LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Neighborhood Evolution and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA) are kicking off a yearlong program to revitalize North Lafayette.

Monte Anderson, with Neighborhood Evolution has partnered with a number of community partners, including LEDA, for “Elevate North Lafayette” happening on Thursday, Feb. 9. The community event will be at the Downtown Convention Center from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Programming will be from LEDA’s partner organizations including the Oasis, McComb-Veazey, Quiet Town, Freetown-Port Rico, and LaPlace Coteries, the LPTFA, and CFA.

Anderson is a town builder with decades of experience in the Dallas region and advocates for community building. He now coaches small developers and guides cities on economic stabilization using local investments in their neighborhoods. He’s experienced with incremental development, adaptive reuse, infill development, small scale development, property-specific financing, property ownership and financial management.

“When I heard Monte speak at a conference in 2021, I was impressed with his expertise and immediately saw the value bringing his programming to Lafayette Parish,” says Mandi Mitchell, president and CEO of LEDA. “My goal for this community-wide engagement with Monte and his team is to inspire, educate, and build the community's capacity for economic revitalization and equitable development.”

LEDA released a set of goals and recommendations for the economic revitalization of North Lafayette in 2022. Those goals touched upon a number of items, such as new business recruitment, workforce development and educational attainment. The engagement with Neighborhood Evolution will begin to address many of these topics. 

Three main goals for the program are: 

• Inspire the community to see a brighter future for North Lafayette
• Educate the community on small-scale, incremental development and build capacity among local individuals and developers to engage in this work
• Attract investment to North Lafayette and other distressed parts of the Parish.

Over the next 11 months, LEDA and Neighborhood Evolution will host several in-person and virtual events to address these goals.