Louisiana Region 9 — defined identically by the Department of Health, the Emergency Response Network and GOHSEP — is Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington. Add East Baton Rouge and the two Felicianas, which sit in Region 2, and you have all eight historic Florida Parishes.
State agencies fund, staff and convene by region.
Five of your eight parishes answer to Region 9; three answer to Region 2. Anything you take to the state — emergency planning, public-health outreach, aging services — runs through two different regional structures with two different sets of people. Knowing that before the first meeting is the difference between one call and four.
One piece of luck runs the other way: all eight parishes sit inside a single Area Agency on Aging. One relationship reaches every senior centre in the footprint.
| Parish | State region | Year one | Towns | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Feliciana | Region 2 | Anchor | Clinton, Jackson, Slaughter, Norwood, Wilson, Ethel | Six allies already named. Flagship site proposed — the Community Dream Kitchen in Clinton. Its own 5,000-person festival. |
| West Feliciana | Region 2 | Adjacent | St. Francisville, Bains, Wakefield | Shares the rural profile and Feliciana identity. Strong festival calendar. Publishes least online of the eight. |
| St. Helena | Region 9 | Adjacent | Greensburg, Montpelier | Among the most rural and least served of the eight. Almost nothing published online — expect the phone to beat the internet. |
| Livingston | Region 9 | Year one | Livingston, Denham Springs, Walker, Albany | Parish fair 6–11 Oct. LDVA office in Livingston, closed Wednesdays. Council meets 2nd & 4th Thursdays. |
| Tangipahoa | Region 9 | Year one | Hammond, Ponchatoula, Amite, Independence, Kentwood | The region’s festival engine — Strawberry, Oyster, Sicilian Heritage. Council meets 2nd & 4th Mondays, same as Washington. |
| Washington | Region 9 | Year one | Franklinton, Bogalusa, Varnado, Angie, Mount Hermon | The largest free fair in the country, 21–25 Oct. LDVA office in Bogalusa plus a Franklinton itinerant point. Baptist association publishes a pastor directory. |
| St. Tammany | Region 9 | Later | Covington, Slidell, Mandeville | Wealthiest of the eight, so least rural-funding advantage — but the parish fair is 30 Sept and it has two LDVA offices. |
| East Baton Rouge | Region 2 | Later | Baton Rouge, Baker, Zachary, Central | Largest parish. BREC invites vendor inquiries year-round. Metro Council meets 2nd & 4th Wednesdays. |
The service-area line reads “Florida Parishes · Baton Rouge · New Orleans · Acadiana.” East Baton Rouge is one of the eight Florida Parishes, so the line names it twice and reads as though nobody checked. A funder who knows the region will notice. One word fixes it.
“The Florida Parishes” is eight parishes, not a town.
You cannot serve eight from Clinton in year one, and a funder who asks “which parishes?” and hears “the Florida Parishes” hears an organisation that has not chosen. The recommended answer: East Feliciana anchors, with West Feliciana and St. Helena adjacent, and the fair-season parishes worked opportunistically because the tables are already there.
East Feliciana. Six allies named, a flagship site proposed, and its own festival in downtown Clinton. Everything else follows from planting here first.
One person, in writing. It can be the Executive Director for now, but it must be named — an unnamed region is an unowned region, and founder dependency is a Critical risk in your own register.
The four to six numbers you will publish, and nothing more. The missing outcome set is called the binding constraint on funding in your own strategic plan.