Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home

Episode 54 Demetrius Norman - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Demetrius Norman, President and Board Chair for NWLA Makerspace, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:30 1. You are a native of Shreveport and graduate of Grambling State University with a BS in Electronic Engineering Technology. You have worked in IT for over a decade with experience in building automation system design, energy management, solar engineering, internet of things, cloud management and you currently serve as a technical consultant in the IT industry.
 
I am so excited to talk to you today because you bring such experience, perspective and breadth of knowledge to the table.
 
Let’s start here. You serve as President and Board Chair for NWLA Makerspace, a nonprofit organization that gives the community access to tools, otherwise too large or expensive for personal ownership. This allows the creative of our community to create, learn, start businesses, or train for jobs using these tools.
 
For those just starting to hear about Makerspace, can you help explain what it is and why it is important?
 
17:43 2. Groups like the NWLA Makerspace, and the workshops that they typically provide to the community are a huge asset in building innovation culture, as well as in providing job training for adults, and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math engagement for children.
 
My question is - how are we doing in training our technology workforce? Is the size of that population growing locally?
 
Also, talk to me about some of the programs the local schools are offering to teach some of those skills and any other STEAM-based curriculum and efforts locally you would like to highlight.
 
28:01 3. In describing Makerspace, you once said:
 
“We are just as passionate about our true impact on the community beyond just cool technology and crafts, but in our efforts to help underserved communities achieve upward mobility through skill-building workshops and classes, maker faires, micro business startup services, consulting and teacher training for K-12 Schools and so much more.
 
Talk to me about how important it is to you that Makerspace serve our entire community.
 
37:05 4. You are extremely involved in the city and unusually articulate about some of the challenges you see us facing as a community. You once said:
 
“How do you bring somebody from Silicon Valley and say live in Louisiana and go to segregated schools and go to segregated restaurants, right? And don’t speak about social issues that other places talk about openly and work through these things. It makes certain people upset so just act like it’s not happening.”
 
This above quote is from several years ago. From your perspective, are we making progress in the areas you bring up above?
 
55:37 5. You are a major advocate and supporter of our community. In speaking about Leadbelly and the world famous video game Doom, you once said:
 
“We sell ourselves short on a lot of the talents and the great things we have.”
 
From your perspective, why do we sell ourselves short?
 
1:10:59 6. What are some of the things in our community that make you optimistic about our future?

Episode 53 Rashida Dawson - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Rashida Dawson, Vice President of Financial Stability of United Way of Northwest Louisiana, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:45 1. Rashida, let’s start here today. You serve as Vice President of Financial Stability of United Way of Northwest Louisiana and oversee the Shreveport Financial Empowerment Center.
 
Tell me about the center, where it’s located and some of the services it provides.
 
10:42 2. I know the center is doing very important and great work in our community. Share some statistics if you could around the amount of savings the financial empowerment center has helped create for our residents to date.
 
14:24 3. Let’s talk about poverty and ALICE in our community. ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. What do the current statistics show are the percentage of people living in poverty in our community? What percentage of our community is ALICE?
 
18:34 4. You are massively involved in our community. Let me cover just a few of the high points:
 
You were formerly President-Elect of the South Shreveport Rotary Club, and a member of BancorpSouth’s CRA Advisory Council, Northwest Louisiana Re-Entry Coalition, and the Young Professionals Initiative (YPI). Additionally, you were a graduate of the 2017 Greater Shreveport Leadership Program and a 2013 graduate of LANO’s Leadership Program.
 
In your opinion, how do we get more young people in our community engaged and involved in serving and giving back?
 
23:24 5. As you look around, what are some of the things that concern you the most about the future of our community?
 
31:30 6. What are some of the things that make you optimistic about the future of our community?

Episode 52 Larry Blackwell - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Larry Blackwell, Director of Airports for Shreveport Airport Authority, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:36 1. Larry, on August 23, 2022, you became the Director of Airports for Shreveport Airport Authority and very positive change is already underway.
 
To name but a few things, both concourses have new flooring making it easier to roll bags. Both concourses and passenger bridges are currently being painted. You have also announced that three national brands are coming to the airport.
 
Let’s start here today. What are the restaurants, where in the airport will they be located and when do you expect them to open?
 
3:04 2. Other great progress has been happening at Shreveport Regional Airport. You saw a 11% increase in travelers compared to 2021. Delta and American have both upgraded their aircrafts flown in Shreveport to larger planes. And you are in talks to add new routes and possibly new carriers.
 
