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Southwest Mississippi Unveils Regional Economic Development Plan

Posted on: Thursday, 23 April 2009, 18:15 CDT

Summit of Local, State Officials, Economic Developers and Business Leaders Aims To Boost Area Growth, Jobs

BUDE, Miss., April 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Mississippi is poised to attract a major new employer to the region in the next 12 to 14 months, it was announced Thursday.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090319/CG86339)

Leaders of the Southwest Mississippi Partnership, a 10-county consortium of economic developers, business executives and local and state officials, unveiled a new economic development plan for the region that targets three industry areas -- biomass and bio fuel production from forest product residues, distribution centers, and food products and processing -- for future growth and job expansion.

The plan, developed by a 20-member task force comprised of representatives from Momentum Mississippi, the Mississippi Development Authority, local and state government and business leaders, Entergy Mississippi and the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi, concludes that the source most likely to create new jobs by 2010 will come from the region's massive timber resources.

Details of the plan were revealed at a Southwest Economic Development conference attended by 150 local state and elected officials, economic developers and business leaders on Wednesday at Okhissa Lake. The meeting featured presentations by Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, and John Turner, economic development director of Entergy Mississippi and Carol Johnson, president of Atlanta-based Continuous Dialog and a noted economic development consultant.

"This is such a timber-rich region of our state," Swoope said. "Unfortunately, we are growing more timber than we are taking out of the forest - so there's an opportunity for biomass using wood products, wood pellets for renewables and the building industry as the economy starts to rebound."

Swoope said a critical success factor is promoting a public-private partnership among government leaders, business executives and economic developers in the region. "Franklin County by itself is only 8,000 people, but you start pulling in the other counties, you have a population closer to 250,000 people and you have the resources of that region to market to prospective employers."

Turner said Entergy has a decades-long commitment of support and involvement in local and regional economic development efforts and believes that Southwest Mississippi is ready to take a giant step forward in competing for new jobs and growth. "We feel really good about marketing this region and our prospects for some short-term success," he said.

Johnson challenged the region's business, community and government leaders to implement an economic development strategy focused on value, creativity and speed. "Political boundaries are fixed, but economic boundaries are not," she added. "Your team is bigger than you think."

Cliff Brumfield, president of the 2,000-member Southwest Partnership, said the regional coalition uses its collective strength to overcome potential disadvantages. "Our job is to take the benefits and advantages of locating and doing business in this region and applying those solutions to our target industries," he said.

The conference was sponsored by Cellular South, the nation's largest privately owned wireless provider. The company is a major employer in southwest Mississippi with its customer care center in Meadville and other retail and business operations totaling over 170 jobs. "We're interested in the future expansion of this region and believe that a healthy economy and quality of life is dependent on jobs and growth," said Jim Richmond, director of Corporate Communications for the Mississippi-based company.

About Southwest Mississippi Partnership

The Southwest Mississippi Partnership is a 10-county regional economic development organization that provides site location assistance, resource and data sharing to businesses considering expansion or relocation through cooperative efforts among its 2,000 members. For more information, visit www.southwestmississippi.com.

About Mississippi Development Authority

Mississippi Development Authority is the state's leading economic and community development agency. Nearly 300 employees are engaged in providing services to businesses, communities and workers in the state. While the agency is best known for its efforts to recruit new businesses to Mississippi, the Authority provides services to promote tourism, help communities improve their quality of place, help existing employers identify and meet opportunities and challenges and help workers improve their skills - all with the goal of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of Mississippians. For more information, visit www.mississippi.org.

About Cellular South

Cellular South is a privately-owned diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The company accomplishes this goal by providing the most reliable and advanced 3G nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering industry-leading family and unlimited flat rate voice, text and mobile web plans, and through its online and in-store Discover Centers, which give customers easy, simple and convenient tools, tips, advice and information to get the most out of their mobile phone. For more information, visit www.cellularsouth.com.

SOURCE Cellular South

Source: PR Newswire

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