Sample deliverable. A complete communications toolkit built on a real project, so you can see what the finished material looks like. Every figure comes from the public record and carries its source. Toolkits are normally built to order for a named project and kept current.

Communications toolkit · Sample deliverable

Richland Parish, Louisiana.Meta Hyperion, told with the parish's own numbers.

A parish that had never hosted a data center now hosts the largest one in Meta's fleet. This toolkit shows how the project's benefits get told at each stage, by the operator and by the parish, with every number sourced so it holds up in front of a skeptical audience.

Project
Meta HyperionFranklin Farm megasite, near Rayville
Investment
$50B+$10B at announcement, Dec 2024
Capacity
5 GW~10M sq ft at full build
Jobs
7,500 / 1,000peak construction / operating, as announced
Local Sentiment Index
51 / 100 · MixedSee the market page
Prepared for
Operator communications team and parish officials
Prepared by
The GridSight
Version
Public sample, September 2026
Basis
Public record only, every figure footnoted

Brief

Most counties are not opposed when a project arrives. They are uninformed, and whoever fills that gap first sets the terms.

Richland Parish had no prior data center to compare against, and in the months after the announcement the record shows questions rather than organized opposition: what it is, what it uses, who pays for the power, whether the jobs are real. The Local Sentiment Index reads the parish at 51, Mixed, with a loud statewide conversation about rates and secrecy and a quieter local one. This toolkit is written for that condition. It is organized by project stage and, within each stage, by channel: what an official says at the microphone, what goes in a resident's inbox, what goes on a feed. Every figure carries its source so it holds up in front of a skeptical audience.

Contents

  1. 02AnnouncePress release · Resident explainer · Quote sheet
  2. 03EntitleHearing response sheet · Day-after note
  3. 04BuildMonthly community update · Social spotlights
  4. 05DeliverBenefits carousel · Sourced scorecard
  5. —What the full toolkit includesSources
What the record says is live here
  • Jobs credibility. Permanent headcount appears as 1,000, 500 and 300 across sources, and the methodology is withheld as a trade secret.
  • Rates. Three new gas plants for one customer, approved 4-1; a Phase 2 docket for seven more is scheduled for a vote on 16 December 2026.
  • Water. Wells permitted at up to 23 million gallons a day against a projected 1.5 million.
  • Construction impacts. Haul-route crashes, dust at Holly Ridge Elementary, rent increases.
02

Announce

From first disclosure to first hearing. Two pieces: the release, and the version a resident can actually use.

What you get at this stagePress release, three lengths (DOCX)Resident explainer, print and web (PDF, HTML)Quote sheetMedia list

The announcement is the operator's one opportunity to set the terms of the conversation. Most announcements are written for investors and trade media. The material below is written for two audiences at once: the press release for the record, and a plain-language explainer that gives residents the same facts in the words they will use to search for them.

Announcement kit: sample deliverable mock-upThe GridSight
Stage 02Announcement kitRelease, explainer, quote sheet
ChannelPress release for regional and trade media; plain-language explainer for the parish website, the school district, and a mailer.
Press releaseOperator voice · regional and trade mediaSample

Meta expands Richland Parish investment to more than $50 billion, 5 gigawatts

RAYVILLE, La., July 2026. Sample release written by The GridSight from the public record.

Meta today committed more than $50 billion to its Hyperion data center campus in Richland Parish, expanding the project first announced in December 2024 from 2 gigawatts to 5 gigawatts and from 4 million to roughly 10 million square feet.1,2 At full build, Hyperion will be the largest data center in Meta's fleet and one of the largest private capital investments in Louisiana's history.1

The expansion adds roughly 1,400 acres to the Franklin Farm megasite and brings expected peak construction employment to 7,500 and operational employment to 1,000.2 Meta has contracted more than $1.6 billion of work to Louisiana businesses to date and has committed more than $1 billion to local roads, water and wastewater infrastructure in the parish.2

