Old South Baton Rouge Recieves Fresh Coat of Paint

Old South Baton Rouge Homes Receive Fresh Coat of Paint

Homeowners receive assistance with home repairs from CPEX, City Year and community volunteers.

BATON ROUGE (November 24, 2009)— On Tuesday, November 24 from 9am-5pm three Old South Baton Rouge (OSBR) residences will receive a fresh coat of paint as part of the OSBR Home Rehabilitation Grant program. The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) will partner with City Year to paint the exterior of the homes located on Oklahoma Street as part of the third round of CPEX’s Home Rehab program.

The first two rounds of this program successfully repaired three homes within the community.  After an overwhelming number of applications, seven homes were selected to receive renovations for this round. This competitive grant program is part of a continuing project started by CPEX to bring reinvestment to OSBR, the historic community between LSU and downtown. Boo Thomas, Executive Director for CPEX stated, “The Home Rehab program provides a great opportunity to repair existing owner-occupied homes and recognize the pride of this historic community, key to revitalizing OSBR.” The Home Rehab grants are funded by Capital One, the East Baton Rouge Mortgage Finance Authority, NeighborWorks America, and Entergy. Food donations for this event were generously provided by The Den, located at 2256 Highland Road and Pastimes located at 252 South Blvd.

This grant program was initiated in 2005 following the creation of a master plan for the neighborhood.  As a part of the OSBR Neighborhood and Economic Revitalization Strategy, CPEX focuses on revitalizing existing housing and businesses, while integrating mixed-income housing and multi-use development into the area.  The Home Rehab grant applications are available online at www.planningexcellence.org or by calling (225) 267-6300.  To volunteer, please call Kelly at (225) 267-6300.

About CPEX

The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) is a non-profit organization that coordinates urban, rural and regional planning efforts in Louisiana. We provide best-practice planning models, innovative policy ideas, and technical assistance to individual communities that wish to create and enact master plans dealing with transportation and infrastructure needs, equitable housing opportunities, environmental issues, and quality design for the built environment.  CPEX brings community members and leaders together and provides guidance as they work toward a shared vision for future growth and development. 

About City Year

City Year is an international non-profit organization with 18 sites in the US and one in Johannesburg, South Africa and is a proud member of AmeriCorps. City Year brings together a diverse group of 17-24 year olds for a year of full-time community service serving in schools as tutors, mentors, role models and leaders of after-school programs. As well, City Year engages community members, corporate partners and civic leaders to transform communities through physical service projects. City Year Louisiana serves in 4 schools in Baton Rouge: Progress Elementary, Glen Oaks Park Elementary, Magnolia Woods Elementary, and Broadmoor Middle; as well as serving in three high schools in New Orleans.