Co-City Baton Rouge Team is Growing!

The Marron Institute has partnered with the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service to work with a group of Capstone students for the Co-City Baton Rouge project, a multistakeholder approach to economic revitalization in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Capstone team includes Faizah Barlas, an MPA candidate (2020) and an experienced community organizer around environmental and housing justice; Naquita Goldston, an MPA candidate (2020) and analyst with NYC Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget; and Maya Portillo, an MPA candidate (2020) and research analyst with NYU Steinhardt’s Literacy, Technology and Culture Lab.

The team is charged with conducting a global environmental scan on the institutions, governance, and innovative financing mechanisms for community land trusts (CLT) and neighborhood improvement districts (NID) for the Co-City Baton Rouge project. Based on their findings, the team will recommend innovative financing mechanisms as well as institutional and governance structures for the creation of CLT’s and NID’s in economically depressed areas.