Latest / Real State / Rural Louisiana: Sustaining Communities for the Next Generation, with Rep. C. Travis Johnson

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Rural Louisiana: Sustaining Communities for the Next Generation, with Rep. C. Travis Johnson · Real State

• 0:00
  So from here to the next 10 to 20 years,
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  we're going to remind intentional,
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  and I tell every stakeholder,
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  legislator calls the country in a sauce
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  that makes sure you remain intentional
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  when you are planning to preserve your culture
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  and your identity.
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  - This is Real State, a podcast from CSG South.
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  Join us as we talk with policymakers
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  and public leaders shaping state level decisions
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  across the South,
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  and explore how ideas move from policy to real impact.
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  (upbeat music)
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  - Hello and welcome to Real State.
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  I'm your host, Lindsey Gray.
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  Across the South, many rural communities
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  are asking a fundamental question.
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  How did they preserve their identity
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  while creating opportunities for the next generation?
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  The challenge touches everything from agriculture,
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  forestry and natural resources,
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  to education, infrastructure and local leadership.
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  Ultimately, it's about whether communities
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  can remain vibrant and resilient
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  while building a strong future.
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  In Louisiana, those conversations are especially important
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  in rural and river communities,
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  where economic fatality, cultural identity
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  and quality of life are deeply connected.
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  Our guest today is Representative C Travis Johnson
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  of Louisiana. Representative Johnson represents
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  House District 21,
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  which includes communities across Northeast Louisiana.
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  And he serves as vice chair of the House Agricultural,
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  forestry, aquaculture and rural development communities.
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  Representative Johnson, thank you for joining us today.
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  - Hey, Lindsey, thank you so much for inviting me.
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  - Well, thank you for carving out the time.
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  Representative, you've spent years working closely
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  with rural communities across Louisiana.
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  When you look across the rural Louisiana footprint today,
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  what gives you the most optimism?
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  - Well, let me tell you, Lindsey,
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  I have the most rural district out of the 105 legislative districts.
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  And so I have six parishes.
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  You guys call them counties,
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  we call them parishes in Louisiana.
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  But I tell you, I had to find hope in my district
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  because being so rural and lack of economic resources,
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  I had to go to the drawing board.
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  And the thing that really gives me optimism
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  is knowing that we're in a changing landscape.
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  The world is changing.
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  It's a fun time for rural communities
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  to take a deep dive and take advantage
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  of all of these amazing opportunities that's available right now.
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  - And we're gonna talk about some of those opportunities today.
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  But often Louisiana's looked at as a boot, right?
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  So if you're looking at the boot, you are the shoelaces, really.
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  - That's correct, that's correct.
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  And the Mississippi runs directly down your district.
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  So the Mississippi River.
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  So just to give everybody a little lay of the land.
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  At the same time that you look at the opportunities
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  and the optimism, what concerns you most
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  when you think about the future of these communities?
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  - There is a global change in energy
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  and a way workforce developments,
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  all those things are changing.
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  So for rural communities,
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  we have to make sure as legislators
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  and all stakeholders that we are training the workforce.
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  So they will be ready for tomorrow.
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  You know, it's the future belongs to those who plan for today.
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  So we have the plan today for a bright future tomorrow.
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  So again, it's so incumbent that we all do everything that we can
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  to make sure that we're training rural communities
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  to be ready for tomorrow.
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  - And though you're on several important committees,
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  we're gonna focus on one today
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  where much of your committee work centers,
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  which is agricultural forestry, aquaculture,
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  and rural development.
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  So what role does agricultural forestry and aquaculture play
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  in sustaining rural communities
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  beyond their economic impact alone?
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  - Well, you know, it brings people together.
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  We all have to work together in rural communities
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  to make sure we're sustaining.
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  And when you work together, you have better best practices.
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  We have each other's back.
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  And so again, believe in not in an age of technology
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  where we're always online, working together
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  and going to smaller communities
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  versus you may go to New Orleans or Bad New York Dallas
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  where in smaller communities,
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  it is vital that we sustain by working together.
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  So that's something we'll hear a lot from smaller communities.
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  - When you think about the communities you represent,
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  what are the assets and the strengths
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  that policymakers sometimes are overlooking?
