On August 2, Mississippi State University won a million-dollar federal grant from the Rural Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, a program of the US Department of Agriculture. What makes this interesting? The stated goals of the project sound an awful lot like Democratic priorities. More after the jump.
From the MSU press release:
The program targets the creation and retention of more than 500 jobs, with an accompanying economic development impact of more than $30 million including private investment, and cost savings.
Seems the only way a deep-red state gets a jobs plan is when it is awarded by a Democratic administration.
--Strengthening Communities: Activities will focus on strengthening communities' strategic planning processes, enhancing leadership skills, and promoting a robust entrepreneurial environment. The program also will leverage an initiative to increase broadband penetration in rural areas.
--Expanding Clusters: Strategies to target the growth of major clusters, such as automotive, furniture and agri-business industries, will propagate opportunities for smaller companies within their respective regional clusters. Workshops and networking events conducted in accordance with community development activities will enable existing businesses and start-up companies to have a forum to explore business opportunities. Successful owners of minority and underrepresented, underserved businesses will coach participants regarding critical success factors.
--Growing Companies: Technical assistance and professional development programs will be developed and conducted to fully exploit growth opportunities among the region's critical cluster companies. Priority will be given to companies where growth and expansion have a high likelihood of expanding the local supply chain, to leverage broader business opportunities with the inclusion of small businesses and start-up companies. Assistance with planning for and acquiring new technologies and innovations also will be a priority for this thrust.
--Developing Entrepreneurs: Working directly with prospective entrepreneurs, as identified in the community development thrust, the program will accelerate the formation of new and innovative businesses, utilizing the internationally acclaimed Kaufmann Institute FastTrac program.
For a state like Mississippi to move forward, despite that it is at the forefront of backwardness, and bound and determined to continue voting against its own interests, it has to come in subtle ways like this. Mississippi Republicans constantly scream about cutting government waste and trimming federal spending, but federal spending is the only vehicle for the state to grow,
and the GOP knows it.
Unfortunately Mississippi voters will undoubtedly continue to reward the party that would destroy programs like this - which drag the state, kicking and screaming, into some semblance of relevance. In Mississippi, the divisions are too stark: white voter=Republican, black voter=Democrat. The only hope for the state Democrats is: as interconnectedness grows, and the younger generations with no memory of racial segregation come to prominence, that these divisions will soften.
To date, no Mississippi politicians have cried foul about the wasteful government spending on Mississippi jobs, even though "government can't create jobs" and entrepreneurs "didn't build that."