What the parish receives

  • Local sales tax on construction, paid at the reduced rate set by Act 730 and split among the school board, the police jury and the sheriff.4 A single payment in 2026 delivered $22.4 million, of which roughly $11.2 million went to the school board.5
  • Full scholarships to Louisiana Delta Community College for every Richland Parish graduate in the class of 2026, within a $5 million scholarship commitment, plus more than $1 million in STEM grants to parish schools.2
  • $215 million to Entergy Louisiana bill-assistance and efficiency programs for low-income customers, alongside the $1 million a year fund established at announcement.2

Power and water

Power is supplied by Entergy Louisiana under a 15-year contract approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission in August 2025, with minimum bills and a parent guarantee, alongside 1,500 megawatts of new solar.6,7 The campus uses closed-loop cooling for most of the year, with projected water use of about 1.5 million gallons a day drawn from permitted wells.8

Project information, road closures and hiring are published at richlandparishdatacenter.com.9

In the full toolkit: the release in three lengths, a quote sheet for parish officials, a photo and b-roll list, and the media list for northeast Louisiana and the trades.
Resident explainerParish voice · website, schools, mailer · written to an eighth-grade reading levelSample

What the Meta project means for Richland Parish

You have probably heard that Meta is building something big near Rayville. Here are the plain answers, with where each one comes from.

What is being built?
A data center campus: large buildings full of computers that run Meta's apps and its artificial intelligence work. It sits on the Franklin Farm site off Interstate 20. At full size it will be about 10 million square feet, which is roughly 175 football fields of building.2
How many jobs, and can people from here get them?
Meta says up to 7,500 people at the peak of construction and about 1,000 to run it once it is open.2 Construction jobs are here now. Hiring, and the training program with Louisiana Delta Community College, are listed on the project website.9 Meta has not published how it counts the 1,000, so treat it as the company's figure.10
What does the parish get paid?
Sales tax on everything bought to build it. The school board, the police jury and the sheriff each get a share. One payment in 2026 was $22.4 million, and about half went to the schools.5 Because of two local school taxes that go straight to employee pay, that is why teacher checks were so much larger this year.4,5
Will my water be affected?
The campus is allowed to pump up to 23 million gallons a day from six wells, but Meta projects using about 1.5 million a day, because the buildings are cooled by a closed loop most of the year and only use water on the hottest days.8 The state and independent groups are monitoring the aquifer.11 If your tap water changes, report it to the parish; brown water in Rayville predates this project and is being tracked separately.11
Will my power bill go up?
Entergy is building three new gas plants and a large solar farm to serve the campus. Meta signed a 15-year contract to pay for the plants, with a guarantee from its parent company.6,7 A new transmission line is shared by all Entergy customers, and consumer groups have said this could add to bills over time; Entergy estimates the effect at about a dollar a month either way.6,12 The Public Service Commission decides this, in public, and you can read the filings.13
Who do I call?
Road closures, truck routes and construction questions: richlandparishdatacenter.com.9 Parish questions: the Police Jury office. Power questions: the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
In the full toolkit: the explainer as a two-sided mailer, a school-district version, and a Spanish translation, plus the source sheet so any official can answer a follow-up.
Quote sheetAttributed remarks cleared for use in releases, explainers and postsSample

Quotations on the record from the September 2026 All-In Podcast episode with Meta's Dina Powell McCormick, Richland Parish Schools Superintendent Sheldon Jones and Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois.17 Used as voices only. No figure in this toolkit is taken from the interview; the numbers come from the school board, the Public Service Commission, Meta's own disclosures and local reporting, cited in the sources.

“Richland Parish is the place that opportunity forgot about.”All-In Podcast, September 2026
“What you were hearing was, there's nothing here for us anymore. We knew that having a data center could give us an industry here that we haven't had.”Lifelong resident, All-In Podcast, September 2026
“The teacher bonus has been extremely helpful. With the investment Meta has made in our community, I feel hope for the future. It gives my students opportunity.”Richland Parish educator, All-In Podcast, September 2026
“Partnership, not negotiation. It's become a blueprint for how Meta approaches future deals.”On the All-In Podcast, September 2026
“We started this business simply because Meta was coming. We thought we could hit it big if we could cater forty people. Now we cater four hundred a week.”Richland Parish business owner, All-In Podcast, September 2026. The figures are the speaker's.
“The future is happening here, and happening now.”All-In Podcast, September 2026
In the full toolkit: named speakers with clearance status, a pull-quote per channel, and the local voices gathered at the hearing and in the parish, not only the ones on a podcast.

