The Foundation provides grants to nonprofits to make lives better in the region. It also takes on projects, often with partners, to remake Baton Rouge. One of the first initiatives of the Foundation was Plan Baton Rouge, architect Andres Duany's urban plan for the city center that guided the rebirth of downtown. Here are a few of the projects currently underway at the Foundation:

Old South Baton Rouge - The Foundation hired urban planners to write a strategy for bringing Old South Baton Rouge back to life. The community, located between downtown and LSU, has seen more than $150 million in new investments in just five years. The Foundation now is coordinating efforts to add more housing and retail spaces for the neighborhood. For more, visit OSBR.org.

Louisiana Speaks - The program, overseen by Foundation offshoot Center for Planning Excellence, has provided land plans after Hurricane Katrina for cities, toolkits for rebuilding and the first comprehensive plan for all of South Louisiana. Read the plan at LouisianaSpeaks.org.

Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence - In its second year, the annual book competition will award $10,000 to the best work of fiction submitted by an African-American writer. The winner will be honored in January. The book award recognizes the accomplisments of Mr. Gaines, a Louisiana native and resident considered among the greatest writers of his time. For more information, visit ErnestJGainesAward.org.

CityStats - The project measures the quality of life in East Baton Rouge, telling us how far we have come, where we are and where we need to go. CityStats will produce about 60 quality of life indicators, which will be released as a report and website each year. The goal is to use the indicators to move our community towards a shared vision. For more, visit BRCityStats.org

For additional information about Foundation initiatives, e-mail Mukul Verma of the communications department at mverma@braf.org.