NOLABA caught up with Jes­sica Shahien, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of 504ward to ask a few ques­tions about Wor­kNOLA, its mis­sion, and how it is a use­ful online resource for employ­ers and job seek­ers. Learn how Wor­kNOLA is sup­port­ing the local work­force com­mu­nity, its online acces­si­bil­ity, and how it pro­motes the city’s entre­pre­neur­ial spirit.

NOLABA caught up with Charles West, Direc­tor of the Inno­va­tion Deliv­ery Team for the Office of Mayor Mitch Lan­drieu to ask a few more ques­tions about the City of New Orleans’ One Stop Shop, the tools it offers, and how it can be best used for busi­nesses. The con­ver­sa­tion cov­ered every­thing from the types of per­mits busi­nesses need to oper­ate to the many uses of the system’s plan­ning and zon­ing lookup tool.

Ochsner Health Sys­tem announced on April 16 the move of its women’s ser­vices depart­ments from the Jef­fer­son High­way loca­tion to a state-of-the-art Women’s Pavil­ion at Ochsner Bap­tist hos­pi­tal. The $40 mil­lion Women’s Pavil­ion is under con­struc­tion now and will open in Win­ter 2013 on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors of Ochsner Bap­tist on Napoleon Avenue. The project is expected to result in 300 direct jobs and over 300 indi­rect jobs.

Sup­port­ing and build­ing upon New Orleans’ world famous cul­tural offer­ings is a small but grow­ing clus­ter of Cre­ative Dig­i­tal Media busi­nesses. Indus­tries in this clus­ter include soft­ware devel­op­ment, film and tele­vi­sion pro­duc­tion, music pro­duc­tion and sound engi­neer­ing, radio, graphic design, adver­tis­ing and mar­ket­ing, and other media arts. The forth­com­ing City of New Orleans Strate­gic Plan for eco­nomic devel­op­ment, facil­i­tated by the New Orleans Busi­ness Alliance, will focus on Cre­ative Dig­i­tal Media as one of the five indus­try clus­ters that will ensure a strong eco­nomic future for New Orleans.

Today, Mayor Mitch Lan­drieu joined the New Orleans Avi­a­tion Board and regional elected, busi­ness and tourism lead­ers to announce plans to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air­port ter­mi­nal on the north side of cur­rent air­port prop­erty. The announce­ment comes less than two years after the Mayor requested the Avi­a­tion Board to under­take an in-depth and robust analy­sis of four pro­pos­als for the future of the Louis Arm­strong New Orleans Inter­na­tional Air­port (MSY) from the airport’s mas­ter plan.

Advanced man­u­fac­tur­ing has long been a foun­da­tional dri­ver of the New Orleans econ­omy. Today the advanced man­u­fac­tur­ing indus­try in Orleans Parish employs approx­i­mately 2,500 peo­ple, with an aver­age salary of $55,000 annu­ally. Specif­i­cally, the advanced man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor includes indus­tries like aero­space, ship­build­ing, and mil­i­tary and defense. This is due in large part to world-class assets like the Michoud Assem­bly Facil­ity (MAF) located at the New Orleans Regional Busi­ness Park.