Renewable energy, health care, aviation among Lafayette Economic Development priorities
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The Lafayette Economic Improvement Authority unveiled a new 3-12 months strategic approach Tuesday, which aims to assist the firm capitalize on the successes of the past numerous several years although continuing to increase the parish’s economic climate.
The strategic program arrives all-around 5 months into Mandi Mitchell’s tenure as the organization’s president and CEO. The LEDA board chose Mitchell to head the group in September soon after Gregg Gothreaux declared he was stepping down after 26 yrs.
Mitchell, who is the very first lady to head LEDA, was formerly the assistant secretary for Louisiana Financial Advancement.
As section of the new strategic plan, LEDA also introduced a new symbol, incorporating style factors from the Acadiana flag.
In the new strategic plan, LEDA outlines many new and ongoing initiatives, as well as how it ideas to measure its achievement in the yrs to arrive. This is a breakdown of some of the important components of the prepare.
Electricity, wellbeing care amongst target industries
The strategic prepare identifies seven industries that LEDA would like to develop in Lafayette Parish: energy, health care, technological know-how, manufacturing, aviation, retail, and logistics, transportation and warehousing.
The parish presently has substantial ties to some of the goal industries — specially energy and wellbeing care — and some others have been a growing portion of Lafayette’s financial system around the past quite a few years.
Lafayette Parish’s ties to the electrical power field are no secret. In between the Oil Centre and the Petroleum Club, the relationship involving Lafayette and the oil and gasoline sector is hard to skip, even now in a time when offshore drilling is less preferred.
LEDA’s new strategic approach does not specific any kind of drive or initiative to divest from oil and gasoline, while the area’s economic climate has usually trended away from oil and fuel dependence. In accordance to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area’s focus of mining and oil and gas positions was 14-situations the national ordinary in the third quarter of 2021. That’s large, but it’s substantially reduced than in the initially quarter of 2017, when the work opportunities were being 16 situations more concentrated in Lafayette.
Whilst the approach does not say something about divesting from oil and gas, it does make it obvious that LEDA designs to develop in the renewable strength sector. A person of its ambitions is to “raise recognition of electricity changeover possibilities” and to placement the parish to develop into a participant in offshore wind, solar, and hydrogen energy, as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage.
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Health and fitness treatment and technological know-how have been two of the fastest-rising sectors in Acadiana in new decades. In the previous couple decades, the parish has witnessed a lot more than 700 jobs additional by expansions of two health and fitness treatment businesses (LHC Group and Viemed), as very well as the additions of technologies businesses SchoolMint and CGI.
The health and fitness care sector is also set for even more expansion in Lafayette, with Ochsner Health’s acquisition of the Lafayette Basic Health and fitness Program and UnitedHealth’s planned obtain of LHC Group obtaining the likely to further more posture Lafayette as a well being care hub.
The parish also had various production wins in the last couple of years, this sort of as Completeful, Westfield Hydraulics, Kibberia and SafeSource Immediate. It also had a big earn in the logistics, transportation and warehousing sector with Amazon developing its to start with Louisiana success heart in Lafayette Parish.
Escalating opportunities on the Northside, for minority business entrepreneurs
Mitchell, a Northside Higher University graduate, has been apparent that Lafayette’s Northside will perform a essential job in the parish’s economic future.
In the strategic system, LEDA mentioned it will assistance the creation of a modest business providers centre in North Lafayette, which would present instruction, mentorship, networking and business boot camps.
The program also said LEDA would operate towards redevelopment and revitalization in North Lafayette, which includes advocating for general public infrastructure investments and attracting personal financial investment.
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The strategy also place a concentration on aiding minority-, girls- and veteran-owned firms in the parish. LEDA is setting up to lover with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Lafayette Consolidated Authorities to digitize the Black Pages of Lafayette and to contain other minority organization groups.
Advocating for infrastructure investment
The LEDA strategic prepare devotes one particular part to actual physical infrastructure improvements that could aid facilitate economic enhancement throughout the parish, together with streets, broadband, and sewer devices.
In addition to supporting conventional infrastructure advancements and enhanced world-wide-web accessibility, LEDA also said it would assistance the College of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Grasp Strategy enhancements and advocate for enhancements alongside Louisiana Avenue, the Evangeline Thruway Corridor/I-49 Connector and the College Avenue Corridor, as properly as practical services roads alongside I-10.
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The approach also claims LEDA will help enhancements in the five financial improvement districts in Lafayette Parish.
This posting initially appeared on Lafayette Each day Advertiser: Lafayette Financial Development shares strategy to increase parish economy