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  - Liz, you said something very important.
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  You described my district as the shoelace of the boot.
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  And so when you know that boot comes down,
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  then it shoots out.
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  And that shoelace is so vital to Louisiana.
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  We've been seeing this agriculture forever.
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  We are the largest agricultural district, but again,
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  we have four ports, two private airports.
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  We have interstate 20 that goes along the top of the district.
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  So we are working very diligently to make this district
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  an economic powerhouse.
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  It is one of the most impoverished parts
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  of this Louisiana inter-nation,
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  but I tell you through optimism,
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  we are working hard, putting systems in place
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  so that the future 10 to 20 years from now,
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  it would be thriving.
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  - I know that industry flows through there.
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  I mentioned Mississippi River, of course, is going down the center.
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  I did not realize you had so many river ports located in your district.
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  So I'm sure that that is a huge piece of what you are doing
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  and moving cargo and moving imports and exports out
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  for the whole country, not just Louisiana.
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  Let's really talk about that.
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  So what do you wish people outside of rural Louisiana
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  better understood about the value
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  of these communities bringing to the state as a whole?
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  Well, I tell you, you discussed on the vice share of agriculture.
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  You know, doing COVID, we saw those shelves empty.
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  Take it from shirts to toilet, napkins,
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  plastic forts, everything you name,
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  we have something to contribute to it.
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  And so in those smaller communities,
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  it's a framework for America.
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  Making sure that America consumers have their knees,
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  not their wants, but their knees.
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  And again, that's why I take this role so, so dear and near
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  because again, we are producing the needs of the world in the country.
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  And so that's something I want people to know about the area
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  and the rural communities.
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  One theme that appears throughout your recent legislative work
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  is helping communities create opportunities
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  while maintaining their local identity.
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  This year, you sponsored House Bill 90,
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  establishing the Faraday downtown entertainment district.
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  So I really want to talk about that entertainment district.
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  It is rich with history when I started digging into this.
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  Yes.
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  What opportunity did you see in the Faraday community
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  that led you to sponsor this legislation?
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  Well, first thing is diversifying our economy.
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  So smaller places have a story to tell, Lindsey.
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  And by telling the story, it can draw tourism.
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  And so do you know the name of Jerley Lewis?
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  Oh yes.
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  We're a boss of fire.
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  Well, guess what?
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  Jerley Lewis is from Faraday, Louisiana,
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  along with a renowned pastor, Jimmy Swagger.
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  They're cousins right from our hometown.
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  And so we started a Faraday downtown entertainment district
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  because we were trying to pick it up
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  the great legacy that they left us.
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  And everyone across the world from Europe
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  come down to Louisiana to visit and learn
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  more about those cousins.
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  Again, we want to be a better restaurant, be a better tourism
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  display.
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  And so this is so exciting.
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  And it's near and dear to my heart because guess what?
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  I know Jerley Lewis Grandkids and his great nephews.
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  And so for me, it's like knowing family, right?
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  So for the world, they're like, oh my god, Jerley Lewis.
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  So again, it's about tourism and diversifying
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  the economy for the real communities.
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  We want to preserve that history
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  in those music icons, especially, and not
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  forget that as we progress on.
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  So how can communities create new opportunities
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  and attract investment while still preserving that character
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  and identity that makes them unique?
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  We do not want to lose who we are because that
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  is what makes small communities the family feel.
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  When people come and visit, they don't want to visit the big city.
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  They want to visit a small antique shop.
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  They want to visit vintage location.
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  They want to feel the history of whether visiting.
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  And so again, we know.
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  So we have to be intentional.
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  Our planners and our stakeholders have
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  to make sure that we're intentional in our economic development
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  plans for the region.
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  So from here to the next 10 to 20 years,
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  we're going to remain intentional.
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  And I tell every stakeholder legislator
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  caused the country in a source and make sure
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  you remain intentional when you are planning to preserve
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  your culture and your identity.
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  Yeah, again, I just did some kind of a little bit digging
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  on this entertainment district to prepare for our conversation
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  and I found myself kind of staying in there a lot longer
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  than normal.
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  Very interesting, isn't it?
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  Yeah, it's so interesting.
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  And you all have plans to revitalize
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  so many special buildings and keep the architecture,
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  as well as that history that you talked about in those individuals.
