St. Mary Excel report for first quarter 2022

(Editor's note: This item is the quarterly report of activities by the St. Mary Excel citizens group.)

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 visit.
St. Mary Excel submits reports quarterly to share progress toward panel recommendations.
St. Mary Excel submits this Quarter 1 of 2022 report. St Mary Excel:
—Worked with City of Morgan City leaders to secure and place Atchafalaya National Heritage signage to connect neighborhoods with planned biking areas, and appeared before the City Council on Jan. 25 to present sign progress,
—Offered a Verdunity workshop with Monte Anderson and Kevin Shepherd Jan. 19 and 20 to collaborate on economic development projects in the Morgan City and Berwick area.
—Provided business developers with consultative services from Monte Anderson and Kevi Shepherd of Verdunity on March 15-16 and hosted a community presentation by Verdunity on incremental development.
—Provided city of Morgan City and town of Berwick leaders with consultative services from Monte Anderson and Kevin Shepherd of Verdunity on strategies to assist economic development. Mr.
—Evan Boudreaux, economic development director for St. Mary Parish, attended the collaborative offerings.
—Coordinated with municipalities, parish council, Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, and Sea Grant in hosting a Town Hall meeting Feb. 8 from 6-8 pm at the Municipal Auditorium.
At the meeting, the state-level Atchafalaya Team led by Dr. Brian Roberts presented how the team views the national estuarine research reserve for the Atchafalaya zone.
From that meeting, St. Mary Excel created Youtube videos and shared the videos on social media. See
https://www.facebook.com/St-Mary-EXCEL-2291823087751840 or
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8qGGgBMUt7QmgTksWcGjow
—Attended the Atchafalaya Basin Restoration and Enhancement Task Force meeting held on March 3 at the St. Mary Parish Courthouse and made public comments encouraging personal letters be mailed in support of the Atchafalaya Zone being named Louisiana’s national estuarine research reserve.
—Shared and encouraged entrepreneurs and small business owners to view seven business and legal support seminars presented by Tim Matte, CPA, and Gerard Bourgeois, JD. The seminars are available at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8qGGgBMUt7QmgTksWcGjow
The seminars are funded through a USDA Rural Business Development grant.
—Followed the progress of the Parish of St. Mary in application to use federal RESTORE dollars to fund the planning of an Atchafalaya Resilience Lab at Coastal Morgan City.
This funding will be used to partner with The Water Institute of the Gulf to detail the project.
The timeline for this partnership is anticipated to be made around September 2022 when funds are released.
—Supported the city of Morgan City in concept, design, and phase planning to advance expansion of use of Lake End Parkway.
—Supported Berwick High School’s New Generation student team in readying for presentation at the Rotary Club of Morgan City’s New Generation forum.
The BHS students encouraged students from across the parish to become familiar with the Atchafalaya Zone being con-sidered for Louisiana’s National Estuarine Research Reserve and to join in a social media campaign to encourage Atchafalaya Zone selection.