Join | Member Login | Member Directory | Media Relations | Contact

• About BRAC
• Who We Are
• Campaign for a Greater B.R.
• Board of Directors
• Staff
• Contact Us
• Canvas Workshop
• Baton Rouge Leadership
• News & Events
• Membership
• Issues and Action

The Campaign for a Greater Baton Rouge is a five-year initiative designed to deliver a highly professional and proactive, nationally competitive regional economic development program for the businesses and families of the Baton Rouge area. The campaign enables BRAC to identify strategic economic development initiatives and pursue them energetically while identifying obstacles and aggressively addressing them.

The vision for The Campaign for a Greater Baton Rouge emerged in 2004 under the leadership of a visionary BRAC Board of Directors. Since that time, the Baton Rouge area has faced the challenges and opportunity thrust upon it by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, and has become Louisiana's most populous region. While the hurricanes accelerated our emergence as the economic center of the state and provided a one-time infusion of population and investment, it is critical that during this time we provide the business leadership necessary to ensure that we properly manage that growth.

The initiative is made up of seven strategic elements that work together to drive economic development in the Baton Rouge area. In pursuing these strategies (summarized below), BRAC will focus regionally. It is critical that national businesses view our nine parishes (Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, West Baton Rouge, and West Feliciana) as one market, better enabling us to attract and retain desirable businesses to reach our greatest potential.

The Seven Core Strategies:

1. Retain and Expand Existing Businesses: Rather than focusing solely on attracting new industries, we plan to pursue more robust strategies to assist large businesses and high-growth small businesses to become more competitive.
2. Attract New Businesses to Our Region: We will aggressively sell the region's assets to high-potential economic development prospects.
3. Develop a National Marketing Program: We will create a targeted marketing program that includes collateral, conference attendance, and pipeline cultivation initiatives.
4. Create a Robust Business Intelligence Capability: We will provide the information necessary to foster the growth of our region's existing companies, as well as to respond to requests from prospects and site selection consultants.
5. Create a Special Opportunity Fund: This fund allows us to take creative approaches for closing key attraction and retention projects. It also serves as a local match for state funds in competitive situations.
6. Create a Robust Public Policy Capability: Our role is to be a catalyst for change. BRAC will weigh in on issues that impact the business climate and that build our capacity to support a flourishing business community.
7. Launch a Regional Learning Community Initiative: We will provide seed funding for several targeted education initiatives, as well as articulate a vision for the Baton Rouge area to become a learning community wherein the quest for knowledge and growth of understanding is a lifelong journey and an asset of which we can be proud.

Currently, The Campaign for a Greater Baton Rouge has more than 110 investors and continues to grow. The vision for the program is outlined in the Economic Development Campaign Prospectus and progress on its initiatives and programs is reported in the quarterly publication, Catalyst.