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Economic and Workforce Development, Gulf Coast Rebuilding Sectors

Workforce Development

  • OFC regional staff identified the challenges of training a skilled construction workforce in New Orleans and assembled policymakers, construction industry leaders, and job training providers to develop collaborative solutions to these challenges.
  • OFC partnered with DOL's Employment and Training Administration to deploy a technical assistance team that is working with a group of public and private stakeholders in Southeast Louisiana committed to implementing a regional economic development strategy aimed at diversifying their economy and creating more high-skill and high-wage opportunities for workers.
  • Chairman Powell participated in the August 21, 2007 re-opening of the Job Corps center in New Orleans to highlight the impact of the Job Corps center on rebuilding efforts.
  • OFC worked with the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to conduct education and outreach, aimed at ensuring maximum utilization of New Markets Tax Credits and other financial incentives.
  • To date, DOL has awarded over $438 million to support economic revitalization across the Gulf Coast through initiatives that provide workers with education and training for new career opportunities and help state and local leaders integrate education, economic and workforce development systems. DOL has been a tremendous partner with OFC in supporting local stakeholders.
  • As a result, OFC, in partnership the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and the Business Roundtable, staged a Construction Contractors Forum in New Orleans in March 2006. The forum helped facilitate better collaboration and dialogue between the local construction industry and the job training community to address the current and anticipated construction labor shortage during the city's long-term recovery.
  • The forum was attended by 70+ contractors, job training providers, and workforce/economic development stakeholders, and in the immediate aftermath, we saw the following outcomes:
    • Community College Partnership with Construction Industry: Louisiana Technical College reported its plan to create a Contractors Advisory Council, consisting of 5 - 6 area contractors to advise LTC on how to improve their curriculum and delivery of the federally-funded Pathways to Construction training program in order to better serve the construction industry's labor needs. The forum identified this disconnect between industry and the community college, leading to the creation of this advisory council and progress toward much-needed collaboration.
    • DOL “Swat Team” for New Orleans: Under guidance from DOL's Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) Assistant Secretary Emily DeRocco, several ETA analysts/program managers conducted a series of follow-up meetings and discussions with stakeholders in New Orleans concerning improvements to the federally-funded construction training program (Pathways). DOL conducted a similar on-site troubleshooting effort in MS with Pathways training providers with positive outcomes.
  • Assisted the Greater New Orleans Construction Task Force: From April through July 2007, OFC and DOL worked closely with New Orleans-area construction sector stakeholders as they established a task force to tackle the recovery-related challenges facing the construction industry. The focus was on advocacy to reduce red tape, more timely municipal permitting and more timely payment for contracts/services rendered. OFC and DOL hosted several meetings in New Orleans to build this cross-cutting coalition of union shops, non-union shops, labor organizations, contractors trade associations (AGC, ABC), training providers, government officials, etc. to effectively tackle recovery challenges. Members of this task force have adopted a mission statement and elected officers.
  • Soon after Katrina, OFC convened a meeting with President Bush, Department of Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, labor leaders, civil rights groups, and business associations to discuss workforce initiatives and employment issues facing the region. This meeting resulted in an ambitious public-private partnership, the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative, to help train 20,000 new construction workers by the end of 2009. DOL awarded $10 million in grants to support the initiative.
  • OFC continues its support of the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative's goal and is working with the following partners to achieve a more highly trained workforce in the region: Business Roundtable; Café Reconcile; DOL Women's Bureau; Louisiana Community and Technical College System; City of New Orleans; Louisiana Recovery Authority, Greater New Orleans, Inc.; ACORN-New Orleans; Louisiana Family Recovery Corps; and others. To date, more than 7,500 individuals have been trained, with an additional 2,000 individuals currently enrolled.

Economic Development

  • At the end of 2005, the President signed the Gulf Opportunity Zones Act (or GO Zones). The Gulf Opportunity Zone Act included additional tax-exempt bond authority for both residential and nonresidential property; an expansion of the low-income housing credit; bonus depreciation; and, expensing for certain demolition and clean-up costs. At the end of 2006, OFC worked to have certain provisions extended until 2010 and targeted to the most impacted regions, providing an additional estimated $539 million in tax relief for the region over five years.
  • OFC worked with Secretary Gutierrez's office at the Department of Commerce to lead a delegation of business leaders to Louisiana and Mississippi on a “Gulf Coast Investment Mission” that highlighted investment opportunities, including federal GO Zone tax incentives. OFC also co-sponsored related events in Washington, DC, and New York, highlighting opportunities for business investment on the Gulf Coast.
  • OFC collaborated with the Department of Commerce's Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) to host a series of Gulf Coast Business-to-Business Linkage Forums in New Orleans and in Biloxi, Mississippi to promote joint ventures and teaming arrangements between Gulf Coast 8(a) firms and MBDA clients from outside of the region. We have also partnered and participated with MBDA at the National Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference in Washington, D.C. to educate minority business enterprises and investors about GO Zone opportunities.
    • At a May 30, 2007 debriefing session, Commerce staff reported that at least 8 of the 35 firms represented at the event were in discussions or negotiations with local entities, including the port, about their business proposals.
  • OFC facilitated the implementation of a small business loan fund for Baton Rouge.
    • After 6 months of OFC-driven and led meetings and discussions with banks, credit unions, and other stakeholders on economic development opportunities that could be spearheaded by the local financial services industry, a proposal was submitted to Mayor Kip Holden (Baton Rouge) in late December 2006 that outlined the creation of a small business loan fund. The purpose was to address a void in the City of Baton Rouge, which has no lending program for small and minority-owned businesses. This issue has been exacerbated by the migration of additional small business owners from New Orleans to Baton Rouge in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes.
    • Mayor Holden accepted the recommendations and verbally committed $500,000 from the city to seed the micro-lending portion of the fund. Since January 2007, the Baton Rouge Bankers roundtable has been soliciting interest in and funding for the loan pool. Thus far, the local banking industry has committed $1.5 million.
    • Between January and April 2007, seven banks and credit unions submitted commitment letters or verbally expressed an interest in the fund.
    • On April 4, a Request for Proposal was advertised, which solicited applications from organizations interested in managing the fund.
    • In early June 2007, the review and select committee chose a national nonprofit organization—SEEDCO—to administer the fund. SEEDCO has also committed to matching the initial investment and soliciting additional funds from the banking/credit union community.
    • The selection of SEEDCO was made public at a press announcement by Mayor Holden on September 6, 2007.
    • OFC has developed a Small Business Resource Guide as a companion piece to the Baton Rouge Small Business Loan Fund and will be issued concurrent with the announcement about the fund. Compiled and written by former OFC staffers, the guide provides information on loans, grants, and technical assistance programs in the federal, state, and city sectors. FDIC has offered to print a limited number of copies.

    This page was last modified on October 23, 2007