City and county leaders are asking the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University to help create a comprehensive economic development plan.
The Institute will help to identify strengths within the community and to utilize those strengths to develop solutions to problems, officials said.
The Institute will help the community successfully achieve redevelopment and economic revitalization goals, Board of Supervisors President Obbie Riley said on Monday after a unanimous vote to seek what has been described as a top-to-bottom analysis.
The Institute routinely provides technical assistance and consultation to local governments and community leaders in the area of economic and community development.
In the 1980s the Institute helped Neshoba County become one the first counties to establish the unit system form of government.
The current work entails a wide scope of studies, community planning workshops and input from community leaders.
Feasibility analyses and funding strategies for a myriad of community projects will be developed as a result, officials said.
While supervisors formally gave their approval on Monday, Mayor James A. Young said city leaders would join in as well.
Aldermen were to have voted on a resolution last night.
Riley said the Institute is ready to start immediately and within six months to a year should have an economic plan in place to "better position ourselves to attract business and industry."
He noted that the work won't cost the county anything.
"They will look at such things as our work force, our educational needs and our housing needs for low income families," he said.
A preliminary study recently released by the Institute showed that Neshoba County lost approximately 1,600 jobs between 2005 and 2009 in establishment-based employment by industry.
The government sector, the county's largest employer, which includes the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Pearl River Resort, decreased by 12.5 percent since 2005.
The construction industry, the second largest employer, declined by about 16.2 percent, the study showed.
Retail trade lost about 80 jobs between 2005 and 2009, while the education sector increased by about 80 jobs or 11.7 percent.
The accommodation and food service industry and the manufacturing industry each represent about 4 percent of the establishment-based employment in Neshoba County.
Accommodation and food service jobs declined by about 14.4 percent since 2005, while manufacturing jobs have plunged 33.7 percent.
Employment in the health care and social assistance industry has declined by almost 20 percent.
The Institute's preliminary study of the county showed a population growth of 7.2 percent from 2001 through 2008.
The largest growth in the population aged 17 and under occurred with those under the age of 5, the study showed.
For future planning, the Institute cited a need for adequate quality childcare and health care facilities and services as well after school and drop-out prevention programs.
The Institute's study showed that about 14 percent of the county's population was 65 and older, sparking a need for access to such things as quality health care and adult daycare as well as housing design that meets their living requirements.
The study showed that Neshoba County saw an unemployment rate lower than the state average from 2001 through 2008, but since January 2009, it has exceeded the state jobless rate.
The analysis revealed that Neshoba County's overall poverty rate in 2007 was 22.6 percent. The poverty rate among children under 18 was 30.2 percent in Neshoba County, compared to the state average of 29.4.
Mississippi's overall poverty rate in 2007 was at 20.7 percent, while the national average was 13 percent.
The Stennis Institute's Capacity Development Initiative provides technical assistance and resources to communities throughout the state of Mississippi, particularly to resource constrained communities for whom those resources would not otherwise be available.
This work enables municipal and county governments to successfully achieve their redevelopment and economic revitalization goals, the Stennis Institute said in its study.
