Hundreds of attendees joined local and national business leaders at the Mississippi Museum of Art in downtown Jackson Monday for “All in on Mississippi.” The half-day event focused on strategies to address the state’s brain drain while strengthening local economies.
The event was hosted by Deep South Today and the digital news platform Mississippi Today.
Shamira Muhammad
'All in on Mississippi'
The forum was a mix of business and civic discussions. JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon offered perspectives on how Mississippi could attract economic opportunities. Mississippi businessman Tommy Duff, who is considering a run for governor, says that he simply wants to support good government in the state.
“Am I conservative? Certainly,” he said during a one-on-one conversation with MT’s editor-in-chief, Adam Ganucheau. “And very conservative in my beliefs and in my thinking process. But I also realized that life has practicality. You have to do the right things and move ahead. I'm as concerned about the problems in the Delta, and I can assure you that if I were to run and show up there and they look at me and say, what are you doing up there, why do you care? They might not agree with me, but I hope they'll say I cared, because that's what's important.”
Speakers were focused on the impact Mississippi’s brain drain has had on the state - and potential solutions for it. Panelist Tyler Yarbrough, the director of MS Delta Programs with the Partnership for a Healthier America in Clarksdale, says his community has been particularly impacted by disinvestment.
“Our Kroger left in 2017, just up and left on a random Tuesday,” he said. “Our hospital has been on the verge of collapse for the past 10 years. So when you're in an environment like that, people are yearning for something different, yearning to be a part of development, yearning be seen.”
Another panelist, Jake McGraw, is the founder of Rethink Mississippi. He says Mississippi has lost 120 thousand U.S. born residents in the past 15 years.
“If you put all them together, they would be the second largest city in the state,” McGraw said. “If such a city existed, it would be one of the best educated places in America because all of our net out migration among people 22 to 50 is people with four year degrees or beyond.”
McGraw says the brain drain has impacted the state’s population size, infrastructure and how people perceive the state.
“I think that as long as we have the number 50 attached to us on just about every statistic, no amount of PR will be able to change that impression,” he said. “I think we have to control what we can control. Make sure that we are making Mississippi a better, more attractive, livable place, and I think the perception will catch up.”
“All in on Mississippi” was sponsored primarily by JPMorgan Chase.