This is a sample. The pieces above were built from Richland Parish's public record. A commissioned toolkit is built the same way for your project, from its own record, and kept current while it moves.

Build one for your project
03

Entitle

Rezoning, permits, the utility commission. The hearings that decide it, and the material an official carries into them.

What you get at this stageHearing response sheet, kept current per filing (PDF)Podium versionDay-after note (email)Project FAQ bank

Hyperion needed no parish land-use vote, because the site was assembled through a finance-authority lease. The venue for this project is therefore the Public Service Commission, where Entergy's plants for Meta were approved 4-1 in August 2025 and where a second package of seven more units is scheduled for a vote on 16 December 2026.6,13 The material below is built for that venue and for the parish meetings that run alongside it.

The hearing response sheet is the foundation of this stage. Each concern raised in the record is paired with the relevant figure, its source, and a clear answer an official can deliver on the record.

Hearing response sheet: sample deliverable mock-upThe GridSight
Stage 03Hearing response sheetOne line per concern
Concerns raised in the record
  • Water use and the aquifer
  • Rates and who pays for the plants
  • Noise, lighting and aesthetics
  • Truck traffic and dust
  • Whether the jobs are real
  • Secrecy and the project's code name
Hearing response sheetFor officials and operator representatives · one line per concernSample
ConcernWhat the record saysSay it out loud
WaterSix wells registered in May 2025 at a combined maximum of 23 million gallons a day, reduced from 36 million. Meta projects about 1.5 million a day, using closed-loop cooling and drawing water above roughly 90°F. The source is the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer; disclosure is voluntary and monitoring is under way.Richland Beacon News; Meta project page; WWNO8,9,11“The permit is 23 million gallons a day. The projection is a million and a half, because the buildings are cooled by a closed loop most of the year. Both numbers are public, and the aquifer is being monitored. If the actual draw runs above the projection, that is a number we will publish.”
Power and ratesThe LPSC approved three 754 MW combined-cycle plants and a 500 kV line on 20 August 2025, 4-1. Meta's 15-year contract carries minimum bills and a parent guarantee. Intervenors argue the roughly $550 million transmission line, fuel costs and post-year-15 plant costs fall on all customers; Entergy estimates the bill effect at about a dollar a month. In July 2026 Meta pledged $215 million to bill assistance.S&P Global; Louisiana Illuminator; Entergy; Alliance for Affordable Energy; Meta6,7,12,2“Meta is under a 15-year contract to pay for the plants, with a guarantee behind it. The transmission line is shared, and the Commission's order says so. Consumer groups disagree with Entergy about the long-run effect, and that argument is happening in public at the Commission, which is where it should be.”
Noise, lighting, aestheticsResidents have described the construction site as lit up at night. Operational noise has no constituency yet because the facility is not running; it is the category to watch.WWNO; GridSight index page11,14“The lighting complaints are about construction, and construction ends. The operating noise standard should be written down now, at the property line, in decibels, so it can be measured later. Ask for that in writing.”
Traffic and dustA sharp rise in crashes on haul routes was reported and DOTD acknowledged only partial remediation. Holly Ridge Elementary closed its playground over dump-truck dust and traffic.GridSight index page; local reporting14“This one is real and it is ours to fix. The haul routes need signage, enforcement and a hotline, and the school needs a dust plan this month, not a study next year.”
JobsAnnounced: 7,500 peak construction, 1,000 operating. Permanent headcount appears as 1,000, 500 and 300 across sources. An administrative law judge subpoenaed the methodology; the Commission quashed the subpoena 3-1 in August 2026, so the figure is company-stated and unaudited.LED; The Lens; GridSight index page2,10,14“The construction jobs are visible on the site today. The operating number is Meta's figure and the method behind it is not public. We should ask the company to report actual operating headcount annually, by job type, and publish it.”
SecrecyThe project was recruited as ‘Project Sucre’; in August 2026 the Commission allowed Meta to withhold job methodology, demand data and deal terms as trade secrets. The financing entity, Beignet Investor LLC, was incorporated the day the plants were approved.GridSight index page; Earthjustice14,15“Code names are how every one of these projects is recruited, and it is a fair complaint. What matters now is what is public: the contract terms the Commission approved, the tax the parish receives, and the water permit. Those are all on the record and we will put them on one page.”
In the full toolkit: the sheet kept current through each filing, a one-page version for the podium, and the FAQ bank tuned to this parish from the free Community Questions set.
Resident email 1 of 2Three weeks before the voteSample