I saw an interview recently with you where you referred to a Leakage Study and the fact that 46% of passengers drive to Dallas to fly rather than fly out of Shreveport Regional. Why is this? Talk to me about that statistic and how it impacts our ability to obtain new routes and new carriers.
 
10:05 3. Talk to me about some of the new routes we might see in the future.
 
13:28 4. One common theme of this podcast is looking at our identity, trying to better understand who we are as a community and how we can elevate our image both for ourselves and those coming to town to visit.
 
In my opinion, the airport is a major piece in establishing community pride for our residents as well as our visitors.
 
How do you see the role of the airport with regards to boosting community pride and helping to create a more positive self-image?
 
18:33 5. You were born in Homer, Louisiana, grew up in Bossier City and graduated from Bossier High School. You then went away for a number of years working in numerous different places before returning to live here.
 
I’m always curious what this community looks like from a fresh set of eyes. I want to look at both the negatives and positives with you.
 
First, when you returned here, what aspects of the community looked more challenged than they were when you grew up here?
 
21:02 6. On the flip side, what aspects of the community struck you as having progressed in a positive way since you lived here?

Episode 51 Michael Coleman Hicks - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Michael Coleman Hicks, Youree Drive Middle School student, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:38 1. Michael, I grew up with both of your parents Michael and Demessia, and went to school with them at Caddo Middle Magnet and Captain Shreve.
 
In speaking with your mom to prepare for today’s discussion, she told me you already know the answer to the question we all get asked at your age which is “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
 
So tell me, what you do you plan to do when you get older?
 
2:17 2. You are a student at Youree Drive Middle School and greatly involved at school and in the community as a whole. I want to hit some of the high points.
 
You are Co-President of Student Council, a member of Beta Club Honor Choir and the Youree Golf Team. You are also a member of Boy Scouts of America, Troop 5300, where your current rank is Star. Additionally, you are part of the youth service organization, Top Teens of America.
 
Tell me about Top Teens of America. What type of service are you involved in as part of the organization?
 
3:43 3. You are also very involved with the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity youth leadership group, Omega Lamplighters, where you serve as President of the Junior Lamplighters.
 
Tell me about Omega Lamplighters and some of the type of work that you do.
 
5:03 4. You officially preached your first sermon at Mount Canaan Baptist Church on July 31, 2022. Tell me some what of what you spoke to the congregation about.
 
7:05 5. Let’s talk hypothetically for a second. You are in college studying theology and you start up a conversation with a group of students who have never heard of Shreveport-Bossier. They say, “Michael, what’s it like where you live?” What do you tell them?
 
8:16 6. As you look around the Shreveport-Bossier community, what are the things you see that make you proud to be from this community?

Episode 50 Dylan Holmes - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Dylan Holmes, Huntington High School Senior, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:28 1. Dylan, you are a senior at Huntington High School, greatly involved at school both as a student and an athlete.
 
Let’s start here today.
 
You are very active in Kappa League. Tell me what Kappa League is and some of the different things you do as part of Kappa League.
 
2:27 2. You are also a member of Raider Court and I believe you recently went to Washington DC for Close Up as part of Raider Court. Tell me about Raider Court, what it is and some of the different skills you learn as part of the program.
 
5:31 3. We have a long history in Shreveport-Bossier of exporting many of our community’s best and brightest talents. They grow up here, go away to college, accumulate great knowledge, build powerful networks, and end up never returning to live here. With all of that said, would you ever consider living here after college? If not, how would Shreveport-Bossier have to change from what you see today to be a place you would want to return to, to live after college?
 
6:56 4. Let’s talk hypothetically for a second. You are in Washington DC for another trip and you start up a conversation with a group of students from the east coast who have never heard of Shreveport-Bossier. They say, “Dylan, what’s it like where you live?” What do you tell them?
 
7:46 5. As you look around the Shreveport-Bossier community, what are the things you see that make you most hopeful that life is getting better here and that we are making progress as a community?
 
13:25 6. Lastly, what’s the community you want to see here?

Episode 49 Michael Pierce - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Michael Pierce, Photographer and Founder of the Instagram page @scruffyshabbyshreveport, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:32 1. Michael, I only first became aware of you when you tagged the Y on Instagram after taking some absolutely phenomenal photos of the Downtown Y. Your Instagram handle is “Scruffyshabbyshreveport” and you describe your Instagram page as “celebrating Shreveport Louisiana’s beautifully endangered places.”
 
Let’s start here today. The first post I see on your page is dated December 3, 2021. Tell me about the genesis of “Scruffyshabbyshreveport” and how this wonderful project you have been pursuing came about?
 
