Rural Louisiana could receive an economic boost when LSU’s Mobile Classroom rolls into town. The Louisiana Business and Technology Center, E. J. Ourso College of Business, the University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have partnered in a project for rural and hurricane- affected Louisiana. Together the quartet developed the state’s first mobile classroom, which is used to help spark economic development by housing a series of seminars and workshops for small business owners. “The mobile classroom will travel to 37 parishes in Louisiana to provide technical assistance and training services to small and emerging businesses,” said Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center. “Our goal is to enhance economic development in Louisiana through support of our small business and development of new businesses.” The LBTC mobile classroom, dubbed the “Driving Louisiana’s Economy” initiative, is a custom-designed 18-wheeler trailer retrofitted to house seminars and workshops for small business owners. The self-contained mobile classroom has state-of-the-art audio and visual capabilities, including a large plasma screen monitor, broadband wireless Internet connectivity and seating for up to 24 people for seminars. The program aims at the many needs and concerns of small business owners, including leadership development seminars, small business workshops, women and minority business forums, entrepreneurship training, business planning and marketing workshops, access to capital workshops and small business innovation research grant seminars. Originally, the mobile classroom mission was to serve rural Louisiana, but because the University did not receive the trailer until after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, its mission changed. Now the mobile classroom applies its tools to the business recovery and development needs in Louisiana’s hurricane-impacted areas. “It’s a great tool for economic development,” said Small Business Development Center Director Tony Martinez. “It’s a way to bring our LBTC staff all over the state to help. A lot of the time when we hold workshops and seminars here in Baton Rouge, only the locals come. We want to reach all the communities of Louisiana. This classroom allows us to do that.” Business owners and future business owners can sign up to speak with professionals about how they should proceed with their business recovery and development when the classroom rolls into town. If the program’s lessons are applied to rural and redeveloping communities, External Relations Director Wendy Luedtke said the entire state could benefit from economic recovery in hurricane-affected areas and rural Louisiana. “We received the trailer just before the hurricane,” Luedtke said. “The program will benefit small businesses and help them run more efficiently. We are not telling them how to run their businesses, we are just showing them easier routes to receiving basic necessities for small-business growth.” The mobile classroom cost $135,000, awarded by a United States Department of Agriculture grant.
—–Contact Brennan David at [email protected]