On Tuesday, December 16, the Louisiana Public Service Commission votes on whether Entergy can build seven more generating units to serve the Meta campus, four of them in Richland Parish.13

What it decides: who pays for the plants, for how long, and what happens to the cost after the contract ends. What it does not decide: whether the data center gets built. That was settled in 2025.

Where to read it: the docket is U-37882 on the Commission's website. The staff report and the consumer groups' filings are both there. The Commission recently eased confidentiality on parts of the record, so more of the numbers are public than a month ago.13

How to be heard: public comment is accepted through the docket, and the meeting is open. We will send a short note the day after with what was decided and what it means for bills.

Resident email 2 of 2The day afterSample

[Outcome in one sentence: approved, denied, or deferred, and the vote count.]

What it means for you: [the contract term, the minimum bill, and who is responsible for the transmission line, in three sentences, from the order itself]. Entergy's estimate of the bill effect is [figure]; the consumer groups' estimate is [figure]. We are printing both because both are on the record.

What we asked for and got: [the parish's conditions, if any]. What we asked for and did not get: [the same]. We will keep the response sheet on the parish website updated as the order is published.

Questions about your bill go to Entergy Louisiana or the Commission. Questions about the project itself go to richlandparishdatacenter.com or to our office.

Bracketed fields are filled the morning after the vote; the structure is fixed so it goes out the same day.

This is a sample. The pieces above were built from Richland Parish's public record. A commissioned toolkit is built the same way for your project, from its own record, and kept current while it moves.

Build one for your project
04

Build

Construction through energization. The stage where the promise is visible and so are the trucks.

What you get at this stageTwelve monthly community updates (email, web)Business and workforce spotlights, sized per platformPosting calendarProject data sheet

During construction, a project is judged by its most visible impacts: haul-route traffic, dust near a school, rising rents. A monthly community update reports progress and problems in the same voice, from the same source. Hiring figures alongside road-safety data build more trust than either would alone.

Social and email program: sample deliverable mock-upThe GridSight
Stage 04Social and email programSpotlights, updates, posting calendar
ChannelMonthly email to residents and businesses, mirrored as a parish web post; social spotlights on the operator's and the parish's own channels.
Monthly community updateEmail and web post · parish and operator co-signedSample

Roads and trucks

[Closures this month with dates.] Haul-route signage was reinstalled on [routes] and the parish has asked DOTD for the remaining remediation on [route], which is still open.14 Report an unsafe truck: [hotline]. Crashes on the haul routes are being tracked and the monthly count will be published here.

Hiring and local business

[Number] people are on site this month against a planned peak of 7,500. [Number] Richland Parish residents were hired through the Delta Community College pipeline. Contracts to Louisiana businesses have passed $1.6 billion since the project began.2

Water

Metered draw this month: [figure] gallons a day against the 1.5 million projected and the 23 million permitted.8 Aquifer monitoring results: [link].

What we heard from you

The dust at Holly Ridge Elementary. [What was done, dated.] Rent. Farmland near the site has sold at many times its prior value and rents have risen; the parish is [action], and the $300,000 Richland Revitalization Board fund is accepting applications for [purpose].2,14

For the schools

The school board's sales tax collections for the fiscal year that ended in June were $36.5 million, against $21.3 million the year before.5 More on what that funded in next month's update.

In the full toolkit: twelve months of update templates, the data sheet that feeds them (closures, hiring, metered water, crash counts), and the sign-off workflow between parish and operator so it ships on the first of the month.

