This week, the Pelican Institute releases its “Jobs and Opportunity Agenda for Louisiana,” a road map for reclaiming Louisiana as a land of opportunity for all its citizens. This agenda is the result of months of data-crunching, research, analysis and consultation with experts from Louisiana and across the country. In crafting these solutions, our team sought to answer a basic question: given Louisiana’s unique resources, history and culture, what set of policies would best bring quality jobs and opportunity for all our citizens?

Over the next several months, we’ll release deep dive reports outlining reforms to the following systems in Louisiana: budget, taxes, local government, criminal justice, education, legal and regulatory structures and Medicaid. These are big issues that make up large swaths of how our tax dollars are spent delivering services and running the state. They also make up the major areas that determine the availability of quality jobs, growth of wages, public safety and pathways to opportunity for those most at risk in our society.

This is an earnest, thoughtful answer to Louisiana citizens’ requests – demands really – for solutions over rhetoric.  Of course, many of these recommendations would upend powerful special interests who benefit from the status quo – often at the expense of the good of the state. That’s why success in accomplishing fundamental reform will require a groundswell of engagement from Louisianans of every walk of life and across the political spectrum.

Learn more and get involved: