News | April 2016

Since 2013, Jason El Koubi has been leading One Acadiana (formerly known as the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce)  with the intention of  making the agency a regional powerhouse for business development and growth in Acadiana.

Under his leadership, the agency has gone from a business friendly Lafayette chamber, to a platform for business leadership that stretches across nine parishes.

Mike Grimsley was just shy of 18 years old when he began his career in the radio business.
The Tallahassee, Florida, native is now the longtime general manager of seven Lafayette-based stations you’ve been tuning into for years.

Owned by Townsquare media, Grimsley oversees stations such as KMDL 97.3 The Dawg, KTDY 99.9, KPEL, and a handful of other stations that have been voices in Acadiana community for everything from local sports to top 40 hits.

One Acadiana's April Arts & Culture Council luncheon focused on the richness of the area's arts and culture scene, concluding that it is integral to the region’s quality of life and more of an economic driver than most people imagine.

For every dollar spent at Festival International, at least another 25 cents is added to the local economy, the panelists said. The direct economic impact of Festival International is $29 million to $30 million, a number that rises to about $49 million once indirect benefits are added to the tally.

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.

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Gov. John Bel Edwards told a group from Acadiana the region will get the first bite of a federal infrastructure grant he expects to secure this summer that will rebuild and expand Interstate 10 from I-49 to the Atchafalaya Basin.

Edwards announced Thursday the state has submitted an application for a $100 million U.S. Department of Transportation FASTLANE Grant.

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A new online portal, acadianaopportunity.com, is the latest strategic effort among state officials and community partners from Lake Charles to Lafayette to address job losses resulting from plummeting energy prices.

The online portal, which was unveiled April 11, is designed to help connect unemployed or underemployed workers from the Acadiana area with suitable jobs in the Lake Charles region. It will also link the to training opportunities.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State and local agencies have developed a website to connect the unemployed and underemployed from the battered energy sector to jobs and training for the now-hiring petrochemical and liquid natural gas plants in Louisiana.

The Advocate’s Billy Gunn reports AcadianaOpportunity.com was unveiled Monday, a website through which the unemployed can connect to jobs and, if needed, training.

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LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - State and local agencies have developed a website to connect the unemployed and underemployed from the battered energy sector to jobs and training for the now-hiring petrochemical and liquid natural gas plants in Louisiana.

LAFAYETTE — State and local agencies have developed a website to connect the unemployed and underemployed from the battered energy sector to jobs and training for the now-hiring petrochemical and liquid natural gas plants in Louisiana.

The Advocate reports AcadianaOpportunity.com was unveiled Monday, a website through which the unemployed can connect to jobs and, if needed, training.

Read more...