Metromorphosis celebrates 10 years of serving urban neighborhoods

MetroMorphosis10Year, In the News, January

By Shannon Heckt, BR Proud

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – For ten years now Metromorphosis has been working to highlight the resources in inner-city neighborhoods throughout Baton Rouge to better set up those communities for success. 

When Metromorphosis began their main focuses were putting an end to predatory lending, getting access to fresh foods and finding ways to keep neighborhoods from falling behind. The organization recognizes that real change can’t be imported into these areas but has to be born from them.Gov. Edwards to discuss launch of beautification task-force in press conference Tuesday 

“The people who live and work in these communities, in our communities, they know best about what it takes to address the challenges and so they know what works and what doesn’t work. They know the assets,” said Sherreta Harrison, Sustainability Catalyst for Metromorphosis.

Metromorphosis does a lot of work with Black men and boys to recognize their contributions to the city and create safeguards to identify anyone who may be at risk.

“We have to address many of the underlying challenges that we see every day on the news in our community and hopefully people will realize that there isn’t a quick fix,” said Raymond Jetson, Chief Executive Catalyst. “What we are seeing are symptoms that are deeply rooted.”

For their future goals, they hope to continue to build up important resources in these areas of Baton Rouge to make it a place where everyone in the community has the tools for success.

“To build, not fix. The neighborhoods are not broken. What they need is to be recognized for the assets that are there,” Jetson said.Dad from Lakewood, NJ vanishes during trip to New Orleans 

On Monday, the organization celebrated its decade of work and recognized Eugene Collins of the NAACP for his work in the community. Martin Luther King Day was chosen to mark the milestone since much of their advocacy revolves around his fight for equality.

“At Metromorphosis we believe each and every one of us has a role to play in bringing about the change we want to see in our beloved community,” Harrison said. “We believe that when given the resources and the time, the people who live and work in a community will be the ones to address whatever challenges present themselves there.”

The organization has events throughout the year to continue to highlight these resources and to listen to the community’s needs.