3:35 2. In just a little more than a year you have built an impressive following. Your Instagram account already has 2188 followers and what I find most remarkable is the community you have built on Instagram who comment on your posts and help you as you document the history of our city.
 
How do you think about building community around your work? And is that important to you?
 
8:42 3. You once said:
 
“There’s beauty in absolutely everything around us. Once we start paying attention to that, you’ll start to see it more and start to appreciate it more.”
 
You seem to be tapping into something people are interested in, even though two of the recurring themes on this podcast have been the amount of apathy that exists in this community as well as the general sense of low self-esteem.
 
Aside from your incredible photos, what do you attribute the success of this project to?
 
15:44 4. One of the things we’ve been grappling with on this podcast and often asking is, who are as a community? What is our identity?
 
When friends of yours who have never been here ask you what Shreveport-Bossier is like, what do you tell them? How do you describe it?
 
18:00 5. What’s the future hold for the “Scruffyshabbyshreveport” project and for Michael Pierce in general?

Episode 48 Robert Trudeau -”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Historian Robert Trudeau sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:42 1. Let’s start here today.
 
I’ve asked a couple of our guests a similar question and it feels only appropriate to ask you. You have a friend or friends coming to visit Shreveport-Bossier. They’ve never been here before and only have two days in town. Where all do you take them to give a sense of your Shreveport-Bossier?
 
3:28 2. You once said:
 
“Renovation, new energy and recognition of the history of our town is the key to our future.”
 
For the last several years, you have led walking tours, one east of Common downtown and one west of Common. I also believe you do one through Betty Virginia Park.
 
I was fortunate enough to do the two downtown tours recently with you and it gave me a far deeper sense of appreciation for so many aspects of our community. After doing the tours, I told you I felt that every Caddo Parish high school student should do these two tours with you and I hope to help see if I can’t make that collaboration possible.
 
A recurring theme on our podcast has been our community’s low self-esteem and our difficulty at keeping our best and brightest. In my opinion, participating with you on these tours can’t help but increase someone’s feelings for our community and to do the tours with our future while they’re still young can only be a positive thing.
 
Any way, there are several possible questions here. First, would you please share a couple of your favorite stories about our community’s past that you’ve learned through your research to prepare for these different walking tours.
 
13:23 3. I’ve known you since I came back to town in 2005 and you always struck me as someone who sees opportunity where others see challenges. I recently stumbled on this quote of yours:
 
“I love Shreveport because it is a city of opportunity. When you look around the 600 block of Texas street, as I do you probably see an aging city. But I see beautiful, glamorous brick work and plenty of opportunity for businesses to be started up and to follow in the footsteps of people who were very successful in this block in a bygone era.”
 
How do we get more of our people to feel great about living and being in Shreveport-Bossier?
 
16:42 4. At the end of 2016, , after 35 years, you retired from teaching at Caddo Magnet High where you had taught world geography, video journalism and fine arts survey.
 
As someone who spent a career with our young students, how do you think we do a better job in the future of convincing our best and brightest to come back here after college?
 
20:22 5. In your opinion, what’s holding us back from being one of the next, great small American cities?
 
23:45 6. What makes you optimistic about our future?

Episode 47 Tommy Williams - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Tommy Williams, President and Founder of Williams Financial Advisors, LLC, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:31 1. Tommy, we will get to more of your accomplishments and background in future questions but let’s start here today. You were born and raised in Shreveport and have seen Shreveport go through many changes and many ups and downs.
 
How is Shreveport-Bossier doing in 2023 from your perspective?
 
2:06 2. You are an active community leader and have served on numerous boards including, to name but a few, President of the Financial Planning Association Ark-La-Tex Chapter, Chairman of the Allocations Committee for United Way of North Louisiana, Co-Chairman of the fundraising campaign for Community Renewal International, a board member of Live Oak Retirement Community, a board member and Chairman of the Membership Committee for the Committee of One Hundred, and for nine years you chaired the Junior Achievement of North Louisiana Business Hall of Fame.
 
Where does this intense interest and commitment to making our community better come from?
 
5:58 3. From your perspective, how do we get more people from my generation or even the generations coming behind me to take an active role, like you have, in pushing our community to reach its fullest potential?
 
12:25 4. You are a Wealth Advisor and Founder of Williams Financial Advisors. Every Sunday since 2009, you have authored a column on the front page of the business section of the Shreveport Times entitled “Financial Fundamentals”.
 
You are a great financial mind in this community and a wealth of knowledge. Would you mind sharing just a few of your financial fundamentals or financial words of wisdom?
 
19:49 5. What’s holding us back from becoming one of the next, great small cities in America?
 
