Each year the Greater Shreveport Chamber celebrates outstanding business owners and professionals who are making a difference in our community through the Minority Business Opportunity Awards.

The market, which runs through Aug. 28 (except June 19), will be open to the public from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each Saturday during its 2021 summer season. Operated by the Red River Revel for more than 20 years, the market is held inside Festival Plaza at 101 Crockett St.

Ochsner LSU Health will make an initial investment of $15 million in the Community Health Centers. The locations and services of the centers are determined based on the area’s highest needs. Three will be located in Shreveport, and one will open in Monroe on Louisville Avenue.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought all “nonessential” businesses and events to a standstill. At the same time, the need in our community multiplied overnight. Since the spring of 2020, North Louisiana nonprofits have worked tirelessly to help those who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

“It’s no secret that this region is one of the, if not the, fastest-growing areas in the state of Louisiana,” says Brian Crawford, executive senior vice president/chief administrative officer for Willis- Knighton.

“It’s no bigger than it was two years ago,” Fuller said of the issue of blighted properties. “It’s just everyone’s decided they are paying attention. It’s kind of like the boiling frog thing. You don’t know you are (in) raising temperature until you hit the boil.

Except it didn’t make sense to Clark. “Not at all,” Clark said. “I didn’t have any idea that I would go into education. I had actually interviewed with Xerox and a couple of other companies. I really wanted to move and do the big corporate world thing in marketing – my undergraduate degree is in marketing.

For 14 years, the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce has been nominating 40 young professionals from the area to compete in the 40 Under Forty Award.

Each year, the Greater Shreveport Chamber’s Young Professional Initiative has highlighted 40 of our region’s most dynamic and accomplished young professionals who are engaged in our community as entrepreneurs, executives and managers in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

Join in celebrating and honoring these outstanding business professionals from our community at the upcoming 30th Annual ATHENA Leadership Award Program, where one of these honorees will be named the 2020 ATHENA International Leadership Award Recipient.