Coastal Communities Consulting (CCC) is a 501 (C)(3) non-profit organization that provides technical assistance, economic development, social support services, and continued disaster assistance to rural entrepreneurs and their families. Our guiding principle is that rural economies depend on the intersection between strong businesses and strong families. Rural enterprises are often staffed or financed by family members, and their financial investments primarily fund asset-building with a familial structure. Therefore, placing an equal emphasis on both is central to a vibrant rural economy.
Established in September 2010, this organization builds off of 20 years of dedicated service to the community by our Executive Director, Sandy Nguyen. Since 1996, Mrs. Nguyen has been working with commercial fishermen and Asian-Americans who have needed assistance with business development, social services, and disaster recovery assistance.
In rural Louisiana, one niche group of people that has been underserved for the longest time is the commercial fishing folks and their families, regardless of their ethnicity or language. Their business and harvested seafood products are vital to the State and Regional economy and a driving force behind Louisiana’s success in its tourism industry. However, the same industry has been especially hit hard in the past decade by numerous hurricanes, foreign imports, stricter enforcements, the 2010 Deepwater Explosion and subsequent BP Oil Spill, and constant environmental changes. The largest barrier for these families and businesses is quite simply a lack of capacity to navigate formal systems in order to access resources, or to communicate their needs.
CCC provides this capacity through services in three functional areas:
Technical Assistance to Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs-including but not limited to small business start-ups, licensing, permitting, and compliance; credit packaging for business loans; and application for grants or other federal, state, local, or corporate support programs for small businesses.
Economic Development in Rural Communities-including but not limited to collaborating with industry task-forces seeking to effectively market rural products and create jobs; partnering with universities, state and federal agencies, and other organizations to provide new technologies that improve efficiency and profitability for rural enterprise; and disaster response and relief.
Social Support Services-including but not limited to translation and literacy services for non-English speaking clients who need to access public assistance and related governmental/legal correspondence; making referrals to legal, medical, educational, or other services; and assistance with disaster recovery relief.
Since the central office opened in September 2010, CCC has served 1500+ individuals across Southeast, Louisiana. Staffed with bilingual consultants in Vietnamese, Cambodian, Spanish, American, and Croatian, we have been able to provide thousands of service hours to the community through group trainings as well as individual sessions.