Growing up in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the Chevron refinery loomed large over my childhood. Oil and gas defined the economy I knew. Today, as an Economic Recovery Corps (ERC) Fellow with the St. Tammany Economic Development Corporation (STEDC), I find myself working in what I call the “Northshore Energy Valley,” a region where fossil fuels are being joined by solar, hydrogen, wind, and biofuels. The energy economy here is not just diversifying, it is transforming before our eyes.

This transformation raises an urgent question: what role can rural communities play in shaping the clean energy future? For Louisiana’s Florida Parishes, agriculture is part of the cultural DNA. That is why agrivoltaics, the pairing of solar energy production with farming, has captured my imagination. Research from Europe shows that solar arrays can increase crop yields while generating power. Here in the Northshore, I see potential for our rural parishes to lead as demonstration sites for this dual-use model.

Building Trust and Local Capacity

Much of my work now focuses on guiding communities through the arrival of clean energy projects. These conversations are not just about megawatts or battery storage. They are about trust, capacity, and ensuring residents feel they have a voice in shaping their future.

In one parish I serve, leaders are weighing how to structure their first large-scale solar project. They are considering whether to establish an industrial development board (IDB) to negotiate a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement and to ensure that a Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) legally directs new revenue into schools, workforce training, and infrastructure. Once created, an IDB can become a lasting tool for strategic economic development, not just for one project but for future investments as well.

I have seen how this works in practice through my host, STEDC, which also serves as the IDB within St. Tammany Parish. There, the board provides a professionalized, community-anchored mechanism to manage complex deals and balance investor interests with local needs. Translating that model into smaller, more rural parishes offers leaders and stakeholders a way to move from reacting to projects to actively shaping a long-term vision driven by their voice.

Three Strategies for Rural Communities

For rural areas across the country, three strategies stand out:

• Build Local Capacity to Negotiate. Establish entities like IDBs to give communities the institutional tools to negotiate fairly and think long-term.
• Leverage Regional Institutions. Partner with HBCUs and community colleges to bring technical expertise, trusted third-party advice, and workforce training capacity to rural municipalities.
• Reframe Solar as Dual-Use. Present solar not as a land-use tradeoff but as an opportunity to support both agriculture and energy, bringing farmers, landowners, and developers into the same conversation.

Looking Ahead

What excites me most is pairing entrepreneur-led economic development with clean energy investment. My hope is to bring HBCUs across the Deep South into these partnerships, equipping rural municipalities with technical expertise while creating pathways for the next generation of leaders to shape new types of development in their communities.

If clean energy clusters are indeed forming in places like the Louisiana Northshore, we must ensure they are built with communities at the center. Rural America should not be left on the sidelines of the clean energy transition. It should be the foundation for resilience, equity, and opportunity at the local level.