Local business spotlight

RP
Richland Parish, Louisiana
Facebook · sample post

Holy Tacos opened in Rayville with the idea that a construction crew of thousands would need lunch. Tim and Lindsey Allen now cater for Mortenson on the Hyperion site, and the line at the truck says the idea was right.16

The campus has contracted more than $1.6 billion of work to Louisiana businesses so far.2 The ones in this parish are the ones we want to show you. Know a business that grew with the project? Tell us and we will feature it.

Built here. Fed here.
Photo: the business, with permission. Not a stock image.

Workforce post

RP
Richland Parish, Louisiana
Facebook and LinkedIn · sample post

Every Richland Parish graduate in the class of 2026 has a full scholarship to Louisiana Delta Community College waiting for them, funded by Meta as part of a $5 million commitment.2

The programs feeding the campus, electrical, HVAC, industrial maintenance, start in [month]. Enrollment: [link]. If you graduated this spring and have not heard from the college, call [number].

Class of 2026: the tuition is covered.
Post runs the week before each enrollment deadline.

This is a sample. The pieces above were built from Richland Parish's public record. A commissioned toolkit is built the same way for your project, from its own record, and kept current while it moves.

Build one for your project
05

Deliver

The years after the ribbon. The question changes from what was promised to what arrived.

What you get at this stageCommunity Benefits Report (PDF)Five-card carousel, sized per platformSourced table for the parish websiteAnnual refresh

Once a facility is operating, the community's question changes from what was promised to what has been delivered. A Community Benefits Report answers it with figures drawn from public sources, presented year over year, with open items stated plainly. It gives the county a record to share with residents and gives the operator a credible account to bring to its next site.

In Richland Parish, the first year of results is already on the record. Two local sales taxes dedicated to school employee pay meant the effect reached teachers within months of the campus paying tax. The carousel below is the social media version; the table is the full report.

Community Benefits Report: sample deliverable mock-upThe GridSight
Stage 05Community Benefits ReportSourced scorecard and carousel
ChannelA five-card carousel for the parish's and the operator's feeds; a sourced table on the parish website; a short post for the operator's blog and local press.

Social carousel

Richland Parish · Year one
$36.5M
School board sales tax collections for the year ended June 2026, up from $21.3M the year before.
Richland Parish School Board
Teachers
$50,935
June 2026 one-cent sales tax check to certified staff with four or more years. Last year it was $10,200.
KNOE, June 2026
Support staff
$17,472
The same June check for classified employees, up from $3,323 in 2025.
KNOE, June 2026
Infrastructure
$1B+
Committed to roads, water and wastewater in the parish, up from $200M at announcement.
Meta, July 2026
Class of 2026
100%
Of Richland Parish graduates offered a full scholarship to Louisiana Delta Community College.
Meta, July 2026
Community benefits scorecardParish website · updated each fiscal yearSample
MeasureBeforeNowSource
School board sales tax collections, fiscal year$21.3M FY 2024-25$36.5M FY 2025-26Richland Parish School Board5
One-cent sales tax check, certified staff (4+ years)$10,200 June 2025$50,935 June 2026KNOE4
One-cent sales tax check, classified staff$3,323 June 2025$17,472 June 2026KNOE4
Largest single project tax payment to the parishnot previously reported$22.4M ~$11.2M to schoolsShreveport-Bossier Advocate5
Infrastructure committed: roads, water, wastewater$200M+ Dec 2024$1B+ July 2026LED; Meta1,2
Contracts to Louisiana businessesnot previously reported$1.6B+Meta2
Scholarships and school grantsnot previously reported$5M Delta CC scholarships; $1M+ STEM grants; class of 2026 fully fundedMeta2
Community funds$1M/yr low-income ratepayer fund, 2024$215M Entergy bill assistance; $300K Revitalization Board; 12 Community Action GrantsMeta2
Jobsnot previously reported7,500 peak construction / 1,000 operating as announcedLED2
Community sentiment (Local Sentiment Index)not previously reported51 / 100 Mixed Sept 2026; trend reported at each refreshThe GridSight14
Still open, and reported as such
  • Operating headcount is company-stated; the methodology was withheld as a trade secret in August 2026. The scorecard will carry the actual annual figure when it is reported.10
  • Water: permitted at 23 million gallons a day, projected at 1.5 million; disclosure is voluntary for five years. Metered draw belongs on this table.8
  • Rates: the Phase 2 generation docket is scheduled for a Commission vote on 16 December 2026, and consumer groups have asked for an investigation of the financing structure.13,15
  • Housing: farmland and home prices in the parish rose sharply with the project; rent effects on existing residents are not yet measured.14
In the full toolkit: the scorecard maintained each fiscal year from primary sources, the sentiment trend from the Local Sentiment Index, and a version formatted for the next county's brief.
Blog postOperator blog and local press · ~300 wordsSample

