“Your Town – Mississippi” Ready to Launch

Building on the prior successes of Your Town - Alabama and WAEMTown in Mississippi, the Mississippi State Community Action Team (MSCAT) will launch Your - Town Mississippi in May.

“The mix of presentations, hands-on design work, and lots of sharing and discussing will create a dynamic learning environment loaded with practical ideas to take home and apply in your community,” said Virgil Culver, MSCAT director.

The three-day retreat will be held May 18-20 at Lake Tiak O’Khata in Louisville, Mississippi.  Applications for the workshop will be accepted through April 23.

“This process… is one of the best I’ve seen in incrementally bringing folks up to speed and be engaged, and it’s got the flexibility to nurture people who are brand new to this,” said John McClure, a planning consultant and executive director of the Alliance for Downtown Meridian. 

Participants are encouraged to focus on community assets as they use what they’ve learned to produce designs and plans for a community.  Angie Burks, Executive Director of the Newton Chamber of Commerce, said the workshop changed the way she looked at her own community.  “We have so much potential sitting here… but we see it every day and we don’t think about it.”

Burks and McClure are both alumni of WAEMTown, which was developed through the WAEM Regional Initiative with support from Your Town – Alabama leaders. Your Town - Mississippi evolved from WAEM Town after MSCAT and other state organizations accepted the challenge to sustain the program beyond the WAEM Initiative. 

“We’re excited about this next step for community design training in Mississippi,” said Bill Crawford, director of the WAEM Regional Initiative. “This program has had such great success in Alabama we want it available to rural town leaders all across Mississippi.”

Your Town - Mississippi is an interactive workshop that focuses on community development using basic design and planning principles.  Planning professionals lead teams of participants through exercises that address common small town issues such as the impact of a proposed bypass, the identification of potential tourism opportunities, the revitalization of a struggling downtown, and other typical small town challenges.

There are still slots available. To sign up or get more information, go to www.mscat.msstate.edu/yourtown