Alliance foundation 3rd quarter report

3RD QUARTER 2017 THE SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ALLIANCE NEWSLETTER

2017 3Q News

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Message from George 4 We are number 1.

5 Alliance Updates 6 Ready, Set, Work 7 Minding the Gap 8 By the Numbers 10 Board of Directors 11 Investors 12 Foundation Staff

Quality communities work at being well-rounded

by George Swift, President/CEO According to futurist and next generation guru Rebecca Ryan, today’s generation picks a place where they want to live, and then they find a job.

At two recent economic development conferences this was confirmed by site

consultants. Today, the two most important factors in attracting new industry is a supply of talent, or workforce, and quality of life.

Having trained and skilled workers is key to all businesses. That is why it is so important that our area residents who are un-employed or under-employed seek training so they can get a job in one of our area’s employment sectors.

That includes healthcare, aviation, gaming and hospitality, agriculture and

forestry, petrochemical industry, education, sales and service, and others. If thi

could apply to you, SOWELA Technical Community College and McNeese State

University are the places to visit. For those who are interested in the trades and crafts sector, a number of full scholarships are available to pay tuition which will lead to high paying jobs such as welding, process technology, electrical and other industry categories.

As our area continues to diversify our employment base, a pool of workers with computer and coding skills will be required. Technology will continue to change the way we do most tasks, and we will need competent workers in the information technology field.

Improving our area’s appearance and adding amenities such as parks, bike lanes, and nightlife will also keep our labor force here in Southwest Louisiana. Therefore, it is a wise choice for local governments to invest in public improvements which might include beautification of the interstate and other areas. We like to visit nice-looking communities and those with attractions and amenities, so why not have these in our area?

Attracting motorists off the interstate can result in more business for our local restaurants, fuel stations, and retailers. The increase in business will generate new sales tax revenue which can be used for public improvements including drainage and sewer.

Spending money to make money is another way of expressing this. This is similar to having a big hole in the roof of your house. Of course it’s a priority to fix the roof. But you also must mow the grass and fix the fence.

In other words, you have to do more than one thing to maintain your house. That is the challenge of our region. We have many basic needs but we must also invest in our future which will result in more of our local children and grandchildren remaining here as well as being able to attract newcomers to the area.

We have tried things the old way for many years. Now, let’s invest in our region and more amenities. Bold, new projects are called for. This will pay big dividends by keeping our area’s young people here. Providing a bright future for our youth by becoming a region of choice should be our highest priority.

We are number 1.

It was announced last week that Southwest Louisiana – listed in the report as the “Lake Charles MSA” - tied with Bend, Oregon, for fastest growing real GDP and per capita real GDP of any MSA in the nation. Our growth is directly tied to “nondurable-goods manufacturing.” Our real GDP growth from 2015 to 2016 is 8.1%, the per capita real GDP growth was 7.1%.

This information was released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

To put this in perspective, the national growth rate is 1.7%, and our neighbors in Beaumont had 1.2% growth and Lafayette had a -11.5% growth.

“This is wonderful news, although not wholly unexpected to the leadership at the SWLA Economic Development Alliance. We have been working closely with existing and new industries to help shore up gaps in the employment pipeline and know how many people we need to bring into our region. This announcement comes on the heels of years of hard work and great blessings on behalf of the Alliance and our regional economic development partners." said George Swift, President & CEO of the SWLA Economic Development Alliance.

We see this growth and development all around us, and now is the time to embrace these changes and make strong, well-thought-out plans for the future of our region. We also must look at this growth and development as a boon for our region, not something to fear. For 150 years, our residents have made Southwest Louisiana a great place to live, work, and play, and we will continue that way of life for another 150 years.”

For movie information, visit: https://bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_metro/g dp_metro_newsrelease.htm

Definitions: Gross domestic product (GDP) by metropolitan area is the sub-state counterpart of the Nation's gross domestic product (GDP), the Bureau's featured and most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity. GDP by metropolitan area is derived as the sum of the GDP originating in all the industries in the metropolitan area.

A metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area.

Current-dollar statistics are valued in the prices of the period when the transactions occurred–that is, at "market value." Also referred to as "nominal GDP" or "current-price GDP." Real values are inflation-adjusted statistics–that is, these exclude the effects of price changes.

Contributions to growth are an industry's contribution to the state's overall percent change in real GDP. The contributions are additive and can be summed to the state's overall percent change.

The Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance is fully funded by its stakeholders regional business owners, corporate partners, and public entities within the region. Throughout the year, we get to honor our supporters by documenting their donations.

As part of their ongoing support to the Foundation, the following companies donated to the SWLA on the Move Campaign, a five-year campaign which will help address the critical issues facing our region: workforce development, business recruitment, business retention and expansion, regional marketing, and building a single voice for a true regional partnership.

