Blog

Pictured left to right: Edmund Habetz, EL Habetz Builders, Inc.; Leonor Gonzalez, Assistant Principal; Sandi Doré, Principal; Father Mikel Polson, Pastor; Paul Lemaire and Errol Dennis, Corne Lemaire Group Architects: Penny Habetz, Religion Administrator; Kim Bernard, EL Habetz Builder, Inc.; and Amy Thibodeaux, St. Michael Advisory Council Member and Acadia Parish Chamber of Commerce President/CEO. Read more

The Acadiana Planning Commission is currently undertaking a baseline survey of broadband internet access and reliability across the region. Today, the fight to bring reliable broadband to Acadiana’s communities has become as important as the fight to bring other rural utilities. Broadband access was once considered a luxury, however, in a post-COVID economy access toRead more

The dispersion of COVID has been uneven from the outset, preying upon preexisting fault lines in our nation’s economic, social, and geographic landscape and systematically disadvantaging already vulnerable people and places. Governmental responses have been similarly fragmented and unequal, with federal, state, and citywide services and relief structures marked by inconsistency and disparate outcomes byRead more

The Egan Hotel in downtown Crowley was awarded a $55,000 National Park Service grant from the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development. The grant will fund restoration efforts of the 66 double-hung windows on the second and third floors of the building, located at 306 North Parkerson Avenue. The hotel was one of six projects inRead more

Amazon is the largest online store and hosts products from some of the biggest brands in the world. They are also known for large inventories and discounts, so competing based on price can be a tall order for local startups. Interestingly, about 50% of the products you encounter at Amazon in the United States areRead more

Our community and many others have lost workforce talent to larger, coastal cities for decades. While the reasons behind it are complex, the steady loss of young, educated workers seemed unstoppable. Much more recently, the COVID pandemic has also seemed unstoppable and even more devastating. However, it sometimes happens that you can use one problemRead more

The COVID pandemic has exacerbated the economic precarity of rural America. Many rural and small towns were still struggling to recover from the last recession, and are now fighting for economic survival amid this one. As these communities grapple with unprecedented job losses, small business closures, and crumbling infrastructure, their recovery requires coordinated relief firstRead more

As the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks concentrated in remote rural towns this fall, the geographic isolation once thought to shield them from the pandemic swiftly transitioned into a severe disadvantage. Rural communities and the small businesses and residents within them faced overlapping, systemic challenges entering this crisis. Rural residents—particularly Black, Native American, and Latino orRead more

Shoptimism is a term being used to describe purchases made from home during the pandemic. You are stuck at home and suddenly begin to see every flaw, paint chip and cluttered closet. So, you buy things to fix the situation—or you buy things to make you feel better about it. When consumers buy things theyRead more

The COVID small business crisis and prolonged and uneven, inflicting a disproportionate toll on microbusinesses in underserved communities that are the lifeblood of their local economies. While much attention has been paid to small business closures in urban communities across the country, the same dynamic is unfolding in underserved rural areas, with dire consequences. StillRead more