Tamika Jenkins, executive director of the Hinds County Development Authority, stepped into her role about a year ago with the goal to attract businesses to set up shop in the county.
With a $10,000 Entergy Mississippi grant plus funds from the development authority, the county will complete a $35,000 plan for business retention.
“Basically, (we’re) working on a strategy on how we want to attract and retain businesses in Hinds County,” Jenkins told the Mississippi Free Press. “Also, there’ll be a marketing aspect to that, promoting Hinds County as a great place to do business.”
Entergy Mississippi announced on May 24 that it is spreading $60,000 among eight in-state economic development partnerships for marketing, strategic planning and site work through its Excellerator Competitive Communities program.
“It was decided (when the program started in 2016) that our communities needed to be able to become more competitive in the process of economic development,” Entergy Mississippi Development Manager Chris Hinton told the Mississippi Free Press.
The Excellerator Competitive Communities program has given grants to over 60 communities since its 2016 inception. To be eligible for a grant, a community must have an economic development foundation and be in Entergy Mississippi’s 45-county service area. The communities must provide matching funds for their intended projects.
“We review all the applications that come in and base decisions on which ones are the most innovative, which applications are the most detailed in terms of the scope of the project, also looking at the budget of the project and our overall budget that we have allocated for this particular program and the need in the local community or the region,” Hinton said.
Jenkins said Hinds County had not applied for the grant in a few years and needed the monetary support to boost the area’s marketing.
“Hinds County has kind of been suffering from disinvestment and many businesses leaving, so I think Entergy saw importance for the capital county to get a plan in place to keep businesses and to attract more businesses here,” Jenkins said.
The Claiborne County Economic Development District, Jefferson Davis County Economic Development District,
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