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  It is really quite the effort.
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  It's going to take several years.
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  But it was really cool.
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  And I believe there's a festival around it and all kinds of stuff.
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  Many of these old rural communities have a lot of history.
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  So that comes with historic tax credits and whatnot.
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  And so again, we're finishing four business this year
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  and we're finishing three more next year.
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  Amazing.
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  And the historic tax credits, those
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  are passed by the legislature.
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  Those are decisions made by the House
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  and the Senate of Louisiana.
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  So you are an integral piece in moving that forward.
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  So we're excited to watch how it continues.
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  Another focus of your recent work
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  has been connectivity and regional collaboration.
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  You sponsored legislation involving the Northeast Louisiana
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  multimodal district, recognizing
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  the importance of transportation and connectivity
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  for rural communities.
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  And you mentioned that kind of early on in some of your opening
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  statements.
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  So why is connectivity so important to the long-term sustainability
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  of rural Louisiana?
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  And what impact do you hope this legislation will have?
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  Well, Lindsay, I am a big advocate for the environment.
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  And I said that because the shoelace you mentioned,
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  the Mississippi River is the long that shoelace that you mentioned.
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  And with the four ports, when our river is low,
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  it is hard for those commodities to get up and down the river.
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  Last year and year before, the river went lower
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  than we've ever witnessed in my lifetime.
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  And so we had to do the legislation, the multimodal,
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  to make sure that if the river do go down,
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  we can focus on commercial trains and those other connectivities.
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  And so again, we have to be sustainable
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  in making sure that businesses are able to ship cargo
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  to ship products up and down the river.
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  And so when they are important and export,
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  we want to make sure that we're doing our part as local leaders
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  to make sure that they have everything they need
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  to make sure the job is done.
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  So in your district, it really is.
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  Roads, bridges, ports, planes, trains on the bills.
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  Yes.
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  Yeah, trains.
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  You mentioned two airports that are also private that are in your area.
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  So I mean, you really do have--
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  you're touched by almost all of it.
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  So we've got to make sure that infrastructure remains
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  strong.
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  And when people hear infrastructure,
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  they often only think about the roads and the bridges.
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  But in Northeast Louisiana, the Mississippi River
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  is a critical transportation and economic asset.
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  So how should policymakers think about connectivity
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  in a region where waterways, highways, and local communities
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  are so interconnected?
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  The river is a $220 billion industry up and down the river.
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  So that alone makes you look twice, right?
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  But policymakers need to know what the consumers need,
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  what our businesses need, because it's our job to make sure
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  that they have a proper infrastructure.
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  Because again, what we said earlier,
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  we have to make sure that we are shipping goods
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  for out of America, right?
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  Out of America, sometimes around the world.
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  And so by us making sure that we are doing our best as policymakers,
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  truly understanding what they're going through,
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  that's the most important advice I can give anyone.
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  Understand what your constituents need
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  in a business is in a community, what they need,
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  and then you'll go far.
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  Building the future also means thinking beyond
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  the next budget cycle or election cycle.
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  It requires investing in people
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  and ensuring the next generation can see a future
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  in the communities that they call home.
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  This session, you sponsored legislation
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  involving a partnership with Soella Technical Community College,
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  aiming at increasing awareness
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  of educational and training opportunities.
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  So what gap were you trying to address with that legislation?
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  - Yeah, with that legislation,
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  we know when it comes to logistics,
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  that in crisis, the workforce is low when it comes to trucking.
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  And it's not only trucking,
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  but you have dispatchers and other positions that are needed.
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  And so we realized there is a trucking shortage
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  across all of America,
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  and also Louisiana.
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  So we are going to the high schools,
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  making sure that we are training a workforce
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  that will be ready for tomorrow
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  and to add more to that Lindsey.
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  I also created a legislation called
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  the Dutor Economic Research and Sustainability District
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  in 2021.
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  I firmly believe that when the government,
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  universities in a private sector works together,
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  you find a planning, the workforce, everything that you need.
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  And because of that,
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  I've been on the champion to be a workforce.
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  And also, young people want to stay now
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  because they see plans that are developing
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  and renewable energy.
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  We have wind turbines, solar, so many things that are happening.
