DeRidder is more than a pitstop, and the Beauregard Economic Expansion Coalition (BEEC) is working to put DeRidder on the map.

Beauregard Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lisa Adams spoke at the DeRidder City Council meeting on Monday about the city’s and parish’s economic development, and the formation of the BEEC.

In 2023, it was announced that two industrial sites were pulling out of the area: plastic plant Ampacet and pine chemicals plant Ingevity. Ampacet employed 60 to 80 people, while Ingevity employed about 180 people, Adams told the American Press on Wednesday.

The loss of two major economic drivers in DeRidder motivated Adams and her colleague, Chamber Events Coordinator Stephanie Carroll, to take matters into their own hands. At the meeting, Adams recounted the steps they took to promote economic growth in DeRidder.

In December 2023, the Chamber collaborated with the Beauregard Parish Police Jury and the DeRidder Mayor’s Office to form a “unified group” that brings their “own voice” to the parish’s economy. They also brought in representatives from the Beauregard Health System, the Beauregard Parish School Board and the Southwest Louisiana Alliance, and local business owners, to officially form BEEC.

“We wanted to bring together a good group with a wealth of information with the same common goal, coming together to make our parish as viable for new industry as we could,” she told the American Press.

During research, Adams and Carroll learned that DeRidder’s Louisiana Economic Development (LED) Community Compeitiveness Initiative (CCI) — a program that provides communities with tools and insight to bolster economic development — score has not been updated since 2011 and that Beauregard Parish’s had not been updated since 1991, she said at the meeting.

She explained that this indicates that DeRidder has been overlooked in the past decades.

“Somebody needs to step up in our community. Somebody needs to take the load in economic development. We are put in the hands of Baton Rouge and we’re put in the hands of Lake Charles,” she said. “We can’t expect them [LED] to get down here and do all the leg work. They’ve got 64 parishes to cover. Somebody here has got to do that leg work for them.”

They later LED and insisted representatives visit the DeRidder to witness what the parish can offer. In the past months, LED has visited three times to learn more about the area’s economic offerings.

Adams told the American Press DeRidder is a “hidden gem” near several big cities and that it’s greatest economic strength is its people.

“We still have those small-town values here, we just needed to share that story with the people that are working to get industry here.”

BEEC’s grassroots approach to bringing DeRidder and Beauregard Parish economic attention has garnered success and support in under a year. Adam said the reception to their efforts has been overwhelmingly positive, especially with local entrepreneurs who simply didn’t know what steps to take to help boost the economy.

“Nobody knew where to go or where to start,” she said. “We didn’t get turned down by anybody. … We have not have any doors shut.

“LED said we wish other cities and parishes could come together like you’re doing here, because it does make our jobs a lot easier.”

BEEC has been funded by the Chamber, she said, and the list of available industrial site continues to grow (and won’t be stopping anytime soon).