At their Columbus stop Tuesday, Mississippi Economic Council officers said they had seen more optimism about the economy here than possibly anywhere else in the state.
The MEC-sponsored Blueprint Mississippi Road Show is about halfway through visiting cities across the state to poll local leaders for information that will be used to form a strategic economic plan for Mississippi.
At a Columbus Country Club luncheon Tuesday, Lowndes County and Columbus political, educational and community leaders said they were positive about the future. The road show was also in Starkville earlier.
When asked whether they believed Mississippi children could eventually find good-paying jobs without leaving the state, 63 percent of the Tuesday crowd voted “yes.”
And when asked if Mississippi could become more competitive and experience growth like Georgia and North Carolina have for the past 20 years, 85 percent answered “yes.”
“Obviously, you all get it that things are happening here,” MEC President Blake Wilson told the crowd.
Of 101 voters, 29 said the state was “very competitive” in creating good jobs compared to surrounding states, while 58 said it was “moderately competitive.” Eleven people voted “not so competitive” and two voted “not at all competitive.”
Blueprint Mississippi Commission Chairman Dr. Hank Bounds emphasized the need to compete with other states.
“We need to be nimble as a state … We need to be playing catch, not catch-up,” Bounds said.
One of the ways to do that is through education, which pulls in almost $500 million in research and development to the state, he said.
Other areas for improvement include technology commercialization, economic competitiveness and resource management.
But county and city leaders apparently feel like the region is already well on its way. When asked how they would rank their region in terms of creating jobs through economic development, 67 percent said “very” competitive, 26 percent said “moderately,” 5 percent said “not so” and 2 percent said “not at all.”
For the Golden Triangle, the greatest opportunity for the future is in advanced manufacturing, according to 72 percent of the voters. Ten percent said start-up technology companies and online businesses, and the remainder were split between tourism, natural resources, health care and retail and service.
Companies like Eurocopter and Severstal have settled in the nearby Golden Triangle Regional Aerospace Industrial Park.
At the conclusion of the presentation, Bounds encouraged the crowd to become more active in molding their region to the plan.
“Not getting involved is like not voting,” he added.
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