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« Office of Gulf Coast Rebuilding

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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.
  • 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, U.S. Department of Labor (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.
  • OFC, in partnership with 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.
  • DOL awarded $10 million in grants to support the Gulf Coast Workforce Development Initiative to train 20,000 new construction workers by the end of 2009.
  • 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

  • The Gulf Opportunity Zone Act (GO Zones) 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 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.

This page was last reviewed/modified on February 20, 2009.