The Delta Revitalization Task Force announced its “Time of Reckoning” plan to assist the Mississippi Delta today in the Rotunda of the Mississippi State Capitol Building.
The plan outlined several strategies to overcome the social and economic issues of the Delta.
In the press conference, Robert Clark, former Speaker Pro Tem of the Mississippi House of Representatives and chair of the Delta Revitalization Task Force, announced the four issues of the Delta: education, teen pregnancy, health, and unemployment.
According to Clark, “the plan is calling to double the post-secondary education levels” and to decrease the high school dropout rate. “I’m calling for parents to get involved with their children and to teach their children the value of an education,” he said.
Clark wants the task force to develop the job skills of the 18-25 year old population and to decrease the teen pregnancy to “0 percent.”
“It can start here in Jackson,” Rep. Clark said, “but the work is going to have to be done at the county level, the seat level, and the community level.”
Colin Austin, leader of task force research team of 2008-2009, said that this year was a “time of accountability of what has worked and what has not.”
“In order to change, leaders in the delta and leaders throughout the state will need to address social as well as economic conditions” in the delta, he said.
Austin announced the future Delta Strategic Compact, a group of “local leaders in the delta region that will seek innovative solutions as they perssue long return development goals.”
Austin is also Program Director of MDC Inc.
John Mayo, Representative of District 25 and member of the task force, said that the revitalization was entering its third and final stage. “Stage one,” he said, “was grass-roots research,” stage two was combining their research with research done by MDC and establishing a plan, and stage three is “implementing the plan.”
According to Rep. Mayo, because of financing, “we’ve got a long way to go.”
Representative of District 50, John Hines, is optimistic. “It is my hope that this will be the beginning of a new venture, a new horizon for the Mississippi Delta,” he said. “It is our intent to go around the delta and meet with state holders who have the best interest in doing work in the delta and get them to work with us.” He said that this process may take two or three months.
When The Mississippi Link asked whether there was a timetable in place for the creation of the Strategic Delta Compact, Hines said: “We haven’t set a timetable, but we have set most of our meetings with state holders.”
“We are still in the process of creating the Compact,” said Rep. Clark.
The task force remains confident that its plans are moving smoothly. According to Rep. Clark, the task force will start its vetting process of state holders “tomorrow.”
Despite the quickly approaching end of the task force on June 30, there has not been a timetable set to establish the Delta Strategic Compact group.
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