State, city and parish leaders discussed plans Wednesday to revitalize rural Southwest Louisiana, including increasing broadband access, improving infrastructure, developing workforce training and expanding agriculture.

The discussion was part of a Southwest Region Rural Revitalization meeting spotlighting economic development projects and increasing awareness of resources available for rural communities.

“The Department of Economic Development in conjunction with the Governor’s Office of Rural Development has a mission to help raise awareness about the issues and resources that are available to attack some issues in rural Louisiana,” Louisiana Economic Development Director of Community Development Pat Witty.

In the last few years, there has been a push by the governor and legislators and others to focus more attention and resources in the rural areas, Witty said.

“I think clearly, folks feel many times, especially if you are living and working and trying to make a living in a rural area you feel like sometimes you are just not part of the mix,” Witty said.

Many rural residents also feel like their issues, problems and concerns are exasperated because of lack of services and other reasons that make it more difficult to get things done, he said.

Sen. Mark Abraham said the state is pushing more money into the rural areas to address many of those concerns.

“It seems like there has been a seismic shift over the last three or four years of helping the rural areas, whether it’s the water sector programs that help all the rural towns or it’s broadband or rural road infrastructure,” Abraham said.  “It’s good that this is happening.”

Emily Stine, a regional representative for the Governor’s Office of Rural Development, said the group is working to identify rural areas that have projects and need funding in an effort to connect those communities to find funding and the right people to help them get the grants ready.

“It’s an exciting time to be out there in Southwest Louisiana,” Stine said. “We have a lot to do. Our work is really cut out for us.”

Among the areas of concern outlined in the Louisiana Governor’s Advisory Council on Rural Revitalization strategic plan report is expanding broadband access in rural areas.

After the meeting, Jennings Mayor Henry Guinn said the need to expand broadband in rural areas is critical.

“You look at what we learned from COVID,” Guinn said. “Kids couldn’t go to school and businesses couldn’t operate because we didn’t have the infrastructure in place. We’re not getting away from communications or sending vast amounts of data via email. It’s literally the lifeblood of businesses today.”

The city has secured a $3 million economic development grant to allow Lafayette Utilities System to run underground fiber in the city. The city is also seeking a separate $300 million United State Department of Agriculture grant to provide the same service throughout the parish, he said.

The report also emphasized the importance of rural infrastructure including water and sewer improvements in promoting economic development.

“If you don’t have water you don’t have industry,” Witty said. “We can talk about all kind of fancy ways to attract industry or try to work with existing industries, but if you don’t have the baseline resources they need, it’s really going to be a mute point.”

Jeff Davis Parish Economic Development Director Creed Romano said agriculture has a strong presence in the parish, especially with the construction of a state-of-the-art rice mill at the Lacaasine Industrial Park. A development-ready T.O. Allen Industrial Park site nearby is also primed for future agriculture or economic development projects.

 “People need to eat and rice is a huge staple, so agriculture is very important,” Romano said.

The parish’s planning commission is also working on finding innovative ways to use water for industry without taking water out of the Chicot Aquifer and competing for the same water resources as our farmers, Romano said.

Jeff Davis Parish Police Jury engineer Alex Guillory said the parish has agreed to dedicate $2 million to seek a grant to provide water improvements in the Lacassine areas. If awarded, the project would provide potable water and upgrade the water pressure in the areas, he said. The next step would be to improve the sewer, he said.

The report also recommended increasing efforts to train and educate the local workforce to address a shortage of workers and businesses not being able to hire the right people to fill the jobs.

Sowela Technical Community College is working to address those needs by providing training to help workers find jobs and fill needed positions, according to Kylie Roussell. With campuses in Lake Charles, Jennings, Oakdale and Leesville, the campus is working to expand training in healthcare, hospitality, culinary, gaming, petrochemical, maritime, heat, air ventilation and cooling (HAVC) and other programs.