Learning Community : Baton Rouge Area Chamber

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Education is a profoundly important determinant of our ability to attract new business development and sustain our existing business community. When businesses contemplate locations for expansion or relocation, access to a high-quality workforce is a prime consideration, as is the quality of the K-12 school system.

As a consequence, BRAC's economic development efforts rest on our ability to develop and sustain high-quality educational institutions and to train individuals capable of making a contribution to the economy.

BRAC is leading a comprehensive effort to position the Baton Rouge area as a learning community wherein the pursuit of knowledge is a lifelong goal and an asset that advances economic opportunity and prosperity in our region.

Education

Public Education

BRAC spent significant resources in 2008 working to improve public education in our area, especially in East Baton Rouge Parish (EBR). BRAC endorsed a school system tax renewal that successfully passed and also released a strategy paper, entitled Connecting Learning with Economic Growth: Supporting Legislative Action to Improve Public Education, which articulates the importance of quality public education for sustained economic growth and a quality workforce.

Later work revolved around the search for a new EBR school superintendent and advocacy for the state to takeover twelve failing EBR schools identified by the state’s accountability rankings. Ultimately, eight of the twelve Academically Unacceptable Schools were placed in Recovery School District – a strong compromise BRAC supported to solve the issues and challenges for the children.

BRAC has publicly supported initiatives proposed by local school boards that were designed to enhance K-12 public education in the Baton Rouge area.

Higher Education

Recognizing that research universities significantly support and drive knowledge-based economies, BRAC’s efforts in higher education have been, and remain, considerable. BRAC’s 2009 Agenda and 2009 legislative priorities include emphasis on ensuring the competitiveness of all higher education institutions in the Baton Rouge area.

Last year, BRAC released a strategy paper, entitled Developing the Flagship: Supporting State Investments in Louisiana State University, outlining the importance of proposed legislation to the transformation of LSU into a premier public research university. BRAC also endorsed six pieces of legislation increasing operating and infrastructure funding for LSU.

BRAC has also been instrumental in securing significant recurring funding from the Louisiana Legislature to support higher education across the state. Such funding increases enable our region’s higher education institutions - Louisiana State University (LSU), Southern University, and Baton Rouge Community College - to increase their effectiveness in education and research.

Workforce

Through the Learning Community initiative, BRAC is also spearheading efforts to enhance the region’s workforce development programs.

A notable 2008 legislative reform success story was the overhaul of the workforce delivery systems. BRAC endorsed workforce reform legislation and released a position paper, entitled Workforce Solutions: Governor Jindal’s Comprehensive Workforce Redesign Legislative Package, that detailed the link between the proposed redevelopment of Louisiana’s workforce systems and the workforce challenges of the Capital Region.

In 2007, BRAC worked with a pair of nationally-recognized economic and workforce development consultants to assess the nine-parish area’s current labor supply and demand, job candidate strength’s and weaknesses, current workforce development efforts, and untapped labor resources. Working with a regional workforce taskforce it assembled, BRAC developed an action plan, entitled 2007 Baton Rouge Area Workforce Assessment, to address the workforce challenges that our region faces.

Major components of our 2006 Learning Community efforts included an award-winning five-part research series on public education in the region, voter resources for the September school board elections, and a half-day training course for those considering public office. This research series later aided in the development of a five-year strategic action plan for improving student achievement levels across the Baton Rouge area.

Community Involvement

BRAC is also a proud founding partner of The Greater Baton Rouge Literacy Coalition, a group dedicated to promoting adult literacy through the creation, maintenance, and sustainability of an integrated, cohesive, and well-managed system that supports literacy service providers.