has built One Rouge over the last four years together. 240 Fridays plus Fridays together. I think I'm saying the number right. If it's 220, forgive me. Yeah, it's 220. It's 220 Fridays together. And then all of the countless work group meetings and Weekly calls and all of the work. But clearly, when you look at One Rouge we're not like the normal band Rouge movements that are about the press releases.We're about the work. And thank you MetroMorphosis for helping us build this model together. I want to open it up. To anybody who has been who was at attended any of the one reach meetings last week and would like to add their thoughts and then we'll move to community announcements. Kina, I see you're off mute. I didn't know if that was on purpose or if you had something that you would like to drop into the middle of the table. Okay. Keena, it was awesome hanging out with you last week. Thank you so much. Anybody else? Anybody want to share? All right. If that is the case, Tia, you have any parting thoughts before we move to community announcements? I see you got your hands full, literally.
Tia: Literally, but you know what? I'm always grateful for the space to have a working environment that allows me to. Have my baby at work when needed. Outside of what was already shared. I just want to thank everybody for the work that you have been doing throughout the years and to continue, keep doing the good work. And if you have a project or initiative that you need assistance with, please reach out to One Rouge, because we are more than willing to amplify the message and do the work that needs to be done. And now I will go ahead to community announcements. I've dropped a few flyers. Thank you, Reverend Anderson, to make sure that I'm always aware of what's going on in the community. But if you have anything going on this weekend, please feel free to hop off a mute and share with the community.
Casey: There is nothing going on this weekend. Nobody's doing any events. Everybody's hiding on their couches and binge watching something. That's okay. Yep. Somewhere I got a head nod. All right. Awesome. All right, folks. Look let's go ahead and start this three day weekend, right? Please everyone be safe but have fun, find joy this weekend, and we will be back at the same time next Friday, and appreciate everything that you do, and we'll just keep it as an open mic in case anybody has anything they want to talk about. Thank y'all so much, and thank you to all our co chairs for presenting today.
Tia: I do have one quick announcement. So next Friday we'll be touching on September is Suicide Awareness Month as well as Hispanic Heritage Celebration Month. So kicking off the week, we will be speaking on suicide awareness and mental health resources. So if you or someone that you know is in that space, please shoot them my email so that I can make contact with them. And then the following months we'll have some great speakers. Speakers from the Hispanic community, whether in the business community, education, as well as arts and music. So look forward to that.
Casey: Awesome. Thank you, Tia. And Reverend Anderson, I hope that your dual life as an activist and a TV star is going well. I saw you I saw you on, I believe WBRZ this week. Speaking truth to power as always. And I know you're also a proud mama of that the campaign. So hope you.
Reverend Anderson: That's very kind of you Casey, not sure I'd use the definition of the TV stars as much as an amplified microphone.
Casey: Hey, take it when you can get it, right? That's it.
Reverend Anderson: I have been blessed in that space. So I am very grateful for our local media. That pays attention. So I'm very grateful for that. And I would just like to say, I know, thank you Tia for putting it in the chat that Preach is celebrating its 25th anniversary. And so we have a number of programs and one of the ones I'm most proud of, it's our voice to books, not bars. Program that really does focus on how we can make reading so much more impactful for K through third grade young men of color. And so we're celebrating our partners tomorrow with a luncheon. And we're just super excited because among the young people who have helped make this program. Amazing is a young man who is now graduating from Southern University and wrote his first book at 11. We are just super excited about the partners, the power of reading, and if I can just say one thing very quickly we do a lot of work with carceral facilities, but we also do a lot of work with educational facilities. The through line has been, for most of our educators, Literacy is not being achieved. That's a critical. So it ceases to be a pre K conversation. It's gotta be a lifelong conversation. And I have been really blown, even with all the research that we know, how many people do not master the skill. And as they keep going to the next level in life, it becomes just much more challenging. So one of the things that we're super excited about is one of the speakers. Is going to talk to us about that topic. So I just wanted to put that nugget out there that I think we assume when people reach a certain age, that somehow they are literate. And I think particularly in Louisiana, that has turned out not to be the case. And it is one of the most critical life skills that is missing. And we hear it from kindergarten teachers. We hear it from employers. This is a program we're just super excited about, and thank you so much for all your support. I really do appreciate that.
Casey: Yeah, Rev. We got you, and you still got your VIP parking anytime that you need it.
Reverend Anderson: Which way things are going, I'mma need that a lot.
Casey: Yeah, that is true. This is true. Alright, good people. Dr. Bell, what you got going on these days? What's going on?
Flitcher Bell: I'm actually headed to Opelousas right now about to jump off the call. Got to be there. But there's a program for re entry and employers and sector hiring there. So I'm going to make a presentation there. Then I got to get back here for a hiring event that they're having at the, I was Bakery right there on Florida today.
Casey: You just blew my followup question out because it sounds like you're going somewhere that a bakery is probably going to have food for you after, but if you roll through Opelousas, are you for are you a fan of mama's chicken or have you ever gotten down with it?
Flitcher: Yes. I am a big fan of mama's chicken big fan of Billy's and all of good eating places.
Casey: All the driving back and forth to Dallas, right? Opelousas is like one of those those forks in the road, right? And the problem with Mama's Chicken is that you have to make sure that you're on the way back to Baton Rouge because if you eat there before and you have to make it all the way to Dallas, it makes for a very sleepy drive. I said, so it's on the way home for sure. All right, man. Look, have a good have a good trip. It's good to see you. We don't ever run into each other as often as I'd like, so I wanted to take out, no, we schedule,
Flitcher: We need to schedule something. Sit down.
Casey: This is true. So my question to you is, what did you order yesterday? And so absorb us.
Summer Steib: We had the halloumii and the Euro plate, and that's what I'll be having for my lunch today. The leftovers.
Casey: Right on. I was sharing to everybody that when I was like 10 years old is when I started going to the Athenian Grill on South Sherwood Forest when Dino and Sophia opened their first restaurant and we followed them through my whole life. And when they moved back, I was like, just ecstatic. And so I get exactly the same thing every single time. And it's the gyro with the potatoes, the way with the lemon zest. And I try to stay away from the hummus and like 20 loaves of peanut bread, but sometimes I'm unsuccessful, but it was really, it was delicious. And I had a really nice time, but it was good to see you. Yeah.
Summer: Yeah, absolutely.
Casey: Yeah, there you go, everybody, like y'all cared what Summer and I ate for lunch, but it's our Zoom time and you can't mute me. Actually, Helena can and she does. Alright, everyone, anybody else got anything to share? Alright, great. Look, we're gonna shut it down, have an awesome weekend, and we'll see everybody next week. Bye bye.
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