Gulf South Workforce Development Initiative
(GSWD)
A Regional Beacon
Initiative Overview
The Gulf South Workforce Development Initiative (GSWD) is a tri-state partnership established to strengthen the workforce capacity of the region’s small businesses and nonprofits across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The initiative shines a light on the Gulf South’s collective ability to adapt, collaborate, and thrive amid economic adversity.
GSWD functions as a regional extender of Sabrina Narcisse Consulting (SNC), expanding the firm’s people-centered workforce strategies to a tri-state scale. The initiative identifies regional trends, connects local efforts, and translates individual gains into collective progress. Through applied research, workforce labs, and collaborative learning, GSWD converts insight into coordinated action that produces lasting, measurable, and human-centered change.
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In the Greater New Orleans region, the three-year average rate of new business formation has steadily increased between 1995 and 2025. The Data Center’s Entrepreneurs’ Resilience in New Orleans (2025) report highlights that metro New Orleans now sees approximately 592 new enterprises per 100,000 adults, positioning the region 34 percent above the U.S. average and 29 percent ahead of the 49 other largest metropolitan areas, according to research conducted in partnership with the Brookings Institution.
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In Mississippi, the Governor’s Office reported record-low unemployment rates in April 2024, with real gross domestic product growing 4.2 percent, ranking the state second nationwide for economic expansion (Governor’s Office of Mississippi, 2024; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). However, as of mid-2025, employers continue to face the challenge of matching qualified candidates with roughly 58,000 job openings statewide.
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The Alabama Department of Labor (2025) and the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows the state’s labor-force participation rate rose to 57.9 percent in April 2025, while job openings exceeded 115,000 in June 2025. These indicators point to a region in transition, one where workforce participation, equitable hiring, and job-quality improvements remain essential to sustaining growth.
(The Data Center, 2025; Governor’s Office of Mississippi, 2024; BLS, 2025).
