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Memo from President Duane O'Neill

LEADERSHIP BRINGS HOME THE BACON

The legislative process is a beautiful and equitable system.  Or, the political process is ugly and unjust.  Whichever of the two previous statements fits your personal opinion is usually directly related to how influential your elected officials are in the appropriate decision making body.  Therefore, when Mississippians and especially MetroJackson citizens review the recent Federal Transportation legislation, we can agree that the “system” is wonderful.  The number of line-item-appropriated projects for our area was incredible with nearly ninety-five cents of our dollars sent to Washington, D.C., coming back to us in some fashion.  These line-item-identified projects alone total nearly five hundred million dollars for Mississippi.

Some of the projects we were especially thankful to see included were; nearly nine million dollars for the Airport Parkway/Pearl River Bridge, twenty-six plus million for US Highway 49 from south of Florence to I-20, six million for Old Fannin Road, and ten million for an intermodal connector linking I-20 to Highway 49 (which is part of the Chamber priority project of Rail-Relocation).  There was also five million  for the Byram-Clinton/Norell Corridor, which connects the Norrell Road Interchange on I-20 to the Byram-Clinton Multimodal Corridor on I-55, and ten million for the Lake Harbor Extension in Ridgeland.  As we have discussed in the past, transportation is an essential key to economic development.  Therefore the result of this bill passing was extremely beneficial for our area.

Many entities and individuals locally and in D.C. helped identify and lobby for the projects in the long anticipated legislation.  Nevertheless, it once again comes down to the clout of our senators and representatives that makes a difference.  Congressmen Pickering and Thompson fought hard for their districts and were of great assistance.

However, in the end Senator Cochran and Senator Lott used their tremendous influence to bring these dollars to Mississippi.  Many other states are envious of our situation.  It is important not to take this occasion for granted.  Take time to say thanks to our Washington delegation today.  Let’s make sure they understand that we appreciate them and support them.

Shirley Tucker, Executive Director

CHAMBER INVESTS IN ITS FUTURE

 LEADERSHIP

It has been fifteen years and the MetroJackson Chamber still nurtures and develops young leaders of the metro area schools.  It has become a tradition of the Chamber to scan the community for students that possess strong leadership capabilities and a burning desire to make their community a better place to live.   

Youth Leadership Jackson is a result of some graduates of the award winning Leadership Jackson program who felt a similar program would be beneficial to the youth in the area and to the community as a whole.

Modeled after the nearly twenty-year old Leadership Jackson program, Youth Leadership Jackson is a community-wide leadership program for high school sophomores and juniors and is designed to expose young leaders to the various elements that combine to form a strong and dynamic metropolitan area.  

Youth Leadership Jackson has focused on bringing students from different ethnic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds together for one common goal----to make metro Jackson a better place for all.  This distinct opportunity will acquaint youth with community need, opportunity, problems and resources, and allow interaction with current community leaders and decision makers.  

In early spring of this year, we were proud to culminate another great year with forty students representing Hinds, Madison, and Rankin Counties.

The Youth Leadership Jackson recruiting period begins in late August. If you would like more information about the program, check with your local school officials or you may contact Shirley Tucker @ 601- 948-7575 ext. 270.