WAEM WIRED and TMI

The Montgomery Institute (TMI) was created as a non-profit charitable organization in 2001 for the purpose of providing leadership and strategic thinking needed to upbuild the distressed region it serves.  Its initial focus was six counties in East Mississippi and two in West Alabama.

Guiding The Montgomery Institute in developing its approach to regional upbuilding was a group of regional leaders including Dr. Mack Portera, then president of Mississippi State University and now chancellor of the University of Alabama System; Dwight Evans, then president of Mississippi Power Company and now a just-retired executive with Southern Electric, and Bill Crawford, first president of TMI. 

In November 2001, the Institute held a regional forum attended by over 100 business and civic leaders.  The forum was facilitated by the Southern rural Development Center (SRDC).  The leaders attending affirmed the need for the region to “gather force and better compete in this new global economy.”  Those leaders attending tasked TMI to create (and staff) a Commission on the Future of East Mississippi and West Alabama.  During calendar year 2002, TMI developed a charter and by-laws for the proposed commission and began identifying leadership.  The initial commission included representatives from 12 counties, two in Alabama and 10 in Mississippi.  The fundamental concept of regional development was presented to regional leaders at the Commission’s 1st ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT in January 2003.  It was at this meeting that a number of Alabama counties decided to join the Commission. 

The Commission on the Future of East Mississippi and West Alabama achieved true bi-state, regional status on March 17, 2003, when four additional counties in the West Alabama Regional Alliance voted to participate.  “This truly makes us an East Mississippi and West Alabama collaboration,” stated Commission Chairman, Dr. Phil Sutphin, president of East Central Community College.  Each of the 16 counties (10 in Mississippi and 6 in Alabama) plus the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians got representation on the Commission selected by a local development authority or chamber of commerce.  In line with the grant proposal, the Commission adopted as its primary goal “to provide the information the region needs to monitor its progress, identify its problems, and develop policy and program responses.”  The Commission also directed TMI to inform citizens through newsletters and articles in the East Mississippi Business Journal (copies of monthly news articles and newsletters are available upon request).

TMI prepared a document for the Commission entitled The Case for Designating 16 Counties in East Mississippi and West Alabama as a Distressed Region (copy attached).  In April 2003, this information was presented to the two state directors for USDA Rural Development, Nick Walters in Mississippi and Steve Pelham in Alabama.  Both promised to present the information and request for special designation to the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Rural Development.  In a subsequent meeting with the USDA Office of Community Development in Washington, D.C., USDA declined to provide a special designation for the region.  TMI and the Commission, with help from Rural Development, continued to pursue this approach.  As will be seen later, this partnership eventually led to substantial federal support for development in the region.)        
     
During 2003 and 2004, the Commission met monthly at different locations across the region.  During this period, regional transportation issues, a regional education leadership academy, and other initiatives were begun.  In February 2004, Congressmen Artur Davis (D-AL) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) and Governors Bob Riley (AL) and Haley Barbour (MS) headlined the 2nd ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT. 

Then, in May 2004, under leadership of new president Mike McGrevey, The Montgomery Institute was elected to serve as the “cooperator,” i.e., managing entity, for the Mississippi Rural Development Council.  The Council works closely with the Mississippi State Director for Rural Development (USDA) to provide policy guidance.  This role meshed with the vision for the Institute’s future as presented by Mr. McGrevey.  He noted the need to build on the regional priorities and benchmarks developed by the Commission on the Future of East Mississippi and West Alabama.

In August 2004, Alabama Governor Bob Riley created the Black Belt Action Commission by executive order.  The function of this initiative was to upbuild the 12 counties comprising the poorest area of Alabama.  The work of TMI, the Commission, and the new Black Belt Action Commission began to intertwine.

While the Institute continued its basic work and assignments from the Commission, a number of proposals were prepared and submitted during 2004 and 2005 that would have pushed regional development activities to a higher level.  None of these came to fruition.  Then, in 2006, TMI and regional partners developed through the Commission – including eight community and junior colleges – joined with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to write and submit a Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) proposal to Governors Bob Riley and Haley Barbour.  The two governors, oriented to the East Mississippi–West Alabama region by the earlier Commission activities, endorsed the proposal and jointly submitted it to the U.S. Department of Labor.  The WIRED proposal expanded the area covered by the Commission on the Future to include more of the Black Belt counties (10 of the 12 are included).  The WAEM Region covers 37 counties, 19 in East Mississippi and 18 in West Alabama ( click here to see to view a map of these counties on our home page).

In February 2006, DOL announced the award of $15 million to the region.  ADECA was designated as the fiscal agent; TMI as the managing entity.  The WIRED initiative provided the means and process for the region to take its next steps toward prosperity.