Governor’s office offers federal planning grant and mapping platform to pilot blight survey statewide

The task force heard an offer from the Governor’s Office of Rural Development to fold blight mapping into a statewide infrastructure‑needs platform and to support pilot implementations across the state.

"We've been working on an initiative for the past two years to create an infrastructure needs map," Lisonbee Bates of the Governor's Office said, offering to add a blight tab and to coordinate with the Build America Center, LSU, the University of Maryland and other partners. Bates described the effort as community‑driven, allowing residents to upload photos and descriptions and using AI to synthesize local input.

Members welcomed the possibility of leveraging that platform rather than building a standalone tool. Lindsey Hudson of South Central Planning said her group can share an existing severity‑scoring map and property research methods to accelerate pilot work in smaller municipalities.

Task force members raised funding questions and federal‑grant constraints, noting opportunities to piggyback USDA or other programs for rural parishes. The office described the LERIA project as part of a larger federal‑state effort supporting rural infrastructure readiness and technical assistance; members asked the office to provide grant amounts and timelines.

The task force agreed to pursue partnership options and to ask staff to share grant details and academic partners; that information will help shape possible pilot sites and the timing of any data deliverables the task force needs before the legislative session.