The recipient entity's physical address:
           460 N 11th St
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

The recipient entity's mailing address (if different):
           448 N 11th St
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Type of Entity (for instance, a nonprofit corporation):  Non-Profit Corporation

If the entity is a corporation, list the names of the incorporators:
          

The last four digits of the entity's taxpayer ID number:  7597

What is the dollar amount of the request?  $444,181

What type of request is this?  Capital Outlay Appropriation

Is this entity in good standing with the Secretary of State?  Yes

Provide the name of each member of the recipient entity's governing board and officers:
           Board of Directors:
Lisa Gray Adamek: 6113 Chandler Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Jessica Tucker Baghian: 794 Longwood Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Karen R. Breaux: 732 Ross Turn Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70810
Regina Davis: 3861 Scenic Hwy, Baton Rouge, LA 70805
Jonathan Halperin Earle, PhD: 307 French House, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Carissa Joy Vanderleest Graves: 2805 Kleinert Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70806
David Allen Luecke: 3611 Stanford Oaks Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Mikki Ceasar Mathews: 118 S Dorgenois St, New Orleans, LA 70119
Chaunda Allen Mitchell, PhD: 13018 Quail Meadow Dr, Baton Rouge, LA 70817
Natalie Trellis Robertson: University Administration Building, 3810 W Lakeshore Dr Ste 124, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Dr. Michael L. Rolfsen: 7373 Perkins Rd, Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Lauren Tarver Tatman: 445 North Blvd, Ste 800, Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Garrett Bartholomew Temple: 1333 N. Stemmons Fwy, Ste 105, Dallas, TX 75207

Executive Officer:
Josh Howard: 1246 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70806

Key Personnel:
Rhonda Irwin-Ikechukwu: 6712 Tanglewood Drive, Addis, LA 70710
Alexis Washington: 427 S Church St, Garyville, LA 70051
Marcus Washington: 2018 Connie Drive, Denham Springs, LA 70726
Myeisha Anderson: 3020 Twin Lakes Ct, Zachary, LA 70791

Provide a summary of the project or program:
           Proposal: The Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, Inc. (BRYC) requests $444,181 in capital outlay appropriation funds to complete critical safety and security repairs to its downtown campus located at 460 and 448 N 11th Street in Baton Rouge. BRYC commits to raising 25% of the total project budget (an investment of $148,065) from local individual, foundation, and corporate funders.

History and Current Operations: BRYC was founded in 2009 when two Belaire High School teachers realized that even their brightest students would struggle to achieve postsecondary success due to inequitable education and resource gaps. For 18 years, BRYC has built and refined its model here in Louisiana. In 2026–2027, BRYC serves 470 low-income 8th–12th-grade Fellows across two full-sized campuses (Downtown and Airline) and advises more than 500 seniors inside Belaire, Capitol, Glen Oaks, Istrouma, and Northeast high schools. BRYC's 1,048 alumni persist in postsecondary programs at 84% — over three times the national average for economically disadvantaged students — and have been granted 486 degrees and credentials and more than $115 million in scholarships. Our alumni cohort is on track to earn $19 million in increased annual wages and yield $163 million in additional lifetime tax value.

Project Scope & Impact: BRYC has continually occupied the downtown campus since 2015; in that time, the number of students enrolled in weekly after-school programs has surged from 105 to 350 — a 233% increase. Staff and volunteer numbers have grown in tandem. BRYC is savvy about space, but it could be even more so given the means to repurpose several areas of unfinished or ill-fitted square footage.

More urgently, the roof of BRYC’s classroom building is nearing 20 years old and failing, threatening harm to students, property, and the structure's integrity. The building also lacks fire sprinklers or any fire prevention system besides extinguishers. An existing perimeter fence has proven ineffective at keeping unknown persons from entering BRYC’s grounds at will. In the event of a sudden storm, fire, dangerous trespasser, or other emergency, there is no building-wide PA system to alert occupants and direct them to safety.

With capital outlay appropriation funds, BRYC proposes replacing the roof; increasing the height of the perimeter fencing and installing taller, more secure gates; and installing fire sprinklers and a multi-zone PA system. To create more usable interior space, we will finish out a large basement room in the adjacent office building as a multipurpose gathering area and turn a non-working bathroom into a functional private shower students can access as needed. Outdoors, we will remove a detached shed that is insufficient for storage and construct a concrete-block storage room with secure, direct entry to the classroom building. We will restore the exterior walls of the classroom and office buildings by removing chalked paint, sealing cracks and seams, and repainting. Finally, we will demolish a deteriorated concrete slab that is unusable for parking and erect a 58' × 39' court, providing students with facilities for physical activity outside where they are protected from vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot.

BRYC is among Baton Rouge’s best, but the assets that make it exceptional are largely invisible: postsecondary advising expertise; unmatched employee culture; strategic partnerships that span region and industry; and a foundational drive to see Louisiana’s young people succeed in high school and beyond. In its current condition, BRYC’s physical infrastructure doesn’t match its institutional heft, nor the safety standards its community deserves.

