Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (LA) – Jefferson EDGE 2025: Strategic Economic Development Plan

Challenge

Originally adopted in 2000, the Jefferson EDGE strategy has served as a roadmap for economic development in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Throughout its various iterations, the EDGE planning efforts have set the course for many of the Parish’s most successful initiatives, including the development of the 480-acre Churchill Technology & Business Park on one of the region’s last major greenfield sites. Like other parts of the New Orleans metro area, however, Jefferson Parish has suffered the effects of a number of natural and man-made disasters, including Hurricane Katrina, the Great Recession, and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Response

As the Parish began gearing up for the fifth iteration of the EDGE strategy, COVID-19 was emerging as a global pandemic. The Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission (JEDCO) and TIP Strategies worked collaboratively to keep the planning process moving ahead, achieving a high level of public and private participation via surveys, personal interviews, and virtual roundtables. The Jefferson EDGE 2025 strategic plan is centered on three major goals: 1) talent and workforce; 2) innovation and industry; and 3) quality of place and real estate. The plan also contains organizational recommendations to help JEDCO achieve greater effectiveness, including a new five-year capital campaign, staffing changes, and the creation of a redevelopment authority to drive public-private development projects on Parish and JEDCO-owned properties. The guiding principles of resiliency, social equity, and competitiveness together with the goals and the underlying initiatives will help advance JEDCO’s mission of developing the local economy through the retention and creation of quality jobs, entrepreneurship, and investment in the Parish.