"First Impressions" Making a Difference

“A positive for us – oh yes!” declared Marie Shoemake, director of the Covington County Chamber of Commerce.  She was describing her experience with First Impressions, a community development program offered by Jones County Junior College (JCJC).

“First and foremost, it has unified the towns of Covington County,” Shoemake said. “We have all been through First Impressions and realize that we are working for a common goal.”

The JCJC WAEM Team works with the Mississippi State University Community Action Team (MSCAT) to help communities in South Mississippi focus on quality of life issues, through the First Impressions Assessment.  The assessment offers a community an opportunity to hear what visitors have to say when they visit for the first time. 

In today’s economic climate, towns are becoming more and more focused on their quality of life,” explained team leader Patrick Scoggin. “Therefore it is important that everyone hear what visitors have to say about their community.  First Impressions gives the people in a town an opportunity to hear how the town looks and feels from a visitor’s perspective.”

The visiting team enters a town unannounced and spends a day touring all parts of the town.  The team is given the task of assessing the community on topics such as customer service, quality of healthcare, infrastructure, education, and availability of merchandise.  Upon completion of the visit, the team’s report and related photos are presented to city government and other civic organizations for use in developing responsive strategies.   The report and photos are also posted on the MSCAT website at http://www.mscat.msstate.edu/firstimpressions for public review.

If your community is interested in participating in First Impressions or have further questions, please contact the Jones County Junior College WAEM Team at (601) 477-5401 or the Mississippi State Community Action Team at (662) 325-6703.

Jones County Junior College is one of eight community and junior colleges participating in the West Alabama – East Mississippi (WAEM) Regional Initiative through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor.   

After taking a five-minute drive through the community of Seminary, the following reactions were noted by visitors: "We were impressed with the amount of activity in downtown. Our preconceived notion was that Seminary was smaller than it actually was and that there would not be any commerce in the town. We were pleasantly surprised at the number of cars traveling the streets and the number of people in the area."