Extension agents and programs positioned to combat poverty

Citizens in 10 parishes surrounding Opelousas are tackling the increasing challenges on families. Like much of Louisiana, the long-standing foes of the area have been unemployment, a crumbling education system, and failing businesses.

With poverty as a contributing factor in all these challenges, the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center has positioned itself to affect change.

Extending the Ag Center's land-grant mission, the center's executive committee, the Southern University System Board of Directors and area lawmakers established the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives to improve the socioeconomic well-being of citizens in St. Landry, Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, St. Martin, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Allen and Evangeline parishes.

The Southwest Center is a satellite facility of the Southern University Ag Center. "Our role is multi-faceted, but our focus is economic development," said LaVonya Malveaux, Southwest Center director.

To the public, the Southwest Center delivers programs, workshops, and trainings developed from the accumulated knowledge and many ongoing research projects at Southern. However, behind the scenes, the Southwest Center has taken an active stance providing leadership that assures focused, applied rural development research. The Center's modest staff provides critical information to stakeholders and policymakers that will increase awareness and understanding of rural development conditions, issues, strategies, and policies.

In less than a year, the Center has brought to the region several initiatives centered on rural entrepreneurship, youth development, and goat production.

Rural Entrepreneurship

"The Southwest Center is here to assist entrepreneurs in seeking opportunities to create, expand, and retain businesses within our target service area," said Malveaux.

In doing so, the Center has hosted and coordinated information meetings and seminars on business development. Participants heard from representatives of Southern's Ag Center, College of Business, and Center for Rural and Small Business Development; the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Small Business Development Center; St. Landry Economic Development District; the United States Small Business Administration; St. Landry Economic Development District; Louisiana Heifer Project International; and the Opelousas-St. Landry Chamber of Commerce.

According to Malveaux, workshops and training will continuously be available to link interested entrepreneurs with resources and technical assistance.

Youth Development

The Southwest Center's youth money management workshop, "Money is Still a Major Issue," was developed to improve area youth financial habits. The workshop focuses on the importance of managing money, setting goals, creating spending plans, and recognizing wasteful spending. The workshop places particular emphasis on "helping youth determine if they were spending money in ways that will help them reach their goals or if they were pushing their dreams further away," said area youth agent Edna Lastrapes-Brown.

The Southwest Center has joined with the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Department in its Third Annual Operation Accountability Program to provide workshops on financial and livestock responsibility over six-weeks.

More than 1,700 children attended summer sessions focused on the importance of responsibility by caring for and raising small animals. Participants handled goats and played games in the hands-on workshop.

"This program utilized the resources, energy, and talents of the entire St. Landry Parish to provide a safe environment for children to interact and learn during the summer months," said Malveaux. Starting this fall, the Southwest Center will begin the Youth Educational Support (YES) after school program for school-age children. The free enrichment program focuses on math, science and reading on a weekly basis.

Goat Production

While the goat industry is booming in the nation, the epicenter of activity in the state is turning out to be the areas served by the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives. This summer, nearly 70 potential goat producers attended an informational meeting on goat production and the support available from the Ag Center and the Louisiana Heifer Project.

As part of ongoing research in goat production utilizing the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS) Goat Project, Ag Center researcher Sebhatu Gebrelul, Ph.D., and assistant Theresa Walsh interviewed a number of small, minority farmers in the region to participate in the program. After initial training in basic goat husbandry, each farmer received 25 female pregnant Spanish meat goats and a Boer buck, and started goat production enterprise.

Throughout the project, Southern University Ag Center staff have made their knowledge and experience available to the participants in the form of technical assistance and on-site training. They made more than 30 one-on-one visits to IFAFS goat producers in order to address issues of concern, problems with raising meat goats, or general questions on goat production business.

"We have hosted seven training programs or workshop with an average attendance of about 50 producers," said Gebrelul. "Due to effort and contribution of our institution and the IFAFS Goat Project, the number of breeding females has increase by about 20, and several small farmers are willing to participate or start goat production."

Additionally, Southern University Ag Center and the Southwest Center agents have taken up the charge of helping a group of producers start a marketing cooperative as part of an eight-state regional cooperative. The cooperative first held its meeting early this fall where the group collaborated with the City of Opelousas to develop the Southeast Goat Cooperative (SOGOCO) of Louisiana.

The cooperative welcomes farmers and individuals generating marketable goats and those who only want to support the goat industry and learn more about production. SOGOCO of Louisiana will have a Junior Association for youth who are interested or involved in goat production.

With this evidence of success, Southern's development of the Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives is a testament of how systemic outreach can best impact Louisiana citizens, said Leodrey Williams, chancellor, Southern University Ag Center. The Ag Center is the fifth campus of the Southern University System. Its mission is to conduct basic and applied research and disseminate information to Louisiana citizens in a manner that is useful in addressing their scientific, technological, social, economic and cultural needs.

"The Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives is a critical component for fulfilling the Southern University Ag Center's mission," said Williams. The Southwest Center is located a 232 S. Liberty Street in Opelousas.

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