Picture 1 of 4) JD Bank's Donation of $15,000 with George Swift, Alliance's President & CEO; Ann Barilleaux, VP Marketing Director; Carly Leonards, Chief Banking Officer; and Brittany Duplechian, Alliance Foundation Director.

Our SWLA Economy An excerpt from Dr. Loren Scott's Louisiana Economic Outlook Report

The Lake Charles MSA, with a remarkable $126 billion in industrial announcements since 2012 ($55.9 billion underway or completed) has been one of the fastest growing MSAs in the country for the past four years. We are projecting a pullback in the region’s 4-5% growth pace to about 1.6% in 2018 as construction of many projects comes to an end. However, in the latter part of 2018 or early 2019, we are expecting construction starts on 2-3 huge LNG projects to create a new spark of growth in 2019 (+4%). The most closely watched MSA in the state over the next few years is likely to be Lake Charles, (113,800 nonfarm jobs). ... The industrial construction sector was already a major player in this region; now it has expanded dramatically. Two LNG export terminals are under construction in this MSA and eight more are at the FEED stage. With three casinos (two very large), a racetrack, and a large Indian casino nearby, Lake Charles is the state’s second largest gaming market. Another unusual characteristic of this MSA’s economy is the large aircraft maintenance and repair sector at Chennault Airpark.

(Pictured: Phil Earhart of IberiaBank, Dr. Musa Essayyad with McNeese State University, Dr. Loren Scot, and Chamber SWLA Chair Ken Francis).

With major economic expansion under way in the five parish region of Southwest Louisiana, the SWLA Economic Development Alliance wants to build a strong workforce through the READY, SET, WORK Program. The goal is local jobs filled by local people.

The READY, SET, WORK program is aimed at two groups: 1.) school-age children representing the future workforce 2.) unemployed and underemployed adults who do not possess the resources to enter or advance in the workforce For any business economy to survive and grow, an educated and trained workforce is key. The regional workforce is 110,000+ people strong. With the announced $117B+ in industrial expansions, the forecast is for 37,000 construction jobs to build the facilities and 20,000+ permanent jobs across all employment sectors.

We have worked with Sasol North America and other regional partners to put together the SWLA Workforce Resource Guide – which takes future workers step by step through the process of preparing for a career.

In order to get the skills necessary to find a job, successful job seekers must have the right education/training and experience. READY, SET, WORK starts with education and/or training, then lead to entry-level employment opportunities. Entry-level employment is the door that adds the experience needed to advance in any career.

For links to all of these resources, visit http://allianceswla.org/readysetwork Our next project, funded by Phillips 66, is Industry Works and is set to launch early 2018. It is approaching the end design stage, with a draft of the 15 second video in final production. Meetings with industry human resources professionals were held recently to strategize webpage effectiveness with links to each individual company participating in the campaign, explain the analytics gathered, and preview the campaign design. The logo and web design is also in final production, with positive feedback from stakeholders to date.

First Federal Bank's Donation of $10,000 with George Swift, the Alliance's President & CEO; Charles Timpa, First Federal Bank of Louisiana President & CEO; and Brittany Duplechian, Alliance Foundation Director.

Minding the Gap

Michelle McInnis, Major Events Director and Workforce Development Southwest Louisiana is experiencing unprecedented growth and opportunity like nowhere else in the country which will be a boon to our economy, but will mean that more skilled workers will be needed to fill the jobs created. As part of the Southwest Louisiana Economic Development Alliance’s campaign to expand our pool of skilled workers, I had the honor of being the first and only representative from Louisiana to attend the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Academy in Washington, DC. TPM training helps close the employment skills gap in participating areas.

In 2014, the U.S. Chamber launched TPM Academy to mobilize the business community to work with education partners in order to close the gap between the skills they need in new employees to what is being taught in schools. The idea is that if employers play an expanded leadership role as “end-customers” of a talent supply chain, they will be more effective at organizing performance-driven partnerships with responsive education and workforce training providers.

Building off of the goals of the Chamber SWLA’s Education and Workforce Development Committee, TPM builds collaborations within major employer sectors. Employers decide on common language using proven strategies to plan what will be needed in the immediate future and down the line, and define what levels of competency and credentialing requirements will be required of new hires.

What does this mean for SWLA? Ongoing webinars and collaboration-building efforts will strengthen the Industry-Business-Education partnership in Southwest Louisiana by bringing key stakeholders together around common workforce needs.

Employers will collaborate and share real-time employee data such as * where the most employable workers are coming from * level of training needed * if training is more cost effective in-house or from education partners * needs for the near future

A database will be created using this data to report to the community stakeholders and education providers on the quality and quantity of employees needed.

