Chamber hosts ‘Vermilion At Work’

Education is an essential element on the path to success.
While that is true for an individual, it is also the case for a community. As Vermilion Parish moves into 2022 and beyond, strengthening ties between education and business can help create a stronger, more vibrant community.
On Thursday morning, the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce brought local higher education and business representatives together for an event aptly named “Vermilion At Work: Connecting Education & Economic Development.”
South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) Chancellor Dr. Vincent June and Anne Falgout, executive director of the Vermilion Economic Development Alliance (VEDA), served as the guest speakers.
Angelle Broussard, who is the new Vermilion Chamber president in ‘22, said this event provided a tremendous opportunity.
“It was a wonderful, well-attended event and a great kick-off for 2022!” she exclaimed. “With the workforce being top-of-mind for many business owners, it is important to discuss our community’s education and skills development. Both VEDA and SLCC are assets to our community, and we, the Chamber, hope to help facilitate more conversations between our members, our schools, and these organizations to continue building the quality of life in our Parish for generations to come.”
Falgout has been VEDA’s director since its inception in ‘14. She said there is an aspect that strongly ties education to economic development.
“There is a place where education and the economy meet,” Falgout said. “That is workforce development. That workforce development table is often where Dr. June, SLCC and Vermilion Economic Development Alliance find ourselves. In ‘22, it will be more critical than ever that we are aligned between the business community and academia.
“We have to create some alignment.”
Since officially becoming chancellor last year, Dr. June has traveled the region to make the connections necessary to create that alignment.
“My team and I love doing these parish tours,” Dr. June said Thursday morning. “This is probably number 70.”
There are nine SLCC campuses in eight parishes, including the Gulf Area Campus in Abbeville. Lawana Stokes is the campus director. Dr. June said the Gulf Area Campus is in excellent hands.
“There is a campus director who is the face of each campus,” Dr. June said. “Let me say this, I would not want to be a campus director at the same time as Lawana Stokes. She has connected with the community and knows everybody. I am very grateful to her.
“She is all about student success.”
Dr. June said SLCC will not be content when it comes to offering programs that help develop that success for the students and their future employers. Key to that is making sure that programs line up with what is happening in the world at that time.
“We have to enhance and change out our resources,” Dr. June said. “We have to be able to maintain a relationship with our partnerships in real-time. It’s OK for a program to be outdated. But, it’s not OK for us to engage in an outdated program when it has no connectivity or relevancy to demands.”
There is also a focus on younger students. Dr. June said SLCC is reaching out to parish school systems, including Vermilion Parish, to create more opportunities.
“It helps when you have superintendents who get it,” Dr. June said. “I have met with the Vermilion Parish superintendent (Tommy Byler). He is on board.”
Vermilion Chamber Executive Director Lynn Guillory worked in education for more than 30 years, including at the Gulf Area campus. Guillory taught both high school and adults during her career.
“This is one of my passions,” Guillory said. “I genuinely believe these schools (like SLCC) prepare our citizens for the workforce that we have in our community. So it’s been really exciting talking to and getting to know Dr. June.
“I look forward to great partnerships with him.”
As far as Dr. June is concerned, the more partnerships, the better.
“We can’t do this by ourselves,” Dr. June said. “Our success is dependent upon our relationship with our chambers, our (civic organizations) and our local legislative leaders. My goal as chancellor is to build new frameworks.”
Falgout is optimistic that this can yield the best results for Vermilion Parish.
“I am confident in SLCC’s ability to meet the needs of our employers,” Falgout said. “It’s because of the openness of the current administration and the dialog being done with industry professionals right here in our parish.”