What a year of Hyperion looks like on a school board's books

Sample post written by The GridSight to the public record

The easiest way to tell whether a large project is paying a community is to find a number that was already being published before it arrived and watch it. In Richland Parish that number is the school board's sales tax collections. Two local taxes, a one-cent levy from 1968 and a later half-cent, are dedicated to employee salaries and distributed to staff.4,5 They were designed for a parish economy that had not changed much in decades.

In the fiscal year that ended in June 2026, the board collected $36.5 million, up from $21.3 million the year before.5 A single payment tied to the campus delivered $22.4 million to the parish, about half of it to the schools.5 Because the taxes are dedicated, the money did not wait for a budget cycle. In June, certified staff with four or more years received checks of $50,935; classified staff received $17,472. A year earlier the same checks were $10,200 and $3,323.4

That is the benefit case, and nobody had to take the company's word for it.

The rest of the case is still open. The operating job count is Meta's figure and the method is not public. The water permit is far larger than the projection, and the projection is what should be measured against. The Commission has a second round of power plants to decide in December, and the consumer groups' arguments about who pays after year fifteen are serious ones. A community that wants the benefits to hold should ask for the same thing on each one: a number, published every year, from a source other than the operator.

This is a sample. The pieces above were built from Richland Parish's public record. A commissioned toolkit is built the same way for your project, from its own record, and kept current while it moves.

Build one for your project

What the full toolkit includes

This sample shows two or three pieces per stage. A commissioned toolkit is the complete set below, built for a named project from its own record and kept current while the project moves.

Sources

  1. Louisiana Economic Development, 4 Dec 2024: Meta selects Northeast Louisiana as site of $10 billion data center
  2. Meta, 13 July 2026: Deepening our investment in Richland Parish; LED, July 2026: Meta commits more than $50 billion
  3. Data Center Dynamics, July 2026: Meta expands Richland Parish campus to 5 GW
  4. KNOE, 9 June 2026: Some Richland Parish teachers receive $50K end-of-year checks; Yahoo Finance: Richland Parish teachers' $50,000 checks
  5. Shreveport-Bossier Advocate, 2026: Meta data center bonus checks and taxes
  6. S&P Global, 20 Aug 2025: Louisiana regulators approve new Entergy infrastructure; Louisiana Illuminator: Entergy / Meta approval
  7. Entergy Louisiana, Aug 2025: LPSC approval release
  8. Richland Beacon News: How much water will the data center use; Meta: Richland Parish data center page
  9. Project information site: richlandparishdatacenter.com
  10. The Lens, 18 Aug 2026: Meta Louisiana data center ratepayer costs
  11. WWNO, 2026: The community around Meta's data center has questions; Monitoring the air and water
  12. Alliance for Affordable Energy: Meta data center and Entergy bills; Union of Concerned Scientists: What's next after the gas plant approval
  13. LPSC docket U-37882; American Press, 11 Sep 2026: Entergy eases confidentiality restrictions
  14. The GridSight, Richland Parish Local Sentiment Index, September 2026
  15. Earthjustice, 14 Jan 2026: Regulators asked to investigate Meta financing
  16. Fortune, 26 Mar 2026: Inside Meta's Hyperion
  17. All-In Podcast, September 2026: episode with Dina Powell McCormick. Quotations only; no figures on this page are taken from the interview.

Build one for your project.

Name the project and the stage it is in. We will come back with what the record shows and a scope for the toolkit.

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