Join us for two days of national experts, inspiring stories, and breakthrough rural solutions. This summit will provide insights as to why rural economic development is different and provide ideas, inspiration, and proven solutions to overcoming the challenges faced by rural communities throughout Louisiana.

The Louisiana Rural Prosperity Summit is designed to address the challenges facing Louisiana’s rural parishes and communities.

The Summit will focus on four major sets of issues:

✅ Our biggest rural challenges and opportunities;

✅ Opportunities in Food and Small Farming;

✅ Rural entrepreneurship; and

✅ The Compelling Potential of the Outdoor Recreation Economy.

The summit will feature several respected national, state, and local presenters who will lead you through both strategic and tactical ways to impact your local rural community. Including:

Ines Polonius is CEO of Communities Unlimited, Inc., a CDFI and community economic development organization in the rural South. Communities Unlimited (CU)’s team of 64 full time professionals works side-by-side with local leaders to create fair access to resources needed to sustain healthy communities, healthy businesses, and healthy families. CU resides in the solutions space, providing direct assistance and capital to community leadership teams, micro-enterprises, small businesses as well as water and waste water systems in persistently poor rural places across Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama and Tennessee.

In 1998, Ines founded alt.Consulting, dedicated to starting, growing, transitioning and turning around micro-enterprises and small businesses in the rural Arkansas Delta until a successful merger with Community Resource Group in 2014 formed Communities Unlimited, Inc. Ines earned an MBA and an MA in Economics from Boston University and received her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Today, Ines serves on the board of directors of the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) and of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO). She is a 2017 BALLE Fellow, a current RWJF Interdisciplinary Research Leader, an active member of the Partners for Rural Transformation and the national WealthWorks network.

Please visit us at www.CommunitiesU.org

Tance Hughes is an entrepreneur based in Vidalia, Louisiana. His company, Southern Designs, was started when he was 17 years old. His team has grown the company to over $5 million in revenue in 2018 and was named to the Inc. 5000 for 3 consecutive years! His company was the 7th fastest growing company in Louisiana in 2018, in a town of only 4,299 residents. Tance was recently named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 as well.

Ken Meter is one of the most experienced food system analysts in the U.S., integrating market analysis, business development, systems thinking, and social concerns. Meter holds 47 years of experience in inner-city and rural community capacity building. His local economic analyses have promoted local food networks in 140 regions in 40 states, two provinces, and three tribal nations.

Ken’s pioneering study of the farm and food economy of Southeast Minnesota, Finding Food in Farm Country, helped strengthen a collaborative of food producers and led to the creation of the Hiawatha Fund, a regional investment fund. This work serves as a national model for analyzing rural economies, applied in the studies listed above.

Meter’s innovative tool for measuring financial assets in low-income communities, the Neighborhood Income Statement and Balance Sheet, helped spark development of the Latino Mercado in South Minneapolis.

Conni Castille is the volunteer Executive Director of the TECHE Project, an all volunteer non- profit organization dedicated to conserving Bayou Teche and the Lower Atchafalaya River. The TECHE Renaissance is the organization’s overarching vision that enhances the quality of life for the communities along the bayou corridor by encouraging residents, businesses, and government to turn to the river to develop a low impact outdoor recreation economy.

When Ms. Castille isn’t working on TECHE Project programs, she applies her academic background in Folklore and Filmmaking in her position as Director of the Moving Image Arts film program at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Over the past few years, she has written, directed and produced several award-winning documentaries on Cajun and Creole culture that have been supported by the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

Her interests in storytelling, history, and the environment meld together in her work with the TECHE Project. Three faucets make up the TECHE Renaissance: ENRICH It (promotes healthy watershed), EXPLORE It (paddle trail), and EMBRACE It (economic development). The organization manages the Bayou Teche National Water Trail and Paddle Paddle Trail. The infrastructure supporting the trails are slated for completion within the next two years and includes an informational kiosk, and a canoe and kayak floating dock in each of the fifteen Trail Towns spanning the 135 mile paddle trail.

Wes Higgins, President, Bill Lewis Fishing Lures, represents a lure company rooted in Alexandria, LA since 1964. The Bill Lewis company is best known for its trademarked RattleTrap fishing lure that is a household name amongst fishermen worldwide. Outdoor Life magazine named the Bill Lewis RattleTrap “The Most Influential Lure” of all time in their Hall of Fame lure article. Over a 15-year career with Bill Lewis, Higgins has touched all aspects of the recreational fishing industry — from manufacturing to distribution to sales and marketing.

Born and raised in Alexandria, LA, Higgins not only enjoys fishing, but especially likes to target bass from a kayak. He is a fan of virtually any outdoor sport, including mountain biking. Currently Higgins focuses on managing the company’s product development, key accounts (such as: Bass Pro/Cabela’s, Academy, Walmart), marketing/advertising (social media, national pro-staff, print/tv media placement), human resources, intellectual property management, and strategic planning. To see more on Bill Lewis social: #RatLTrap #BillLewisFishing @BillLewisFishing, or visit www.rat-l-trap.com to learn more.

Rachael Carter, MSU Extension – is an Economist and Community Development Specialist with the Center for Government and Community Development. She has worked for over 15 years in community and economic development and her expertise is in economic analysis, community engagement, tourism and natural resource policy. Rachael helps communities use their local resource to solve problems and foster positive community change.

Adrian was born in New Orleans, LA. In the summer of 2005, his family relocated to the mountains of Western North Carolina. The transition from a dense urban below sea level city to the semi-rural Smoky Mountains exposed him to some of the best outdoor recreational opportunities the Southeast has to offer. Adrian quickly adapted and learned to rock climb, kayak, snowboard, and backpack.

Those early experiences created the foundation of a fulfilling life spent outdoors. To date, Adrian has led backpacking trips through Chilean Patagonia, canoed the Boundary Waters, and completed a 5 month thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. After moving back to Louisiana in 2016, he now gets his outdoor fix from exploring the waterways of South Louisiana.

Who can attend?

The summit is open to everyone interested in improving the rural communities throughout Louisiana.

Is financial aid available?

Limited financial assistance is available in cases of need. To apply, send your written request to swest@cenla.org explaining the reason for your request and how you plan to use the experience to improve Central Louisiana or the State of Louisiana.

I’m from out of town, where do you recommend staying?

• Holiday Inn Alexandria – Downtown (Host Hotel)

• The Historic Hotel Bentley of Alexandria

• More Options

Are meals included with the price of the ticket?

Included meals are: Wednesday [Lunch] + Thursday [Continental breakfast] + Thursday [Lunch].

What is the event schedule?

The Rural Prosperity Summit will start promptly at noon on Wednesday (February 19th), and conclude at 2:00PM Thursday (February 20th).

Is seating reserved? How can I make sure I sit next to my colleagues/friends?

Seating for morning and afternoon sessions will be on a first come, first serve basis as the doors open. Sponsors and CLEDA Board Members will have assigned seating for the lunch sessions on both days. Sponsorships are available beginning at $1500 and include a reserved table for the lunch sessions and 8 tickets to the event. If you are interested in a sponsorship, please contact Stacey Douglas at sdouglas@cenla.org or 318-441-3404.