Editorial
Greenwood Commonwealth
August 11, 2004

Blueprint gives state a place to start
Plan outlines where Mississippi should put its energy to get off the economic bottom.

Mississippi's business, economic development and education communities unveiled this week what is hoped will be a road map for a brighter future in Mississippi.

Blueprint Mississippi, a nearly two-year planning and development effort funded by the state's private business community, lays out a bold and visionary approach to shaping Mississippi's future.

The 10-year strategic plan is a guide for moving Mississippi's economy forward in a coordinated manner, building upon the state's strengths and addressing the weaknesses.

When it comes to the 11 Southern states to which Mississippi was compared, the picture is mixed. Mississippi has led the region in increasing per capita income and decreasing the poverty rate. The state, however, started so far behind that even with that progress, it remains mired at or near the bottom in both statistical categories.

Mississippi has some great advantages when it comes to attracting new businesses - labor costs, taxes and real estate prices that are lower than average, plus a solid transportation infrastructure. Those advantages, unfortunately, are offset by other handicaps, including the region's lowest productivity per worker, which is a direct reflection of the low percentage of residents with a college education.

The half-million-dollar Blueprint identifies 11 high priority items Mississippi must concentrate on - everything from improving the state's image to enhancing early childhood education to diversifying the state's economic base so that it is not so dependent on manufacturing, a segment of the U.S. economy that is in decline.

In each case, the Blueprint sets quantifiable five and 10-year goals as a way to measure the state's progress in its quest to become a leader in the South rather than the doormat.

Just as it took a public-private partnership to put the Blueprint together, it will take the same collaboration, sustained over time, to meet these targets.

Gov. Haley Barbour gave the Blueprint authors an early sign that he buys into their vision by immediately adopting one of its recommendations. He said he would reactivate a dormant piece of legislation from 1987 that calls for a strategic, statewide approach to economic development that is systematically reviewed and updated.

As Barbour said at Monday's unveiling of Blueprint Mississippi, "We are on the front edge of a rising tide in Mississippi. We have the opportunity to seize the moment."

©Greenwood Commonwealth 2004