SITE OVERVIEW ♦ BATON ROUGE | LOUISIANA
Target Area: Eden Park, Istrouma, Greenville Extension, Midtown, Smiley Heights, Fairfields, and Melrose East • Population: 23,400
Fiscal Agent: City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge
Research Partner: Louisiana State University
Crime Concerns: Gang-related violence, homicides, robbery, aggravated assaults, and other violent crimes
BCJI Funding Year: 2013 Planning & Implementation
Neighborhood Profile
The target area, characterized by blight, neglect, and urban decay, comprises some of the poorest, most distressed neighborhoods in Baton Rouge. The community was once a home for workers employed at nearby petrochemical plants along the Mississippi River. However the neighborhoods were abandoned during the 1960s and 1970s when many of the workers migrated to more modern suburbs. Within the target area, contributors to crime include perceptions of disempowerment by residents, high levels of poverty, disinvestment, and low educational attainment. Other factors contributing to the deep-rooted crime issues include a disproportionate concentration of high-risk residents, limited infrastructure, and deteriorating social and physical conditions.
Planning Process
The planning process for the Baton Rouge BCJI project was led by the City of Baton Rouge and Louisiana State University. They used a mixed-methods approach to collect and analyze data through a neighborhood needs assessment and asset mapping process. This approach included a combination of community surveying, interviews, focus groups, listening and visiting sessions to identify the perceived needs and assets in the community as well as crime drivers. Researchers pursued in-depth crime data collection and analysis, GIS mapping and social network analyses to identify the location and means of criminal activity and violence. As this work concluded, the research team led the community and partners in a process to identify evidence-based police practices and other research-based programs that might be good fits to address crime issues.
Residents participated in all aspects of the research and planning phase, from general participation in community meetings to providing key leadership through service on Community Research and Strategy Development Teams. Planning activities culminated in a series of meetings in April 2015, where residents, cross sector partners and other BCJI leaders discussed research findings and voted on response strategies. In the course of the planning phase, residents elected to name the BCJI initiative and their collective community the “Hope Zone”, and explored ways to integrate BCJI work with other ongoing, effective public safety and community building efforts in the area.
Implementation Strategies
The Baton Rouge BCJI team is working in concert with the Choice Neighborhoods program and other violence prevention efforts, including BRAVE, to pursue a comprehensive and coordinated implementation plan in the Hope Zone. The approach reflects a public health model, employing a continuum of solutions that include prevention, intervention, treatment and reaction/enforcement strategies. Major elements include:
- Implementation of the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission model, which examines specific homicide and violent crime events to prompt multi-sector discussion of why such events occur, factors that could prevent them or reduce their impact, and how policy, program or practice could be improved to enhance safety in Hope Zone hot spots.
- Launch of a legal clinic to advise residents on code enforcement and nuisance abatement issues.
- Delivery of a Youth Empowerment Solutions curriculum, an evidence-based youth violence prevention program that focuses on developing leadership skills, community pride, program planning and resource mobilization.
- Continued organizational and resident capacity-building following a collective impact model, including resident engagement around events and trainings that promote cohesion and community-police collaboration.
- Implementation of a youth wellness and workforce readiness program through Louisiana State University, and other workforce and service programs for hard-to-employ adults in the Zone.
In Spring 2016, Baton Rouge BCJI leaders participated in an intensive course in “SafeGrowth”, facilitated by Gregory Saville of AlterNation and LISC, along with BCJI colleagues from San Antonio and Kansas City. This course supported a variety of the Baton Rouge implementation strategies, particularly related to capacity-building and blight remediation.
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