Mar 9, 2023 - Blue Springs, MS
by: Dennis Seid, Daily Journal
The Mississippi Economic Council typically heads to the larger cities for its annual tour. That wasn't the case this year.
MEC President Scott Waller said the organization wanted to visit some of the smaller towns and cities to hear what business leaders and others had to say. So after stopping in Amory earlier in the week, the MEC tour stopped in Blue Springs on March 9 to meet at the Toyota Experience Center.
The tour is sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, and Waller said BCBS understands the importance of having healthy workforce "to drive success for the citizens of Mississippi across the state and for businesses, to provide the workforce that makes all things possible."
In some informal polling of the audience, the attendees said education and and schools was their communities' greatest asset. At the same time, the biggest need for improvement also was educational and schools.
A better trained workforce was also deemed a priority.
MEC latest campaign is "Securing Mississippi's Future" which provides a vision for economic growth with goals for charting what it calls "a bold course for Mississippi."
Those goals are:
- Develop a world-class workforce to meet the needs of today's job market and the hob opportunities of the future.
- Grow the state's economy and population by increasing the number of highly qualified , skilled professionals.
- Grow the economy by strengthening infrastructure.
- Strengthen and expand Mississippi's economy through job growth.
- Articulate the importance of health care for today's workforce.
During the event, Waller and his staff shared the latest findings of MEC research with the audience, and they also asked for feedback on several questions regarding the attendees views of their community.
The goal, he said, is not just to hear from residents of the biggest cities in Mississippi, but also the myriad small towns and rural communities that shape the state and make it special.
"We want to hear from you and capitalize on those things as we move forward, because without question, as a statewide organization, it's easy to just concentrate on the Jackson area," Waller said. "But we don't want to do that. To be successful we have to hear from communities across the state."
