Louisiana is making progress on less than half of the 35 indicators for well-being, according to the Council for A Better Louisiana. CABL says that is trending slightly downwards from last year.
CABL president Barry Erwin says one problem area is health and wellness: “In terms of life expectancy, low birth weight babies, infant mortality, food insecurity… [we’re] just not moving in the right direction on those things.”
CABL monitored Louisiana’s progress in five areas: economy, which showed a decline; health and wellbeing, which also declined; infrastructure, which largely improved; environment and energy, which was a mixed bag; and education, which Erwin says improved a lot.
“For third grade reading, for mastery for economically-disadvantaged kids, for education attainment, we’re moving in the right direction,” he explains. “Not where we need to be, but at least in the right direction.”
Sixteen indicators are trending downwards, compared to thirteen last year, and 7 were down for 2 years in a row. Plus, only sixteen are trending upwards compared to eighteen last year. Erwin says the best way to improve these numbers is to create policy to address problem areas like the economy and healthcare.