Job-seekers will know what employers are need and the training required to fill those needs, and education providers will know what employers are looking for when a student completes training.

The Chamber SWLA’s Education and Workforce committee focuses on key sectors such as Healthcare, Education, Aviation, Hospitality and the Industrial sector. The committee brings together businesses and the education providers to discuss the needs of employers and the school’s potential to provide quality graduates for our regional industry jobs. Subcommittees in each sector will provide the basis for the TPM concept and will help collect data needed to implement the database and forecast future workforce needs.

If you would like to join the The Chamber SWLA’s Education and Workforce committee, they meet monthly on the second Thursday at 7:45 a.m. Contact Michelle McInnis at (337) 433-3632 or mmcinnis@allianceswla.org.

THE WORK OF THE FOUNDATION By

the

Numbers

If you want to determine what an existing business needs to

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BERG VISITS

grow and thrive, you ask them. The SWLA Alliance is part of an eight region team that conducts face-to-face yearly visits to Louisiana employers identified as “economic drivers.”

Information gathered during these visits is shared with LED and used on a local and state level to help our business community as a whole.

350

Requests for Information

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0 2012

2014

2015

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2017 To Date

City Savings Bank Donation with George Swift, the Alliance's President & CEO; Robie Touchette, City Savings Bank President; and Brittany Duplechian, Alliance Foundation Director.

9573 clicks on the new Healthworx page since 7/10/2017

The SWLA Economic Development Alliance locally manages Louisiana Economic Development’s (LED) Certified Sites program to help drive investment in Southwest Louisiana. The Certified Sites program qualifies certain properties as development-ready based on zoning restrictions, title work, environmental studies, soil analysis and other surveys. This allows potential investors to know that a site is immediately suitable for development, which often proves advantageous when competing to attract a new business or industry. A key aspect of the Certified Sites program is that LED can match up to 75% of the cost to help a property owner achieve certification. Those costs include engineering analysis, surveys, studies, and many other aspects of getting a property certified and ready for development.

One component of the Certified Sites program is geared towards industrial development. The program identifies sites that are at least 25 acres or more, zoned industrial, and are accessible to transportation infrastructure (airports, waterways, highways, railways, pipelines, etc.) and public utilities. There are currently eight industrial certified sites located across Southwest Louisiana. The most recently certified site was the 1,100+ acre Beauregard Airport Industrial Site in DeRidder, one of the largest certified sites in Louisiana.

A new program offered by LED is the Business Certified Site. This program is for properties between 10 and 25 acres, and more suited towards development as a light industrial park, office park, or mixed-use development. The requirements to attain certification as a business site are not as stringent as industrial certification, making it more affordable and possibly faster to certify. The Alliance is currently working with several landowners and property managers to increase the available number of certified business and industrial sites in Southwest Louisiana. Potential sites include properties in Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, and Jeff Davis parishes. A larger number of certified sites increases the opportunities for Southwest Louisiana remain at the forefront of economic growth in Louisiana.

Merchants & Farmers Bank Donation Brittany Duplechian, Alliance Foundation Director; Shawn Camara, City President, Merchants & Farmers; and George Swift, Alliance's President & CEO.

Foundation Executive Board Chair Ken Francis, Lake Charles Coca Cola Bottling

Chair- Elect Tobie Hodgkins, Century 21 Bessette Realty Immediate Past Chair John Pohorelsky, Scofield, Gerard, Pohorelsky, Gallaugher & Landry Vice Chair, Governmental Affairs Bart Yakupzack, The Jack Lawton Companies Vice Chair, Business Dev. & Diversity Ernie Broussard, HGA Vice Chair, Education & Workforce Jennifer Spees, Louisiana Mortgage Vice Chair, Quality of Life Patricia Prudhomme, McNeese State Univesity/Banners Treasurer Phil Earhart, Iberia Bank Legal Counsel Bill Monk, Stockwell Sievert Law Firm President/CEO George Swift, The Chamber SWLA/SWLA Alliance Foundation

Public Members Mayor Gene Paul, City of Oakdale Mayor Ron Roberts, City of DeRidder Mayor Bob Hardey, City of Westlake Ryan Bourriaque, Cameron Parish Policy Jury Designee Mayor Carolyn Louviere, Town of Welsh John Strother, Allen Parish Police Jury President/Desginee Rusty Williamson, Beauregard Parish Police Jury President/Designee Hal McMillin, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury President/Designee Clair Hebert Marceaux, Cameron Parish Police Jury Marion Fox, Jeff Davis Economic Development

Private Members David Sickey, Coushatta Casino Resort John Nichols, First National Bank of DeRidder Glenn Pumpelly, Pumpelly Oil, Inc. Stevie Trahan, Cameron LNG/Sempra Ann Barilleaux, JD Bank & Trust Ken Broussard, Broussard Group Thomas Chamberlain, Entergy Michael Flatt, Northrop Grumman Larry Graham, Lake Charles Memorial Health System Mike Heinen, Jeff Davis Electric Co-op Dick Kennison, Kennison Forest Products Huey Nunn, CenterPoint Energy Bill Rase, Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District Rob Price, III, Dunham Price John Stelly, Paramount Nissan Gray Stream, Stream Companies Charles Timpa, First Federal Bank Dr. Daryl Burckel, McNeese State University

FOUNDATION INVESTORS Acadian Ambulance Service

Coushatta Casino Resort

Langley, Williams & Company

AFI Mortgage

CSRS, Inc.

