Empowering Communities for Competitive Growth and Sustainability
In 2009 and 2010, 19 communities participated in the LDRC Pilot Program. The Louisiana Development Ready Community program was officially launched in 2011 with 8 communities, and now has and now has 59 participating communities. These municipalities and parishes are all more competitive because they have a written plan describing how they are going to leverage assets and address challenges. Additionally, they can show progress from year to year because of developed measurements identified in their plans; much like mile-markers on a roadmap.
Each community’s plan includes strategies to address education, workforce development, infrastructure, leadership and marketing/communications. The communities are in the process of implementing their tactics. “The real success of this project lies in the communities’ implementation of the plan,” said Pat Witty, Director of Community Competitiveness & Small Business Services. Each community must implement six elements of its plan by the end of the first year. LED is moving forward to concentrate on sustainability issues and further refinements of the program. “We have learned so much about how to make this process valuable to communities. It is important that we implement the lessons learned so far to further ensure the sustainability of the program and its processes,” said Stacey Duvic, Director of Community Competitiveness at LED.
Benefits
LED supports the candidate communities and provides these unique benefits:
- An experienced Resource Team in community and economic development that provides on-going coaching and professional guidance during the community assessment and facilitation of the strategic planning process.
- “Roadmap to Readiness”, clearly describing the process, resources and deliverables.
- LED’s Business Intelligence Department will provide each selected community with a current economic and demographic base analysis saving hours and hours of looking for the most current data.
- Ready-to-go, online Business and/or Citizen Surveys available for use with training/coaching on how to conduct a successful survey.
- Part of the LED Resource team to visit as part of the community assessment process to help evaluate sites, buildings and provide a chance to “test-drive” a sales pitch in a relaxed environment while receiving valuable feedback.
- A publicized celebration of each community’s successes will be held to applaud and thank each for their partnership both with LED and their involved volunteers.
- Mayor or Parish President will be invited to do a testimonial video with the LED FastStart team to discuss goals that were implemented and community wins. This video will be shared on LED social media and appropriate website to help promote the community. The link will also be given to the LDRC community to be used on local websites and social media outlets.
- Continued education tuition dollars for Certified Louisiana Economic Developer training as available.
Eligibility
Who is eligible to apply to be a LDRC Community? Any municipality or parish in Louisiana may apply.
This program is for Louisiana towns, villages cities or parishes of all sizes. If a community just needs to update their plan, they will benefit from the structure of the program and the encouragement to move forward quickly with implementation. If a village or town has never done a strategic plan, the LDRC Resource Team will provide assistance all the way, from start to celebration!
Communities are selected using a scorecard to insure fairness and objectivity. Applications must be filled out completely and include all requested information in order to score well. The number of municipalities selected for each year’s class is based upon the availability of resources to adequately support the program.
Communities selected to participate in the program have to agree to plan and implement essential, best practice “development ready” elements on a tight schedule including:
- Community Assessment
- Community & Economic Strategic Plan includes:
- Leadership Development
- Education
- Workforce Development
- Infrastructure
- Marketing / Communications
- On-going Implementation
This is an aggressive program requiring significant work and investment by LED, its partners and the participating communities.
A Steering Committee of dedicated stakeholders has been continually working with LED for the last five years and has devised a support methodology to see LDRC Communities through to the completion of all steps. These valued partners include the LMA, AEP/SWEPCO, ALEC, CLECO, Entergy, Police Jury Association of Louisiana and LSU /SU Extension Services.
Getting Started
Communities are selected using a scorecard to insure fairness and objectivity. Applications must be filled out completely and include all requested information in order to score well. The number of municipalities selected for each year’s class is based upon the availability of resources to adequately support the program.
LDRC Grant Program
This new grant program will support improvement projects and promote further growth in certified Louisiana Development Ready Communities. Applications will be accepted March 1 through May 31. The two-page entry form can be downloaded below and submitted to LED Senior Director of Community Competitiveness Stacey Duvic via email at stacey.duvic@la.gov.