Lake Providence Elections Accountability Night – SEPT 13th at LA Cotton Museum

Northern Louisiana Interfaith Delta Cluster will host its “Candidates Accountability Night” in Lake Providence, Monday September 13 from 6:30 to 8:00 PM at the Louisiana Cotton Museum Plantation Hall

Candidates for Mayor, Alderman, and Police Chief have been invited to the event to address concerns of many citizens. Interfaith is a non-partsian political organization and we do not back political candidates or parties. Interfaith does not take money from political parties, candidates, those in office or those seeking office.

Issues on the agenda are:
Animal Control – In recent house meetings Delta Cluster leaders expressed concern about stray animals within city limits. After several visits to Lake Providence City Council, some horses were removed and a call in line to report stray animals was established. Nevertheless, the problem persists.
Infrastructure – Delta Cluster leaders walked the neighborhood and took pictures of vacant and abandoned buildings. The Delta Cluster is asking the Mayor and City Council of Lake Providence to tear these unsafe structures down.
Jobs and Employment – The Port of Lake Providence has a prospect for a new $50 million plant. Interfaith works with New Opportunities Vision and Achievement (NOVA) of Northeast Louisiana which trains local workers for jobs. Interfaith requests that the City work with it to identify funding for NOVA to expand to Lake Providence.
General Commitment to work with Interfaith – The Delta Cluster requests that the Mayor and the Council work with Interfaith to address these and other issues impacting Lake Providence.

For any questions call Melvin Williams: 318-559-0769, Sandra Everfield: 318-559-3176, Anita Perry: 318-559-2388

June 2, 2010 at Noon : Madison Parish Chamber to Host Discussion on Jobs and Workforce with guest Paul West, Director of NOVA

The Madison Parish Chamber of Commerce and the Delta Cluster of Northern Louisiana Interfaith are having a discussion on jobs and workforce at the Chamber's next regularly scheduled meeting at Noon at the TA Truck Stop on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010. Paul West, Executive Director of NOVA (www.novanela.org) has been invited back to Tallulah to do a short presentation and update from his visit last year with Interfaith and the Madison Parish Rotary. Our main goal is to invite local and regional employers and other key stakeholders and have a discussion on what can be done to assist our existing employers, attract new ones, and what's going on in workforce development regionally. We strongly encourage local employers to attend.

Opportunity for Northeast Louisiana Workers

From the NCL Interfaith BLOG

The new ConAgra Foods Lamb Weston sweet potato processing facility near Delhi is making great progress! Lamb Weston, in partnership with Louisiana FastStart, the Louisiana Workforce Commission and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, will be holding job fairs the week of March 29.

The job fairs will be daily March 29 through April 2, 2:00 – 7:00 p.m. Each job fair will consist of presentations, Q&A and application process information sharing that begins each half hour.

For a schedule see the NCL Interfaith Blog at
http://nclinterfaith.blogspot.com/

TALLULAH ELECTIONS ACCOUNTABILITY NIGHT - MARCH 4th at NEW TALLULAH HIGH SCHOOL

DELTA CLUSTER of NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA INTERFAITH TO HOLD ACCOUNTABILITY NIGHT IN ADVANCE OF TALLULAH ELECTIONS.

The Delta Cluster of Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith is organizing one hundred leaders from Tallulah to meet Thursday, March 4, 6:00 pm – 7:30 PM at the new Tallulah High Auditorium, 1234 Madison High School Drive off Old US Hwy 65 South for an accountability session to which we have invited the candidates for Mayor of Tallulah, Louisiana to speak. We invite all candidates for upcoming Tallulah, LA elections to attend. Tallulah residents are invited to this important event and we encourage you to attend.

The Delta Cluster of Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith is a broad-based coalition of institutions dedicated to providing a way for ordinary residents to have a voice in decisions being made about them and their families. It is a non-partisan political organization and Delta Cluster leaders do not back any political party or endorse candidates. It does not take money from elected officials or those running for office.

Through relational and house meetings over the last two years, several issues have emerged that residents say will make our area better. Delta Cluster leaders from Tallulah, Lake Providence, St. Joseph and Waterproof have met with Congressman Rodney Alexander, State Senator Frances Thompson and others regarding these issues. A similar session was held with Congressman Alexander in early 2009.
During election season Interfaith hosts an “Accountability Night”, inviting candidates for office to meet with us so that Interfaith members, in this case from Tallulah and Madison Parish can present our agenda of issues. It is also an opportunity for candidates to talk about their vision for the community and why they have chosen to run for office.

For more information, please contact Rev. Charles Trimble at Andy Saavedra at 318-341-0989 or Shorty Ervin at 318-574-5002 or see our Blog website at
www.ladeltacommunitydevelopmentstuff.blogspot.com/

Delta Cluster Leaders support emerging Interfaith Committee in Jackson, MS

Leaders from the Delta Cluster of Northern Louisiana Interfaith traveled to Jackson, Mississippi to support an emerging interfaith organization there. Rev. Charles Trimble of Tallulah addressed the group.

DELTA CLUSTER UPDATE - Lake Providence - Nov 2009

Lake Providence: The Issue is Animal Control

Leaders from the Delta Cluster of Northern and Central Interfaith from Lake Providence, Louisiana have been working on the issue of animal control. Lake Providence residents have been complaining of not being able to let their grandchildren play outside due to stray dogs wandering around their neighborhood.

It is understood that Lake Providence has greater issues than stray dogs but correcting simple quality of life issues such as animal control and neighborhood clean up are important to improving a community and make it somewhere people want to come to.

Lake Providence Interfaith leaders have been meeting with Town of Lake Providence staff and will continue to attend Town Council meetings until a solution is found.

DELTA CLUSTER UPDATE - Tallulah - Nov 2009

Tallulah – Narrowing Down Issues – Streets and Intersections

Following up on the meetings with Congressman Rodney Alexander and State Senator Francis Thompson, Tallulah Interfaith leaders recently invited Madison Parish elected officials to meet to discuss the infrastructure issues Interfaith has been advocating for since last year.

Senator Thompson's advice was to narrow down our list of issues.

So while the Madison Parish members of Interfaith have several issues, for now we have narrowed our concerns to the following:

1. Kimbrough Street – There seems to be some debate over who is responsible for the street. Also, the street does not score well for many of the government funding sources available to repair it. This street services two schools, a fire station and both Tallulah and Richmond.

2. Interstate Lighting – This has also been an issue with the Chamber of Commerce. It's important for economic development to attract travelers to stop in Tallulah.

3. Intersection of Hwy 65 just north of the Interstate and access to the new school. That location has several accidents and maybe a key with the solution to access to the new school. We are very concerned about access to the school and the safety of our children. We are disappointed that adequate access to the new school appears to have illogically been placed behind completion of the new school.

The only officials who responded and met with Interfaith were Mayor Beckwith of Tallulah and Mayor Kivett of Richmond who both provided updates on what infrastructure projects they are working on.

Both Mayors were very responsive and agreed to a joint followup meeting to discuss possible solutions on these three issues.