One Acadiana: ‘Speak with one voice’ on local initiatives

The economic development group known as One Acadiana continued their effort on Wednesday to let the people of St. Mary Parish know what they are doing to help the area recover from the economic downturn that has plagued the region.
One Acadiana Executive Director of Business Development Jim Bourgeois was on hand at the weekly luncheon of the Franklin Rotary Club and he brought a message similar to the one heard at a recent St. Mary Parish Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The message: fulfill the goal of economic development and recovery with a three part strategy.
Bourgeois also echoed the message delivered at the chamber luncheon that there was strength in numbers and that is why parish stakeholders need to look at the region as a whole and not as just one parish competing with another.
“What we have seen across the nation, and this state specifically, is a lot of chambers have discovered the ability to do more was going to take more than just looking inside the parish,” Bourgeois said. “We have to expand outside. We can’t look at parish lines. Businesses don’t look at parish lines. Governments look at parish lines. Politicians look at parish lines. We have to speak with one voice to push some of these initiatives that we want on a regional level.”
The three-part strategy starts with an effort to increase competiveness. Bourgeois said the way to accomplish this goal was to “cultivate a portfolio of regional assets, infrastructure and policies for competitive success.”
The second part involved getting the message out that this region is the place businesses want to look at when making decisions. Bourgeois said the region needs to “strategically market and promote our region to businesses and talent.”
The third part of the strategy revolved around creating an attractive environment for businesses that are already here to stay in the parish and for other businesses to want to expand to the region. Bourgeois said strategy three, “Make it beautiful,” intends to “revitalize our region’s core and leverage that expertise for similar efforts around the region.”
Bourgeois also outlined what One Acadiana (1A) is currently doing to promote economic growth within the nine-parish region and specifically St. Mary Parish. He said every parish is represented on the 1A Board of Directors and there are bi-monthly meetings being held with local chambers as well as tourism offices and economic development organizations.
Other efforts include establishing a staff liaison to each parish and holding bi-monthly meetings with utility partners and other business development allies. He also said 1A staff are actively looking outside the coverage area of the nine parishes to try and attract businesses to choose the region as their new home. “Someone on our staff is doing nothing but working with companies that are outside our area,” Bourgeois said. “They are trying to help them see the benefits of the area.”