Scott Tilton grew up in a Francophone, or French-speaking, household in New Orleans, where his father spoke French and neighbors still spoke some Creole.
Three years ago, his exposure to the language took him to Paris for graduate school. While there, he realized that Francophones back home were missing out on opportunities because they weren't well connected with other French-speaking communities.
"This is a big part of our culture," said Tilton, 26, who now does public sector consulting for the French government. "Our literature is written in French, our music is infused in French, and this is all built by a Francophone culture."
So, he began campaigning for Louisiana to officially join l'Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, or OIF, an international organization composed of 84 French-speaking countries, provinces and governments.
On Thursday, two years after Tilton started working with Sen. Eric LaFleur and then Gov. John Bel Edwards about the idea, the organization voted to accept the Pelican State as an observer member, a step below full membership.
Tilton's campaigning built on years of work by Louisiana officials with Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, who had been going to the organization's summits since 1997. LaFleur had also been interested in facilitating Louisiana's membership, according to Peggy Feehan, the council’s executive director.
The organization represents over one-third of the United Nations’ member states, with a combined population of more than 900 million people. Its mission is to promote "active solidarity" among member states and governments. The vote was taken during a biannual summit held this year in Yerevan, Armenia.
Joining the organization, local officials say, will pave the way for better funding for French-immersion schools, bolster trade opportunities and offer greater opportunities for cultural exchanges.
Louisiana is home to an estimated 250,000 French speakers. Another 5,000 French immersion students are enrolled in the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana, a program under the state’s Department of Culture and Tourism.
For French-immersion elementary schools and universities, inclusion in the organization means access to grants for French textbooks and other materials.
It could also fund more French teachers and provide opportunities for students at Louisiana colleges and universities to study abroad or otherwise collaborate on issues of international interest, such as climate change or studies in the medical field.
To that end, membership in the OIF also provides access to the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, an organization comprising 884 French-speaking higher-education and research institutions in 111 countries.
The move may be good for businesses as well, providing Louisiana officials an opportunity to attract overseas businesses that would like to come to the United States.
With 300 million speakers, French is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world, according to Vincent Sciama, the consul general of France in New Orleans.
Francophone countries and member states account for 16 percent of global gross domestic product.
"This membership is truly excellent news for the state and will encourage Louisiana’s francophone ecosystem to further develop," Sciama said in a news release.
The state will also gain international recognition as a French-speaking place, Tilton said, as local officials gain access to future summits, ministerial conferences and potentially business opportunities that could help Louisiana's French speakers find jobs.
"One of the big gaps in the state is that we have a lot of students speaking French but we need to be able to offer them jobs," Tilton said. "That's the big goal we’re working toward."
It's also important for a state with such a rich history and connection to the French-speaking world, he said. Just a generation or two ago, Louisiana had a million French speakers.
Membership in the OIF "gives recognition that those communities are still there — that French is not something we just preserve, but it's something that we promote," he said.