St. Mary Excel reports on second-quarter activities

(Editor’s note: St. Mary Excel submitted this report on its activities during the second quarter.)

St. Mary Excel has been working since 2018 across political subdivisions and the tenure of elected officials to implement recommendations of a community hosted Urban Land Institute panel report, “Morgan City and Berwick Louisiana: Building the Foundation for a New Economy Along the Atchafalaya River.”
See a link to the report on this story at StMaryNow.com

St. Mary Excel:

—Met with Dr. Jessica Simms of the Health and Resilience Unit of the Gulf Research Program of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to hear about projects of the research center having a possible impact on our area,

—Worked with St. Mary Parish economic development director, Evan Boudreaux, to hear follow-up support for businesses that heard Verdunity presentations,

—Worked with the city of Morgan City leaders and town of Berwick officials to complete installation of Atchafalaya National Heritage signage to connect neighborhoods (Elliott, Walsh, Wyandotte, Old Brashear, Klingsville, Golden Farms, Coal Chute, and MacArthur) with planned biking areas of the completed Berwick hiking/biking trail and the in-progress Bike Morgan City trail.

—Hosted a Local Interest Group meeting on May 20 for the purpose of hearing presentations on the search for Louisiana’s estuarine research reserve (Dr. Brian Roberts), St. Mary Parish’s partnership with the Water Institute of the Gulf for a Morgan City resilience lab (Dr. Scott Hemmerling), residential maritime academy exploration (Mr. Stephen Swiber), and enhancing community resilience project consideration (Dr. Jessica Simms of the Gulf Research Program).

See a recording of the meeting at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJNc 8GLR-io

(Kick-off of resilience lab planning should begin in September 2022 when federal RESTORE dollars are available.)

—Connected with Dr. David Johnson (Purdue University) on the project “Incorporating Equity and Social Vulnerability into the Design of Flood Risk and Mitigation Strategies” and accepted Risk and Equity Advisory Board positions for two St. Mary Excel members.

—Attended the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Board meeting on June 15 in which the announcement of the nomination of the Atchafalaya zone for Louisiana’s national estuarine research reserve was confirmed. St. Mary Excel’s president, Catherine Holcomb, made public comments at the meeting thanking the governor for the Atchafalaya selection.

—Submitted an Atchafalaya National Heritage Area grant application to record area voices in telling of the area’s environmental protection.

—Planned for closing out the USDA Business Development grant. Grant monies funded seminars which are available at www.you
tube.com/channel/UC8qGGgBMUt7Qmg TksWcGjow

Grant monies also funded Verdunity workshops.
For why the workshop was needed, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9LJ8iS5X6A
and check out the concept4es used for incremental community planning at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dFkM7DEx3c