Center for World Affairs loses city-parish funding, could close

Published Dec 14, 2011 at 3:14 pm (Updated Dec 14, 2011)

The organization behind Baton Rouge's International Heritage Celebration is facing a "death blow" after the Metro Council voted Tuesday night to give its funding to another group. The council voted to redirect $115,000 from the Center for World Affairs to the Louisiana Youth Leadership Institute. Councilman Ulysses "Bones" Addison called for the amendment to help the youth leadership institute, which, he says, "provides services for youth all over Baton Rouge." But Center for World Affairs President Monika Olivier warns the move would effectively kill her organization—which annually operates on a total budget of $150,000. "This is really a death blow for us. If no change happens, we will have to close our doors, period," Olivier says. "I'm utterly in shock. This came without any kind of warning. We've been doing this for 14 years." Along with the International Heritage Celebration, the center annually puts on the International Tasting Fair and Cooking Competition, and was planning the Sister Cities Tennis Tournament. "We do unbelievable stuff with very little money," Olivier says. The group employs two and relies on a bank of volunteers to carry out its duties. Olivier hopes to rally those volunteers at today's regular Metro Council meeting to protest the realocation of funds. "It would be a crying shame to discontinue what we built," she says. "They don't understand what they're throwing out." The council meets at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St. —Ian McGibboney