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  We have artificial intelligence,
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  we have a metal project being done in North Louisiana.
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  So with all of these new projects,
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  and with this efficient planning that we're doing,
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  young people can see a future and stand at home
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  and using their training or their education
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  to better support the community.
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  And those businesses can transform a district,
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  as you're seeing in your district,
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  but you've got to have that workforce ready.
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  So I love that you're focusing on that.
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  You know, workforce is so important across the Southern--
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  It is.
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  We talk about it so much.
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  So I love kind of hearing how different legislators
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  have partnered with different technical communities,
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  technical colleges within their community,
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  and the workforce, job readiness that they're creating.
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  So that is really a niche for transportation, logistics,
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  trucking.
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  There's some good money in that for those young folks.
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  That is correct.
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  That is correct.
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  The wind that they might get to travel the world,
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  but then come back home is really exciting.
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  Sure for a lot of folks to see the next future.
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  And they don't have to move away in order to accomplish that.
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  That's what it's about.
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  Yes.
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  One challenge many rural community spaces
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  retaining those young people.
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  So as we just said, getting to go home,
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  how do you think about creating opportunities
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  while encouraging the next generation
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  to remain invested in their communities?
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  Young people are smart.
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  And they want to see the plans.
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  They want to see your a 10-year plan.
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  They want to see your 20-year plan.
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  And they want to see action.
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  And I can tell you that through all of our stakeholders,
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  we are communicating with the communities we are having
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  town halls.
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  We are doing zooms.
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  We are doing everything we can.
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  We are posting a small mini summits to make
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  sure that we're educating our young people.
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  We're going to the high schools.
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  We're going to the high schools with 9 to 12 graders.
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  Let them know how the future looks.
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  And so we just had a--
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  we just had 41 students graduating
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  sustainable agriculture.
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  We had 17 students graduate in drones certification.
• 17:06
  We had 11 students finish artificial intelligence
• 17:09
  certification.
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  And we just had seven finish and cyber security.
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  And we partnered with the universities
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  through the gutter economic research and sustainability
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  industry.
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  And we'd go into the schools and work
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  with the superintendents in the school boards
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  to make sure within five to seven years
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  that we would have one of the biggest work forces in Louisiana
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  for 21st century jobs.
• 17:34
  That's awesome.
• 17:35
  Yeah, that does not just happen, right?
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  That is a lot of hard work.
• 17:38
  This hard working plan is easy.
• 17:40
  Yes.
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  Hard working planning with all of stakeholders
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  working together.
• 17:43
  Well, they need good legislators like you
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  that will stay the course with them
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  and make sure things like that happen.
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  And those laws are passed within the action
• 17:51
  on the other side of that law really continues on.
• 17:55
  Thank you.
• 17:56
  So with that long term planning, and as you mentioned,
• 17:58
  the young folks, they want to see, what is your 10-year plan?
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  What is your 20-year plan?
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  What does success look like for a rural Louisiana community
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  20 years from now?
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  What would you deem a success?
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  I take my time in traveling the world from Europe
• 18:12
  to even Africa just watching a G20 summit.
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  And we just realized where we go as a world.
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  And I see rural communities being a smart place
• 18:27
  with everyone having access to internet.
• 18:30
  I see clean drinking water with intelligent systems
• 18:34
  that are out there to the federal government supporting
• 18:36
  with smart water that can gray water from the source.
• 18:39
  I see a good job training programs like we're doing.
• 18:44
  Well, if they don't go to college,
• 18:47
  they can still get a good job.
• 18:49
  But it's whether it's on plumbing, becoming a laytrition
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  to work with solar or wind turbines,
• 18:55
  where it's becoming efficient and artificial intelligence.
• 18:59
  Again, just having the skills needed also
• 19:02
  see good transportation.
• 19:04
  I see transportation as a road to safe and communities
• 19:08
  also in Las Bernalees, good fresh food.
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  I see food systems in place where
• 19:14
  maybe the vise of agriculture where folks out clean food,
• 19:18
  organic food, that are grown locally and produced
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  where people get good meat and good vegetables and good fruit
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  and eat good clean food, no pesticides.
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  And so these are all the things, Lindsay,
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  that are so passionate to me and that I see for the success
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  in what a smart rural community would look like in the future.