32:35 6. What makes you optimistic about our community’s future?

Episode 46 Thomas Pressly - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Louisiana State Representative Thomas Pressly sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:33 1. Thomas, let’s start here today.
 
We have now done close to 50 interviews in this series. In our very first interview, Al Childs, in talking about the future of our community said, “I can’t tell you who the leaders are but I can tell you where they are. They’re in your generation, not mine.”
 
You actually represent the generation after me. And as I look around at you guys – whether it’s you, Mike Busada, Dinero’ Washington, Cassie Hammett, Madison Poche, Gabriel Balderas – to name but a very few, I see an unusually committed group of people, talented and willing to work to take responsibility for making our community better for the future.
 
Do you see what I see and do you feel part of a generation that is unusually committed to making our community better?
 
2:30 2. You are the first person we have interviewed who currently holds a political office. You are a Louisiana State Representative, 1 of 105 members in the state and 1 of 10 state representatives who represent either Caddo and/or Bossier Parish.
 
The regular legislative session in Baton Rouge this year runs from April 10-June 8.
 
What do you see other parts of the state doing better than our community? Or, in other words, from any perspective – economically, socially, legislatively, etc – what could this community learn from other areas in the state?
 
7:46 3. As you were preparing the campaign for your current seat, you wrote the following which I love:
 
“Ready or not, those of us in our 20s and 30s who grew up in Shreveport-Bossier and returned home are ready to take the reins of leadership. More importantly, because of the education we received – both inside and outside of Caddo and Bossier Parish classrooms – we are capable of leading this community. We understand there are systematic challenges in Shreveport-Bossier City that we must overcome in order for our community to reach its full potential. From an aging infrastructure and generational poverty to stagnate wage growth and a real estate market that could use a boost, the challenges that we as a community face are as real as they are vast.”
 
Talk to me about some of the things you see as our community’s greatest challenges.
 
11:34 4. In the same article as the previous quote I read, you also wrote the following:
 
“To build up our community, we must promote the positive opportunities and experiences that exist in northwest Louisiana. We can be a strong community, but we must be willing to work together – Shreveport, Bossier City and surrounding towns must be willing to put aside local differences and work together to make positive changes for us all. Additionally, we must change our attitude and perspective, particularly when we travel to or live in other communities. Instead of talking about the negatives, we must talk about the opportunities.”
 
Your quote above addresses some of the challenges we face as a community, both in terms of what is often a negative image of self and also a division between political views, racial backgrounds and socioeconomic situations.
 
Let’s break my question into two parts:
 
a. First, from your perspective, how do we get people from different backgrounds and opinions to collaborate more in the future toward the betterment of our community?
 
16:53 b. Second, you always strike me as a very positive person with a strong sense of pride of who we are as a community and what we can become. What words of wisdom or advice do you have for people who struggle with their image as Shreveport-Bossier residents?
 
22:39 5. Lastly, what makes you hopeful about our future?

Episode 45 Dr. Timothy Jones - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Dr. Timothy Jones, Pastor of Peaceful Rest Missionary Baptist Church, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development for the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:
 
0:32 1. Dr. Jones, let’s start here today. You were born and raised in Shreveport, the 11th of 13 children born to Ennis and Thelma Jones.
 
Since 1994, you have served as the Pastor of Peaceful Rest Missionary Baptist Church. During your tenure, your church has experienced a remarkable six-fold growth of membership.
 
Tell me about your church and its community development organization, its preschool and its learning center.
 
5:08 2. In speaking about our community, you once said:
 
"…I think there is apathy in this town. It's across the board. I mean socially, economically, spiritually.”
 
From your perspective, why is there so much apathy? And what do you see as some of the steps we can take to create more engagement from our people in the future?
 
10:16 3. I want to stick with a couple of other quotes from you. You once said the following about our local media:
 
“The media can do a better job of highlighting more of the positive coming out of Cedar Grove. I think all of the media outlets can do a much better job of portraying the community in a better light or positive things that go on in the community."
 
How do we get the media to focus more on telling positive stories that lift up our city and its people?
 
15:06 4. In speaking about the media, you also talked about how the stories they tell directly impact our economic development efforts. You said:
 
"If I am a prospective corporation looking to relocate, of course I am going to check out the news outlets. But if most of what is there is all negative and few things are positive, I think that is going to hurt my perspective of a community and may impact my decision to come or not come."
 
Some people say that we still have strained racial relations in this community. Do you agree with that and do you think the state of our race relations affects our ability to recruit prospective corporations?
 
20:42 5. What is holding us back as a community?
 
28:12 6. What makes you hopeful about the future of our community?