BATON ROUGE - The efforts to clean up Baton Rouge are now moving to the northern half of the city.

Wednesday night, the EBR Metro Council approved the initiative to create an extension of the volunteer litter pick-up group, Keep Tiger Town Beautiful. The new group will be called Keep Jaguar Nation Beautiful and will be led by community activist Pat LeDuff. 

Founder of Keep Tiger Town Beautiful and newly-appointed to Mayor-President Sid Edwards' transition team Jennifer Richardson said a lack of resources and funding has kept the group south of Florida Boulevard until now.

In the years her group has been active, they have focused on the southern part of the parish because that is where they "live, work and play."

"If you never go to North Baton Rouge except to go to the airport, and if people from North Baton Rouge never come to South Baton Rouge, they can't keep track of what's going on litter-wise," Richardson said. 

Councilman Darryl Hurst worked alongside Richardson and LeDuff to organize this effort. Republic Services has agreed to pick up bags of trash collected during clean up days. New trash cans will be placed on street corners around North Baton Rouge, courtesy of Benny's Car Wash. 

According to Hurst, Southern University Chancellor John Pierre has adopted the new program at Southern University.

Councilman Anthony Kenny was also involved and his goal is cleaning the corridors surrounding Southern. In an effort to get volunteers on a regular basis, the Council on Aging is sourcing the senior population and Together Baton Rouge is organizing their neighborhoods and churches to become involved.

Richardson said the unity under the new mayor is powerful. 

"This is what everyone wants right? Is to bring a community together out of love and concern and the love of Baton Rouge," Richardson said. 

The first cleanup in Jaguar Nation is set for Saturday, Jan. 18 at 8 a.m. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Lotus Center on Main Street.