CROWLEY — New Iberia was recently selected by Louisiana Economic Development to participate in a Development Ready Community Project and if successfully completed could be showcased by state officials trying to lure new business development.

The comments were made by Skip Smart, Louisiana Economic Development director of business retention at the programs opening meeting held in Crowley Monday afternoon.

“There are 14,000 Economic Development communities in the country competing for less than 1,000 projects every year,” he said.

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“Communities who go through this process and get stamped can be showcased for these types of projects enhancing our capability as a state to be competitive and our credibility as a place for business investment.”

Jennifer Tanner, an economist with Janis Economics in Franklin, Tenn., heading up the pro-ject for Louisiana Eco-nomic Development.

“You’ve all arrived here through a very competitive process,” she said.

“We’re here to identify ways to differentiate your communities in the global market place, where you have got to be ready because that’s the only way you’ll stay in the game. We needed communities for this project that were ready for this because failure is not an option.”

The city submitted an extensive application to participate in the program in late September, which Iberia Industrial Development Foundation President and CEO Mike Tarantino said was well received by the selection committee because the city has already taken many steps to ensure future economic development.

Twelve communities around the state were selected from a pool of 25 applicants and the announcements were made last week.

Participation in the program will provide valuable information to the city, including extensive research data, strategic planning assistance and guidance from a site selection consultant who will actually visit the community and provide an assessment.

A steering committee had been formed for program participation, members of which attended the opening meeting.

Steering committee members selected in-clude Jane Braud, director of planning and zoning and the Main Street program for the city, Tarantino, New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry, City Councilwoman Therese Segura, City Councilman Calvin Begnaud and Iberia Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau Exe-cutive Director Fran Thibodeaux.

Others include Pat Caffery, of Caffery Real Estate; Greater Iberia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Janet Faulk; Liz Bodin, commercial relations manager for IberiaBank and Iberia Economic Development Authority board member, and Fran Hen-derson, IEDA board member and managing partner with Boudreaux, Henderson and Co.

One of the first steps in the process if for the steering committee to hold two town hall meetings to get public feedback on future economic growth.

The dates of the meetings will be announced in the coming weeks.