BATON ROUGE — Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Scotlandville became the neighborhood's first Community Lighthouse on Monday, a resilience hub built to help residents during prolonged power outages and disasters.

The event introduced a trained team of Lighthouse Keepers who will activate the hub when it is needed. Elected leaders, funders and healthcare providers attended.

The Community Lighthouse is equipped with solar power, battery storage and emergency resources. It is designed to help residents power medical equipment, keep medicine cold, charge phones and find a trusted place to go when the power goes out.

Immaculate Conception has played this kind of role before. During the 2016 floods, the church mobilized food, volunteers and other resources to help people across Baton Rouge.

Scotlandville's new hub is part of a statewide Community Lighthouse network created by Together Louisiana. The network spans from New Orleans to Shreveport-Bossier and now Baton Rouge.

Together Louisiana is a statewide network of community organizations whose leaders work together to develop and advance solutions to shared problems. Together Baton Rouge, a coalition of congregations, labor unions, civic organizations and community institutions, is part of that network.