Southern Bancorp ‘Building A Bridge’ In Mississippi County

Rural development bank Southern Bancorp is helping Mississippi County residents revitalize their community through the Delta Bridge Project, a process that already has had success in Phillips County.

Southern Bancorp started the Mississippi County project when it entered the community in 2011. On March 27, 2013, more than 45 Mississippi County representatives ranked the most important issues for the county’s future development. Four issues – removal of dilapidated buildings, more high school graduates, restaurants and retail, and crime – were ranked as a top priority by 91 percent of respondents. Workforce development and code enforcement/property maintenance followed closely behind.

Community “goal teams” then formulated a strategic plan for 2023 that includes objectives in economic development, education, housing, quality of life, leadership, and health and wellness. The leadership team, for example, plans on creating greater collaboration and trust among the area’s entities and individuals, while the housing team is seeking to rid the county of dilapidated housing while increasing rental and buying opportunities.

More than 300 committee members helped form the plan, which was unveiled during a community celebration April 29. Eighteen rundown properties already have been cleaned up.

Southern Bancorp first used the process in Phillips County in 2003 and then launched similar processes in Clark County as well as in Sunflower and Coahoma Counties in the state of Mississippi. The efforts in Mississippi, Phillips and Coahoma Counties make up the Delta Bridge Project.

The strategic plan lists some of Mississippi County’s challenges. The population has declined 43.5 percent since 1950. While the county has become a leader in steel production, the unemployment rate is 11 percent and the poverty rate is 24.2 percent. The median income of $35,651 is only two-thirds the national average. Many of the steel industry’s new hires coming from elsewhere choose to settle in neighboring areas.

Steven Jones, Southern Bancorp’s senior vice president/director of programs, who is in charge of the Delta Bridge Project, points to projects completed in Phillips County. Those include tourist attractions related to the area’s blues music and Civil War heritage. For example, Sibley Quarters, a slum at Helena’s entrance, was removed and replaced with Freedom Park, which commemorates the African-American experience during the war.

The projects are led by the community with help from Southern Bancorp. “I think we’re a catalytic in a lot of ways, but we also facilitate, instigate, coordinate, whatever it takes to bring a project together,” Jones said.

Despite its challenges, Mississippi County has advantages other Delta communities don’t have, including being one of the nation’s most important steel-producing areas. During the launch of the strategic plan April 29, Nucor Corporation pledged $50,000 to help remove blight.

Jones said that, with its economic foundation, Mississippi County most needs to improve its communities, such as its schools and health care services. “The worst problem that Mississippi County can have, the way we see it, is to not have its house in order for the success that’s about to come,” he said.