JACKSON - A cadre of Mississippi business and education leaders said Thursday that they're going to develop a plan to enhance the state's ability to stimulate economic development.
The so-called Blueprint Mississippi initiative will draw on input from business people and educators, analyze other states' economic initiatives and evaluate previous economic development studies done for Mississippi.
The group plans to make recommendations to the Legislature next session that will likely include amending and updating the state's current economic development plan, Advantage Mississippi.
"The Nissan plant is here because of a focused effort and Advantage Mississippi," said Mike Garrett, president and CEO of Mississippi Power. "So why are we here today? You can't rest on success. The world is changing. Prospects want to see a state has it together - from education and business climate to quality of life."
Several members of the group, including Garrett, said the state needs to provide more resources to train workers for existing businesses and to be able to promise more training help to companies considering locating in Mississippi.
Garrett said the state should be able to pay for more than one year of training for new industry workers. The Advantage Mississippi plan limits the payment to one year.
Aubrey Patterson, CEO of BancorpSouth, said, "Mississippi is not producing skilled workers at the needed rate to meet the demands of tomorrow. Those same issues exist in other states; we are not alone."
The initiative was commissioned by the Mississippi Economic Council and the Mississippi Partnership for Economic Development. Those two groups - as well as Mississippi Power, Trustmark Corp., BellSouth Mississippi, BancorpSouth, The Robert M. Hearin Foundation and the Public Education Forum of Mississippi - will pay for a consultant to help develop a plan.
The consultant is Cambridge Systematics Inc., a Cambridge, Mass., management and planning consulting firm.
A series of planning sessions will be held before the end of the year in Oxford, Jackson and Hattiesburg with the goal of having some recommendations for the Legislature when it convenes Jan. 6.
"I promise you this group will take action," said John McCullouch, president of BellSouth Mississippi.
The current economic development plan, Advantage Mississippi - which lets the state offer new and expanding businesses incentives such as tax breaks and training dollars - was created in a similar fashion. Approved by the Legislature in 2000, the plan was developed at the request of Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and grew out of series of public meetings and conferences with business development officials and consultants.
Blueprint Mississippi "is a continuing effort in our state to stay competitive," said Steve Hale, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority.
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