REBUILDING TOGETHER BATON ROUGE INC

RTBR envisions a thriving 70805 neighborhood, where elderly, veterans and disabled homeowners no longer live in homes that should be demolished. In August 2016, am unnamed storm dumped 30" of water on Baton Rouge in 3 days. 90,000 homes in East Baton Rouge Parish flooded and 8,000+ of those were in 70805, the poorest zip code in Baton Rouge. We work daily to fix faulty plumbing, structural issues, leaky roofs, and rebuild flooded homes for elderly homeowners who live below the poverty line and have no means to make basic needed home repairs, much less rebuild a flooded home. We focus on the most neglected and vulnerable people in America. People who worked their entire lives and still live in poverty.

RTBR took the time during COVID to improve our data management systems, upgrading to Sales Force for non-profits. We now have the infrastructure, systems and capacity to triple our work. Due to funding restraints, we cannot at this time hire more project managers to work and supervise volunteer efforts. With funding, we are ready to take on more work right away! RTBR will embark on a capacity building campaign in the Fall of 2021 to add project managers. With additional staff, we will increase our completed projects from 150 to as many as 300.

RTBR also cemented relationships in the past year with several local skill companies offering us deep discounts to roofs and HVAC systems critical to keeping a home dry and livable in the South. With unprecedented rainfall in the past year and unbearable summer heat, these relationships are invaluable.

As the only non-profit focusing on this problem, we work Mon-Friday, to handle the hundreds of requests for help we receive. Our staff of 7 catalog requests, organize volunteers, provide necessary materials and tools at each job site, manage and supervise the volunteer labor, and when necessary, RTBR does the work.

We utilize donated trucks, a warehouse, several trailers, www.rtbr.org, FaceBook, Sales Force for Non-Profits and a cloud based phone system allowing volunteers and staff to answer calls to make daily work happen. We currently receive/make over 1,000 calls a month to intake applications.

This spring, RTBR applied for a three year HUD grant Older Adults Home Modifications grant which, if received, will allow us to continue the work we do with government funding. We should hear if we receive the funding in August, 2021.

2020 was a challenging year because of COVID. Most of our clients are vulnerable elderly homeowners. Many are disabled and do not leave the home. RTBR's consistent volunteers, the Silver Hammers, are retired and could not make it out last year as well. Most of the repairs were completed by staff, or were exterior projects enabling volunteers to work. 2021 has already proven to be a much more productive year with more volunteers coming out now.

RTBR 2020 numbers:

Total Homes Served: 123
Total Repairs Completed: 238
Total Residents Helped: 249
Call Volume: 5287

Typical repairs include: 37 ramps, 42 roofs, 5 flooded home rebuilds, 13 handrails, and 7 HVACs

Average home rebuild: $16,000
Average ramp cost: $1800.00

Average age of accepted applicant is 69.5

History:
We rebuilt a 4 street neighborhood in Glen Oaks in 2017 (19 flooded homes that met our criteria). The entire neighborhood came back, every home rebuilt, because we were there for a year. We would like to begin to rebuild 70805 a few streets at a time in a similar fashion. To date, we have helped hundreds of homes in 70805, but not in a coordinated fashion. Our goal is to begin neighborhood rebuild, enhancing the entire street.

Even though COVID set us back with volunteer work, we have not lost pace in repairs completed. Our staff has been together 5 years, now. We have systems and structure allowing us to maximize our small staff of 6 to the greatest degree. We would like to add 2 more handymen this year, enabling us to help twice the number of applicants. RTBR would like to implement a structured Safe and Healthy Home Program in every home we work in 2022. This will require funding for the program and staff but will help prevent falls and offer critical repairs we currently cannot fund.

Our staff is seasoned and ready to take on new work!