FERRIDAY, La. &045; Community members, local leaders and representatives from two federal offices left a community summit Tuesday night with goals in mind and next steps to make.

Those present at the first in a series of meetings sponsored by the Delta Regional Community Development Corporation discussed obtaining necessary funding to add educational opportunities and in turn boost economic development.

&uot;We can have a ground-up approach to rebuilding the Louisiana Delta,&uot; organizer Emerson Slain said. &uot;We are going to be asking (U.S. senators) to earmark some funds for the Louisiana delta to help it move onward and upward.&uot;

U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s Deputy Regional Manager Terrence Lockett and U.S. Sen. David Vitter’s Northeast Louisiana Regional Representative Brent Tippen were present at the meeting and said afterward they planned to help.

&uot;Concordia is one of my areas,&uot; Lockett said. &uot;We try to get to this area as frequently as possible and I’m going to get in contact with people in D.C. on housing, education and health care and see what is in place.&uot;

Slain discussed involving the USDA on housing projects in the area to boost home ownership.

Those present discussed the need for educational opportunities in the trade fields.

&uot;The state is thinking everyone is going to put on a white uniform or work in front of a computer,&uot; said Justin Connor, assistant to the mayor. &uot;We are asking the state system to look into talking about masonry, plumbing, carpentry.

&uot;If we can teach our young men the basics, when contracts are given we can go places.&uot;

Connor said it would take a donation of time, money and interest from the entire community to make anything happen.

&uot;It’s about getting not only us to the table, but the people must loosen up in the parish for something to happen,&uot; he said.

&uot;We’ve got to work together if the system is going to work. We don’t need just the city striving, we need everybody to be willing to commit.&uot;

Superintendent Kerry Laster said she was committed to providing a good education to parish students from the youngest grades on up.

Laster mentioned a new reading program in place at the schools, Reading First, and the success of after school tutoring programs last year. She said she is going to continue to push her teachers and principals to give 110 percent to the children.

&uot;Where we live and with the children we have, I don’t have the time to slow down and wait,&uot; she said. &uot;We have to give them everything we can.&uot;

To boost economic development the group discussed how to make good ideas from people with bad credit and no cash a reality.

Executive Director of the Concordia Economic and Industrial Development District Teresa Dennis mentioned the plans for a business incubator that will help get good ideas off the ground.

Dennis challenged Slain to find 10 people with an interest in starting a business and said the incubator would help them.

&uot;It will use the assets that people have and try to help them find a way to make their dreams come true,&uot; she said.

Terri Crawford of the LSUAg Extension Center said they had numerous tools available to residents wanting to learn more about their finances including a financial literacy program and a system to reduce credit card debt.

&uot;We’ve got the resources there, we just need the audience,&uot; Crawford said.

Slain said he was pleased with the first meeting and was looking forward to the ones to come. Several other summits are planned to discuss in-depth each of the issues brought up Tuesday.