The Mississippi Economic Council tour, designed to collect and share community development information with communities, made a stop in Kosciusko last week.
“It’s time for us to start thinking differently,” said MEC Director Scott Walker in beginning the program. “What are Mississippi’s strengths and how do we play to those strengths?”
Key areas that will help Mississippi communities grow include workforce development, infrastructure improvement and promoting health, 
he told the group of about 50 Attala County leaders who gathered for the session.
Along the way, Walker posed multiple-choice questions to audience members who could electronically register their votes, which were then tallied, displayed and discussed.
The number one challenge for development identified in all the prior sessions – workforce – was the number one issue on this day, as well
“We need a more skilled workforce. For every meeting we’ve had, that has been the number one answer,” said Walker.
“This is an issue that involves everybody. By 2020, 65% of all jobs are going to require post-secondary education, whether it is a degree or specialized training,” he said. “We need to change the feeling that if you don’t go to college, you aren’t successful. There are other ways to succeed, such as skills training.”
Earline Smith of the Attala Educational Center at Holmes Community College said her organization has been partnering with businesses to train potential and existing employees to meet the skills needed by those businesses.
“We can provide that customized training,” she said. “Kids need to know they don’t need a four-year degree. They should find something that they love and match that up with a career to build on.”
Walker also noted that improvements in roads and bridges is critical to drawing new business, as well.
“In areas where they are already doing work in transportation and infrastructure, we’re seeing a different in business investment,” he said. If the state were to put the estimated $400 million needed annually into roads and bridges, about 4,000 construction jobs and 7,000 general jobs in businesses growing or opening here would be created.
Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft said communities also need to think outside the box to draw businesses. He noted the idea of expanding bike lanes from the Trace into town to draw more people into the area. He also said access to a four-lane roadway would be a big boost to the area.
Karen Fagan of BlueCross/BlueShield of Mississippi, which is sponsoring the MEC tour, highlighted the need to have a healthy workforce in order for businesses to thrive. She touted workplace health programs BC/BS can offer to employers as creating cost savings in missed work and higher productivity.
Attala County Clerk Gerry Taylor said drawing Holmes Community College to develop a campus here was one effort that is reaping dividends, as will the soon to reopen WIN jobs center.
“These projects generate quality of life for everyone here,” he said. “One group can’t do it by themselves.”
At the close of the session, Ken Lowery of Hunter Engineering noted one particular challenge to moving forward with efforts that will encourage development – the lack of a central point of leadership that can foster integrated efforts.
“The problem is everyone is interested in it, but somewhere, somebody needs to put it all together and develop a coordinated plan,” he said.