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  Before we close, I'd like to step back
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  from specific legislation and talk about leadership.
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  How do rural communities define resilience differently
• 19:50
  than people who may not live in those areas?
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  People in rural communities believe in hard work.
• 19:58
  They make a way out of no way and they're used to doing that.
• 20:01
  So that's resilient and lately within themselves.
• 20:05
  Rural communities believe in helping one another.
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  When you're in some times in big major cities,
• 20:11
  there's so many people, but in rural communities, again,
• 20:15
  resiliency is family, friends, community, identity.
• 20:20
  And so those are the things, Lindsay,
• 20:23
  that I would say is the character of a community.
• 20:26
  This is your chance to speak to any legislator
• 20:28
  across the country.
• 20:29
  So what is one lesson you've learned from rural communities
• 20:32
  that every policy maker should understand?
• 20:35
  Listen to them.
• 20:37
  Again, these are hard working, honest people.
• 20:41
  Rural people, again, they want truth
• 20:46
  and they want you to be genuine.
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  And so I think sometimes in policy making, Lindsay,
• 20:53
  politics has changed somewhat, but rural communities
• 20:57
  has not changed.
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  And so where we're in a world where we're a fast pace,
• 21:02
  we're moving, sometimes politics may not be the prettiest.
• 21:06
  But for rural communities, again, they want you to be genuine.
• 21:10
  They want you to tell a truth and be honest.
• 21:14
  Even if they do not agree with your decision,
• 21:16
  just be forced right.
• 21:18
  Let them know why you make the decision.
• 21:20
  And you would be OK.
• 21:22
  So any policy maker out there, just
• 21:24
  be honest with your community, especially
• 21:26
  if you're representing a rural community.
• 21:29
  And they will forever respect and cherish you.
• 21:31
  Absolutely.
• 21:33
  So good advice and good feedback for any legislator listening,
• 21:37
  because particularly in the South,
• 21:39
  but really across the country.
• 21:40
  I mean, rural communities exist in every single state.
• 21:43
  So the communities that you represent
• 21:48
  and the things that we've talked about today
• 21:51
  can be very specific to Louisiana.
• 21:52
  But many of these issues are playing out
• 21:55
  in rural communities across the South.
• 21:57
  So when you talk with leaders from other southern states,
• 22:01
  where do you find the most common ground
• 22:03
  when it comes to the future of rural communities?
• 22:06
  I get to come to amazing conferences, such as the CSG.
• 22:11
  I'll be there in Lexington this summer.
• 22:15
  At those conferences and the different ones I go to
• 22:18
  and I meet other rural legislator's,
• 22:21
  we're all excited about the future.
• 22:24
  Again, I said it earlier, but there are so many opportunities
• 22:29
  that we just haven't seen in a long time.
• 22:32
  I think about Eisenhower when the interstate was first created,
• 22:36
  when you had hotels popping up in stores in the interstate,
• 22:41
  system created so many opportunities.
• 22:43
  I think we're in a industrial revolution, Nancy.
• 22:46
  Where energy is changing for again,
• 22:50
  from nuclear to solar, winter bonds,
• 22:55
  the way we're growing food, for hydro-punics, aquaculture,
• 23:00
  those things are changing, travel is changing.
• 23:03
  So I think that we would see flying taxes now, Nancy,
• 23:07
  happening in some place.
• 23:08
  You may have fly cars in a rural place,
• 23:10
  but maybe for all but my point is that the future is changing
• 23:14
  right before us.
• 23:16
  You know, AI and data centers and AI robots,
• 23:22
  a lot of things are changing,
• 23:23
  the way we do hydro-culture with smart box bots and things,
• 23:27
  those things are going to change.
• 23:28
  And so all of us rural legislator's, we know,
• 23:32
  we see the future and we're all working together
• 23:36
  to try to find coming ground to make sure that we are,
• 23:40
  we're all taking advantage of these amazing opportunities.
• 23:44
  One thing I've heard from you today, it sounds like
• 23:46
  you want to preserve the history and the culture
• 23:49
  of the rural communities and the beautiful building
• 23:52
  and the music and the people we've celebrated
• 23:55
  and not forget that, but you're not afraid to embrace technology
• 23:59
  and change and innovation and understand that
• 24:01
  from a workforce perspective and sustainability
• 24:06
  that that is the direction we need to go in order
• 24:09
  to not get left behind as well.
