MONROE, La. (AP) — A new five-parish economic development agency in northeast Louisiana has received $1.5 million in private funding commitments. Agency officials say the funding will be provided by several companies over the next three years.
Todd Perry is one of the key organizers of the group that includes Jackson, Lincoln, Morehouse, Ouachita, and Lincoln parishes. He says the agency is about halfway to its goal of $3 million, or $1 million annually, for the next three years.
Perry says 20 companies have already committed with another 20 pending. Among those is Entergy Louisiana, which so far has pledged $75,000. Perry says he expects the fundraising effort to be complete by the middle of October and a chief executive to be hired later that month.