LSU Highlights

Street painting
These murals hang in a vacant lot in Pittsburgh, PA. Local school children designed and painted the murals for the purpose of beautifying the area near their school. Volunteers from the neighboring university helped to properly hang the murals and continue to keep the lot free of debris. LSU hopes to do something similar to this in cooperation with the neighborhood community north of the campus.

HUD community group shot
Ring the Bells for Unity

Ceremonies were held in May of 2002 to mark the beginning phase of the HUD grant work. Local clergy, community leaders, and representatives from LSU gathered to sign declarations of commitment and celebrate the partnership between the University and its neighboring community.

From L to R: Father Than Vu, Reverend Jennifer Jones, Minister Imam Fahmee M. Sabree, LSU Chancellor Mark Emmert, Reverend Bertel Davis, Reverend Charles T. Smith, Reverend Edward Howard, and Colonel Harold T. Webb.

Building Partnerships

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded LSU and community partners a $400,000 grant to support outreach efforts to Old South Baton Rouge, a neighborhood between campus and the downtown area.

The three-year federal grant has funded a Community Outreach Partnership Center. City-parish agencies, public officials, and community organizations, as well as faculty, staff, and students of LSU, have been working together and using the funding to revitalize the neighborhood, increase community organization and development, and improve economic development.

LSU faculty and students met with community stakeholders to identify the specific needs of the area. A variety of projects already being planned include the following:

The LSU School of Architecture and Baton Rouge Green are making plans to landscape and beautify Thomas Delpit Drive, a main thoroughfare of the community.
The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine will help the community’s feral cat problem by spaying and neutering the stray feline population.
The LSU School of Social Work will host a grant-writing workshop for community and church leaders so they may learn how to apply for federal funding.
The LSU Law Center and the Baton Rouge Bar Association have established a legal clinic that will provide citizens with assistance on property title and succession matters.
The LSU Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering plans to use faculty and students to design and build a new community playground.
The LSU Oral History Center will continue its oral history project of Old South Baton Rouge by training students from McKinley High School to collect recorded data.

In a recent project, students involved in the AIAS (American Institute of Architectural Students) painted a senior member's home in the community near LSU. To view larger images from the fix-up campaign, click on the thumbnail images.