What is the budget relative to the project for which funding is requested?:
          Salaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . $0
          Professional Services. . . $49,354
          Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . $190,468
          Acquisitions . . . . . . . . . $0
          Major Repairs . . . . . . . $0
          Operating Services. . . . $303,070
          Other Charges. . . . . . . $49,354

Does your organization have any outstanding audit issues or findings?  No

If 'Yes' is your organization working with the appropriate governmental agencies to resolve those issues or findings?
          Not Applicable

What is the entity's public purpose, sought to be achieved through the use of state monies?
          When you consider that Louisiana invests roughly $8 billion to carry a single graduating class from kindergarten through 12th grade, it's hard to believe we would leave the final step to chance. But we do. At the very moment students decide what comes after high school, most receive little individualized guidance, and the return on the state's investment hangs in the balance.

This gap belies two concerning realities. First, students don't know what pays. According to the Blanco Public Policy Center, an associate degree in engineering can out-earn a bachelor's degree in education, and many skilled trades outpace the average bachelor's degree in Louisiana. Yet few students, and fewer parents, know about the aid available for technical training, the credentials employers value, or the high-demand fields growing in their own parish. Second, students don't know how to navigate the path they choose. While 80% of community college starters intend to earn a bachelor's degree, only 16% do. Six in 10 begin in general studies, one of the least transferable fields of study, losing time and money they can't afford to lose.

Since 2009, BRYC has worked to limit these gaps. As we tell our students every day, it's not just about where you go; it's about how you go. BRYC prepares Fellows to succeed after high school by training them to be self-regulated learners and self-advocates and guiding them toward strong-fit, responsible postsecondary plans, which include four-year colleges, applied associate degrees, trade programs, apprenticeships, and military service. But we don't stop there. BRYC's persistence team helps alumni complete their credentials and secure career-track jobs.

BRYC is not asking the state to build something new; we are asking it to invest in what is already working here. Louisiana has the highest percentage of native-born residents of any state in the country, and nearly 80% of BRYC graduates remain in their home state, meaning the state directly benefits from their increased earning potential and tax contributions. We have learned over the past 18 years that it requires an enormous investment of time and resources to help even one financially disadvantaged student navigate high school, choose a pathway that pays, complete it, and secure employment. The quality of the spaces this work happens in matters, because it signals to low-income students what the decision-makers in their lives believe they are worth. This funding will make it unequivocally clear that Louisiana believes its young people should be protected from harm, healthy in body, and supported in their efforts to earn credentials of value and become skilled professionals who propel our state forward.

What are the goals and objectives for achieving such purpose?
          BRYC’s objective for this project is to serve more of Louisiana’s low-income youth each year while maintaining strong postsecondary enrollment and completion outcomes. At minimum, this requires safe, durable, and well-equipped learning and recreation spaces.

BRYC’s capital outlay appropriations request is aligned with three strategic priorities:

1. Operate a 21st Century Community Learning Center from the Downtown Campus, leveraging federal grant funding to reach more academically diverse students.

2. Establish a centrally located headquarters from which to plan and administer the expansion of in-school services into neighboring parishes.

3. Ahead of BRYC’s 20th anniversary in 2029, “future-proof” existing infrastructure to minimize maintenance and overhead costs over the next 20 years.

BRYC’s objective for the young people it reaches through after-school programs, in-school advising, and persistence services is to help them access affordable postsecondary credentials and family-sustaining employment.

If funded, BRYC’s capital outlay appropriations request will support this objective and three key results:

1. At least 90% of alumni will matriculate into an affordable, strong-fit postsecondary degree or credential-granting program within six months of high school graduation.

2. At least 80% of alumni who matriculate will complete a degree or credential of value within six years of high school school graduation.

3. At least 80% of alumni who complete a degree or credential of value will secure a full-time career-track position, paid career-track internship, graduate school placement, or military appointment within six months of conferral.

What is the proposed length of time estimated by the entity to accomplish the purpose?
           BRYC anticipates that all proposed projects will be completed by December 31, 2028.

If any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official is an officer, director, trustee, or employee of the recipient entity who receives compensation or holds any ownership interest therein:
     (a) If an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of the official and the office held by such person:
                 N/A
    
     (b) If an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of such person; the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related; and the nature of the relationship:
                 N/A

     (c) The percentage of the official's or immediate family member's ownership interest in the recipient entity, if any:
                 0

     (d) The position, if any, held by the official or immediate family member in the recipient entity:
                  N/A

If the recipient entity has a contract with any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official or with the state or any political subdivision of the state:
(a) If the contract is with an elected or appointed state official, provide the name and address of the official and the office held by such person: 
               N/A

(b) If the contract is with an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official:
          Provide the name and address of such person:
               N/A

          Provide the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related:
                N/A

          What is the nature of the relationship?  N/A

(c) If the contract is with the state or a political subdivision of the state, provide the name and address of the state entity or political subdivision of the state:
                 East Baton Rouge Parish School System, 1050 S. Foster Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70806

Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Louisiana Department of Education, 1201 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802

(d) The nature of the contract, including a description of the goods or services provided or to be provided pursuant to the contract:
               East Baton Rouge Parish School System: In August 2026, the East Baton Rouge Parish School System granted BRYC a contract worth $301,384.00 to provide in-school postsecondary advising services at five Title I high schools for one year.

Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Louisiana Department of Education: BRYC is an approved Course Choice/Supplemental Course Allocation course provider under a 2026–2029 agreement to provide ACT instruction to public school students. BRYC is not currently under contract with any schools for this service.


Contact Information
name:  Elin Hawkinson 
                                       address:  448 N 11th Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
                                       phone:  2254565752
                                       fax: 
                                       e-mail:  elin@thebryc.org
                                       relationship to entity:  Chief of Product