Southern University and A&M College, the only historically black land grant university system in the United States, announces a new initiative to plan for the future of the university and surrounding community. Southern University (SU) has embarked on a master planning process to provide a comprehensive plan that focuses on increasing enrollment and upgrading infrastructure, while expanding the university’s support of the local community. In collaboration with East Baton Rouge Parish officials, Scotlandville community leaders, SU alumni, students, faculty, administration and community neighbors, efforts are underway to seek out community input that is representative of the diversity of the community. The twelve-month planning process will offer a variety of opportunities to become involved and remain engaged throughout the project.

IMAGINE 20K, a long-term strategic plan for the campus, provided the foundation for SU, the Southern University Alumni Federation, and the Southern University System Foundation to dream big about how the campus will grow in the coming years. This current planning effort will build upon recommendations and successes of past plans and make future recommendations based on current conditions and opportunities that will guide the University and surrounding neighborhoods into the future.

The Scotlandville Neighborhood Area Plan will connect the campus with the surrounding community. It will also provide a strategic plan and framework to spur housing and mixed use development to support the university and adjacent neighborhoods. Multimodal transportation opportunities, traffic flow into the university, and signage will also be included. This work will be done in conjunction with the campus master plan.

This planning effort is preceded by others undertaken for SU and the surrounding area over the last decade. The Community Improvement Plan created by Build Baton Rouge in 2011 and the Scotlandville Community Development Plan created by the Southern University School of Architecture, also in 2011, set the framework for improvements within the community. This current planning effort will build upon recommendations and successes of past plans and make future recommendations based on current conditions and opportunities that will guide the University and surrounding neighborhoods into the future. Southern University leadership supports the planning effort as key to creating an environment that is most conducive to learning and positioning the university to do more to catalyze economic development in North Baton Rouge.

A short-term Implementation Action Plan and assistance will build on the Campus Master Plan and the Scotlandville Small Area Plan to develop scenarios and options for the revitalization of the community. It will address the following items, as outlined by the Southern University System Foundation:

●        Demonstration projects/engagement events to spur development and interest

●        Small business and local entrepreneur program in cooperation with Southern University