Mississippi Economic Development News – July 6, 2009

Government and economic development officials in Mississippi will apply for a state grant to help a Texas company locate a new steel mill in western Lowndes County.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6506024.html

A $2.4 million state grant will be used by a General Electric Co. subsidiary and the University of Southern Mississippi for research on composite materials for an engine to power the Boeing 787 and 747-8 aircraft.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/06/29/ap6598999.html

Jeff Waller, director of the center that serves 12 counties in southwest Mississippi, said he believes the main part of his job is making sure business owners and would-be business owners are equipped to handle the business challenges they will face. And he said the first step to that is creating a plan.
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2009/jun/28/small-business-development-center-helps-area-entre

Tulane University considering campus in downtown Madison
http://tinyurl.com/mfbpjz

(Gulfport Mayor) Schloegel outlined the main goals in a new strategic plan they developed: Enhance revenue through economic development, with a city emphasis on retail expansion; work with the state port and state Transportation Department to …
http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1435573.html

His main concerns as a legislator, (newly elected Representative Wilbert) Jones said, will be economic development, forming consensus in the East Mississippi delegation, and procuring nationally competitive funding for education in Mississippi.
http://www.meridianstar.com/local/local_story_182012824.html

And its (Enerkem Inc.) U.S. subsidiary has plans to build a biofuels facility at a landfill site in Mississippi that would use similar urban biomass as well as residues from forest and agricultural operations.
http://tinyurl.com/km9oyz

Where other attempts have failed over the past five decades, an ambitious, broad new long-range plan to lift the Delta out of its persistent poverty — without government carrying the load — has emerged after three years from a commission headed by respected black leader Robert Clark.
http://tinyurl.com/ovjyro

Could the Mississippi Delta become America’s bamboo belt, the breadbasket of a new class of homegrown structural building components?  New plantings are already being planned, according to Ed Johnson of the Delta Economic Development Center. He says that without the conference, …
http://tinyurl.com/mqakt3
 

Flowood will be home to about $22 million in new medical construction…The developments symbolize the health-care industry’s status as Rankin County’s largest employer, said Gale Martin, executive director of the county’s Chamber of Commerce. “Like any business, they cluster,” said Tom Troxler, executive director of Rankin First, the county’s economic development agency. “The medical (industry) is still growing.”
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090630/NEWS/906300344/1001
 

Choctaw County awarded an ARC-HEI grant for schools.  Alan Bates, executive director of Choctaw County Economic Development Foundation, said the “goal is to have a higher percentage of students to go to college …
http://tinyurl.com/ookrxv

Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Indiana rounded out the top nine (states for oil and gas investment).
http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/09-07-02/quick.htm

Judson Thigpen, director of the Cleveland-Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce, said he was happy to hear the news of the rehiring at the (Faurecia Cleveland) plant.
http://tinyurl.com/pmm4c9

North Mississippi gets National Heritage Area designation.
http://www.knoe.com/Global/story.asp?S=10130594 

The goal of the publication is to educate potential customers about the innovative and cost effective solutions geospatial technologies can provide to industry and government. This includes decision makers in a variety of private businesses as well as economic development organizations, and all levels of government, but cities and counties in particular.
http://www.directionsmag.com/press.releases/index.php?duty=Show&id=34383

Don’t miss early registration for the MEDC Summer Conference.  Fax your registration form in to MEDC before July 11 to avoid the higher registration fee.  If you have already registered, your name will on the List of Registrants at Conferences at www.medc.ms.

Carol Hardwick, Executive Director
Mississippi Economic Development Council, Inc. (MEDC)
P O. Box 3721, Jackson, MS  39207 
ph-601-352-1909 . fax-601-352-2061 . carol@medc.ms . www.medc.ms
2009 Summer Conference . July 22-24 . Beau Rivage . Biloxi