Lousiana Speaks plan hits grand slam at Louisana APA Awards

The Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) honored Louisiana Speaks with four distinguished awards that were announced at its annual conference in New Orleans today.
Donna Fraiche, the chair of the Louisiana Recovery Authority's (LRA) Long Term Community Planning Task Force, received the APA's Distinguished Leadership Award for a Citizen Planner for her work with the LRA's planning task force and Louisiana Speaks. The APA also honored the Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan with its Current Topic Award. The Louisiana Speaks Pattern Book received the APA's Public Education Award, and the Louisiana Speaks Planning Toolkit received the APA's Outstanding Planning Award for a project, program or tool.
"Louisiana Speaks and local planning efforts empowered Louisianians to speak up about the direction of their communities and the region, making us all citizen planners," Fraiche said. "I am humbled to be honored as part of this effort and I know I speak for the thousands of 'citizen planners' across the state when I say that this hard work should not sit on the shelf gathering dust as an effort in centralized planning. With the continued support of our partners at the APA and the Center for Planning Excellence, I am confident we will see the recommendations of Louisiana Speaks implemented in the years to come."