One Acadiana chief: Energy downturn highlights need for regional approach to development

One Acadiana, a nine-parish economic development coalition, is more important than ever given the downturn in the oil and gas industry in south Louisiana, Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of One Acadiana, said at a meeting of the St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District Board of Directors.
“Now that we are facing one of the biggest downturns of recent history ... that has concentrated peoples’ minds,” he said Tuesday in Opelousas.
The downturn has reminded people how important the One Acadiana initiative is, he said in a report to the board.
One Acadiana represents the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes. One Acadiana was formed from the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and continues to serve that function.
“We have done a lot to pull the region together and make it something with One Acadiana being some of the glue for that, but I think now that we are at that point it would be helpful spending some time thinking seriously about where do we really want to go,” El Koubi said.
Showing a NASA photo of south Louisiana, El Koubi noted Acadiana is larger than the Lake Charles area and almost as big as the Baton Rouge area.
“Not a lot of people know this yet, but Acadiana is now the 108th largest region in America,” he said.
The Lafayette metropolitan area’s growth brings challenges and opportunities, he said.
The region does not have a long history of thinking regionally, he said. Patterns of collaboration are needed and that’s a reason for the formation of One Acadiana, he said.
“If you are not in Louisiana ... you are not thinking about Lafayette or Opelousas. You are not thinking about St. Mary or St. Landry. We are lucky if the person in the board room in Chicago or New York or LA is thinking about Acadiana at all,” he said.
There are three ingredients to building a successful region, he said.
First, is the need for policies and advocacy to make the region more competitive for economic development. Activities needed are transportation infrastructure development, education and work force development, and reasonable tax and regulatory policies.
Second, the region must tell its story about why it is good fit for businesses and professionals.
Thirdly, the area must make itself attractive with a strong urban center and town centers. “When we look at what other places are doing to accomplish these things we learned we were way, way behind,” El Koubi said.
Acadian was spending about 10 percent of what successful regions were doing in marketing themselves, he said.
One Acadiana gathered the resources to compete with some of the other great regions of the U.S., he said.
One Acadiana also has employed a lobbyist in the state capitol to represent the region for the first time, he said.
“I will tell you the conversation at the Legislature right now is a long way away from the kind of support we need at the state level for economic development,” he said.
Problems at the state level include an anti-corporate stance and programs needed for economic development are under threat, he said.
One Acadiana is emphasizing the completion of Interstate 49 from Lafayette to New Orleans, he said. The completion of I-49 will benefit the state and, in particular, St. Landry Parish, he said.
“One of the biggest challenges, one of our biggest deficits is that compared to other regions we have very few high-quality development-ready sites that are appropriate for industrial development,” he said.
One Acadiana has hired someone to work on site development, he said. El Koubi said it doesn’t make sense to have a site developer in each parish.
“It makes sense to market ourselves as a region. The message is stronger,” he said.
“We have to market regionally, but sell locally,” he said.
One Acadiana is managing about three dozen economic development projects spread among the nine parishes, he said.
The organization is beginning a national advertising campaign directed at site selection publications and websites, he said.
One Acadiana recently held a job fair attended by about 1,800 people, he said. El Koubi estimated more than 100 people obtained jobs as a result of the job fair, which continues as an online effort at acadianaopportunity.com. The effort focuses on matching out-of-work oil and gas workers to emerging jobs.
An under-developed opportunity for the nine-parish area is heritage tourism, he said.
Board member Jack Ortego said St. Landry Parish has yet to feel the full impact of its road improvement program funded by a 2 cent sales tax in rural areas of the parish.
“We haven’t even felt the benefits yet, but it is going to be unreal,” Ortego said.
El Koubi agreed and said terrible roads are a problem across the region and business considering an investment in an area wants a place that is moving forward. The public commitment to better roads in St. Landry Parish “is a big deal,” he said.