The Lafayette Economic Development Authority unveiled a new three-year strategic plan Tuesday, which aims to help the organization capitalize on the successes of the last several years while continuing to improve the parish's economy.

The strategic plan comes around five months into Mandi Mitchell's tenure as the organization's president and CEO. The LEDA board chose Mitchell to head the organization in September after Gregg Gothreaux announced he was stepping down after 26 years.

Mitchell, who is the first woman to head LEDA, was previously the assistant secretary for Louisiana Economic Development.

As part of the new strategic plan, LEDA also released a new logo, incorporating design elements from the Acadiana flag.

In the new strategic plan, LEDA outlines several new and continued initiatives, as well as how it plans to measure its success in the years to come. Here's a breakdown of some of the key parts of the plan.

Energy, health care among target industries

The strategic plan identifies seven industries that LEDA wants to expand in Lafayette Parish: energy, health care, technology, manufacturing, aviation, retail, and logistics, transportation and warehousing.

The parish already has significant ties to some of the target industries — particularly energy and health care — and others have been a growing part of Lafayette's economy over the last several years.

Lafayette Parish's ties to the energy industry are no secret. Between the Oil Center and the Petroleum Club, the connection between Lafayette and the oil and gas sector is hard to miss, even now in a time when offshore drilling is less popular.

LEDA's new strategic plan does not express any sort of desire or initiative to divest from oil and gas, though the area's economy has generally trended away from oil and gas dependence. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area's concentration of mining and oil and gas jobs was 14-times the national average in the third quarter of 2021. That's high, but it's significantly lower than in the first quarter of 2017, when the jobs were 16 times more concentrated in Lafayette.

While the plan does not say anything about divesting from oil and gas, it does make it clear that LEDA plans to grow in the renewable energy sector. One of its goals is to "raise awareness of energy transition opportunities" and to position the parish to become a player in offshore wind, solar, and hydrogen energy, as well as carbon capture, utilization and storage.

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Health care and technology have been two of the fastest-growing sectors in Acadiana in recent years. In the past few years, the parish has seen more than 700 jobs added by expansions of two health care companies (LHC Group and Viemed), as well as the additions of technology companies SchoolMint and CGI.

The health care sector is also set for further growth in Lafayette, with Ochsner Health's acquisition of the Lafayette General Health System and UnitedHealth's planned purchase of LHC Group having the potential to further position Lafayette as a health care hub.

The parish also had several manufacturing wins in the last few years, such as Completeful, Westfield Hydraulics, Kibberia and SafeSource Direct. It also had a major win in the logistics, transportation and warehousing sector with Amazon building its first Louisiana fulfillment center in Lafayette Parish.

Growing opportunities on the Northside, for minority business owners

Mitchell, a Northside High School graduate, has been clear that Lafayette's Northside will play a key role in the parish's economic future.

In the strategic plan, LEDA said it will support the creation of a small business services center in North Lafayette, which would provide training, mentorship, networking and business boot camps.

The plan also said LEDA would work toward redevelopment and revitalization in North Lafayette, including advocating for public infrastructure investments and attracting private investment.

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The plan also put a focus on helping minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses in the parish. LEDA is planning to partner with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Lafayette Consolidated Government to digitize the Black Pages of Lafayette and to include other minority business groups.

Advocating for infrastructure investment

The LEDA strategic plan devotes one section to physical infrastructure improvements that could help facilitate economic development across the parish, including roads, broadband, and sewer systems.

In addition to supporting traditional infrastructure improvements and increased internet access, LEDA also said it would support the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Master Plan enhancements and advocate for improvements along Louisiana Avenue, the Evangeline Thruway Corridor/I-49 Connector and the University Avenue Corridor, as well as functional service roads along I-10.

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The plan also says LEDA will support improvements in the five economic development districts in Lafayette Parish.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Lafayette Economic Development shares plan to boost parish economy