L’Auberge Casino Resort

Air Conduit

Dunham Price

Louisiana Radio Communications

Alcoa Foundation

DW Jessen & Associates, LLC

Magnolia LNG

Alfred Palma, LLC

E2E Technology, LLC

McDonald's

Arabie Environmental Solutions, Inc.

Entergy

McElroy, Quirk & Burch

Axiall

ERA Helicopters

Merchants & Farmers Bank

Barksdale Credit Union

First Federal Bank of Louisiana

Mermentau Harbor & Terminal

Beauregard Electric Cooperative

First National Bank of DeRidder

District

Beauregard Parish Police Jury

First National Bank of Louisiana

Northrop Grumman

Big Easy Foods

Freshko Food Service, Inc.

Paramount Nissan of Lake Charles

Billy Navarre Chevrolet, Cadillac,

Fusion Five

Phillips 66

Honda & Hyundai

Grace Church in DeRidder

Port of Lake Charles

Brask, Inc.

Greater Beauregard Chamber of

PPG Industries

Brossett Architect, LLC

Commerce

Pumpelly Tire Centers

The Broussard Group

H & H Industrial, Inc.

R & H Refractory Services

Bubba Oustalet Automotive Group

Healthy Image

Rau Financial Group, LLC

Business First Bank

Iberia Bank

Sabine St. Bank

Calcasieu Parish Police Jury

Ingevity Corporation

Sasol North America

Cameron Communications

Isle of Capri Casino Hotel

Scalisi, Myers & White (APC)

Cameron LNG

J.W. Nelson Transports

Scofield, Gerard, Pohorelsky,

Cameron Parish Police Jury

JD Bank & Trust Co

Gallaugher & Landry, LLC

Cameron Parish Port, Harbor &

Jeff Davis Economic Development

Southern Solid Waste

Terminal

Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative

Southwest Beverage Company

CenterPoint Energy

JP Morgan Chase Bank

Southwest Louisiana Credit Union

Century Group, Inc.

Kaough & Jones Electric Company

Stine, Inc.

Century 21-Bessette Realty

Kennison Forest Products

Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio,

Champeaux, Evans, Hotard

Keiland Construction

Clements & Shaddock. LLP

Cheniere Energy, Inc.

Knight Media

Stream Family

Chennault International Airport

Lake Area Marine Inc

SWLA Center for Health Services

Authority

Lake Area Medical Center

Town of Iowa

CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital

Lake Charles Coca-Cola Bottling

Town of Vinton

City of DeQuincy

Lake Charles Memorial Hospital

Turner Industries Group, LLC

City of DeRidder

Lake Charles Regional Airport

Union Pacific

City of Lake Charles

Lake Charles/SWLA Convention

West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital

City of Oakdale

and Visitor’s Bureau

West Calcasieu Port

City of Westlake

Lake Charles Toyota

White Star Commercial, Inc.

City Savings Bank & Trust

Lake City Trucking

CLECO

FOUNDATION STAFF All staff is located at the SEED Center 4310 Ryan Street Lake Charles, LA 70605

(337) 433-3632 George Swift, President

Liz Deville, Exec VP

R.B. Smith, VP, Bus. Dev.

gswift@allianceswla.org

ldeville@allianceswla.org

rsmith@allianceswla.org

Eric Cormier, VP, Policy

Adrian Wallace, Incubator Dir.

Amanda White, VP, Comm.

Brittany Duplechian, Foundation

ecormier@allianceswla.org

awallace@allianceswla.org

awhite@allianceswla.org

bduplechian@allianceswla.org

Morgan Turpin, Research

Linda Robertson, Receivables

Michelle McInnis, Workforce

Cheryl Roberson, Incub. Admin.

mturpin@allianceswla.org

lrobertson@allianceswla.org

mmcinnis@allianceswla.org

croberson@allianceswla.org

Gus Fontenot, Sites

Coby Sammis, Projects

gfontenot@allianceswla.org

csammis@allianceswla.org

Dottie Monceaux, Admin. dmonceaux@allianceswla.org