To continue the trend of working to revitalize Ville Platte, local officials and business men and women from across Evangeline Parish gathered at The Hatchery to hear from University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Moody Endowed Chair of Regional Business Development Dr. Geoffrey Stewart.
The event was hosted to kick off a collaboration between the Evangeline Parish Foundation, the Evangeline Chamber of Commerce, the tourism board, parish, local and state government officials, business owners, the UL-L and other resources such as the Acadiana Planning Commission.
Before the UL-L professor addressed the audience at the Vidrine based business owned by Anita Fontenot, Gwen Fontenot provided information on the Evangeline Parish Foundation, which was created for the purpose of providing money to communities for parks, scholarships and to give back to schools.
According to Gwen, Anita spear headed the effort to start the Evangeline Parish Foundation after witnessing what the Acadiana Foundation has done for communities throughout the Acadiana region. She said, “The initial goal is to build a $1 million endowment fund for the Evangeline Parish Foundation. And, that is just the beginning.”
Gwen went on to explain that of the $1 million, the goal is to raise $750,000 for civic projects. She explained, “That can be for building parks. That can be to give scholarships. It can be for doing trainings or for giving back to schools. The foundation can give to non-profit entities, public entities and to churches.”
She also went on to explain the remaining $250,000 of the $1 million would be for an education fund.
An event is set to take place at the Hatchery, today, for individuals to learn more about the Evangeline Parish Foundation.
In closing, Gwen stated, “We are encouraging philanthropy throughout the parish. Not just in Ville Platte because it is the parish seat, but also in Chataignier, Turkey Creek, Pine Prairie, Basile and Mamou.
“I think our residents and businesses are very familiar with giving to charity. We are also use to sponsoring everything that goes on in the community from Little League to basketball games to cook-offs and veterans programs. So we are use to doing that because it gives back to publicity for our businesses. What we are less familiar with is philanthropy and that is simply giving to human kind and giving to causes that are going to make the quality of life better in all of our communities.”
Gwen explained when someone gives to the foundation, they may not know where that money is going right at that moment. However, she said, “We are going to work with the people of the communities to figure out where that money is going to go. So by building this endowment, the monies from this endowment are going to be distributed throughout the parish.”
Finally she said, “Every dollar is going to be important.”
Dr. Stewart, who is an associate professor of marketing at UL-L and has been recognized nationally for his work as a teacher, researcher and a leader, then took the floor and shared information regarding plans he and his students have to begin working on revitalizing downtown Ville Platte.
Some of Stewart’s previous projects like this have taken place in Delcambre, Crowley, Vermillion, and Youngsville.
This effort is one Stewart said is about “cultural preservation,” which he explained “is really just about us working together.”
Stewart said, “There are places in Louisiana that wish they had a state park. They wish they had a food scene the way you have a food scene. They wish they had the music lineage. What happens on the radio here in the mornings is phenomenal. That type of engagement is not usual. You don’t get that everywhere.”
Stewart and his graduate students will spend time during the spring semester assisting the community on finding ways to spotlight what Ville Platte has to offer. He said, “Part of our objective coming this semester and working with you all is really just to facilitate and help structure some things to help you all move down the path that I think you are already moving.”
To do this, Stewart said he and his students will focus on “collecting your voice,” which has led to this project being named “Project Engage.” He said, “That’s really what we are looking for. We are looking for you all to engage with us in conversation. Besides philanthropy, we need your ideas. We need your history. We want to understand where it all came from. We want to hear what some of the issues are, some of the challenges are, opportunities that you see, things that you would like to have in your community and put those things out there.”
To begin this project, Stewart and his students intend on making a trip to Ville Platte where they will spend an afternoon walking around the area to begin to better get to know the people and what the city has to offer.
According to Stewart, revitalizing Ville Platte will take more than one semester to complete. For that reason, this project will continue for semesters to come until the UL-L graduate students finish assisting locals with transforming downtown Ville Platte.
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ELIZABETH WEST Managing Editor