Personally, local is best but without knowing more about you, it might not be a good approach.

Good Evening I'm interesting in finding a local lender in Shreveport with favorable terms.

Local laws are going to play a big part in this. 

To add to that, Dave's local bank, where he took out the loans for his properties, either went bankrupt or was bought out by another bank.

I wanted to organize a meet up with any locals in the area or out of state investors who want to network and talk real estate! 

As the local governments struggle to manage tax payer money responsibly, they should really offer incentives to private builders to build "income restricted" at a much lower price. $220-$300/ft for vertical build costs.  

In addition to the get rich quick element its an MLM mindset they feel is easy, where they can pick it up and put it down whenever (i.e Amway, 5lynx, bitcoin mentoring) Even the young ones who invest in my projects have the opportunity to earn and learn, looking over my shoulder.

We plan to start in NYC and then create a network across the country, so we'd have local market experts. 

Good for Saronic! The Austin metro is sitting at super low unemployment rates 3.7% even as the metro is growing daily as the employment force expands rapidly. Saronic is in south Austin off south congress. 

I would check out some local meetups and meet with as many investors as I can.