• 24:11
  I would add to that, Lindsey, you know,
• 24:14
  I discussed Jiggly Lewis.
• 24:16
  We love Jiggly Lewis at home and there are so many other great people.
• 24:20
  We do everything we can to reserve it.
• 24:24
  We would do everything we can to make sure our small towns remain
• 24:28
  who it is with its identity.
• 24:30
  At the same time, we know if we don't move forward
• 24:34
  that we can't get left behind.
• 24:36
  And so for so many rural communities,
• 24:39
  we've gotten left behind in the past
• 24:42
  because we did not embrace the future
• 24:44
  and now we're at a point where we're being introduced
• 24:48
  to a new new future.
• 24:49
  So again, we promised to keep our culture not lose that
• 24:54
  but at the same time again, we've got to be able
• 24:57
  to embrace what the future looks like.
• 24:59
  Well, stay focused to the towns like you're creating
• 25:01
  that right balance, striking that right balance.
• 25:04
  So is there a challenge facing rural communities across the South
• 25:08
  that you think policymakers should be paying more attention to right now?
• 25:13
  And yes, and I do think they are paying attention
• 25:17
  from the federal government to the local government.
• 25:19
  We all know the problem is in rural communities
• 25:23
  it's hard to find a plumber.
• 25:25
  And rural communities is hard to find a certain final nutrition.
• 25:30
  And rural communities is hard to find nurses sometimes.
• 25:34
  So and that is why you hear so many of us discussing
• 25:39
  workforce development.
• 25:41
  It is the one thing that is is gonna make rural communities great.
• 25:46
  And so I would say that they are aware you saw through Sowella,
• 25:52
  what I'm doing with the trucking legislation.
• 25:54
  We are aware and we're trying to take action
• 25:58
  to do the best that we can to fix the problem.
• 26:00
  And then we can bring a solution to the forefront.
• 26:03
  Again, I know that takes a lot of hard work and a lot of focus.
• 26:06
  So stay in there and know some of those days can be long and very hard
• 26:11
  and just moving the needle sometimes can feel a little bit slower.
• 26:14
  But you've done some incredible things that's laying groundwork
• 26:18
  that for features to come will be benefiting from.
• 26:21
  So thank you.
• 26:23
  Before we close, I'd like to end with a question we ask all of our guests.
• 26:28
  So what is the best piece of professional advice you have ever received
• 26:31
  and how does it shape the way you approach public service today?
• 26:35
  Lindsey, what I think of that, I don't know who made this statement,
• 26:42
  but it is so profound.
• 26:45
  It is who I am.
• 26:46
  And the thing advice that I was given a long time ago is to find what you have
• 26:53
  and comment with others instead of focusing on
• 26:57
  what you have that is different.
• 26:59
  And with that approach, Lindsey, I have been a person who works with everybody,
• 27:06
  Republicans, Democrat, Green Party, the amount of color you are,
• 27:10
  I will always find what we have in the comment.
• 27:14
  And that comment ground can often lead to civility and very tense
• 27:18
  conversations and discussions and negotiations that y'all do during session
• 27:22
  and really throughout the year.
• 27:24
  So great advice, everybody, follow that advice because it is definitely working
• 27:30
  in representative Johnson, you embody that.
• 27:33
  So representative Johnson, thank you for joining us and for sharing your
• 27:37
  perspective on rural Louisiana, community stewardship and what it takes to build
• 27:42
  for the next generation.
• 27:43
  I also appreciate your leadership not only in Louisiana, but across the Southern
• 27:47
  region.
• 27:48
  Congratulations on your recent election as a vice chair of CSG South's
• 27:52
  Agricultural and Rural Development Community.
• 27:57
  And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to real estate.
• 28:00
  For more conversations like this and more about the work of CSG South,
• 28:04
  visit CSGSouth.org. I'm Lindsey Gray, let's keep it real.
• 28:10
  Thank you for joining us today on real estate, where we keep it real about what
• 28:16
  really matters.
• 28:19
  (dramatic music)
• 28:22
  (upbeat music)