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Mississippi Economic Council
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Governor Outlines Strategy
to Grow Health Care
Economy at Summit
 | | Governor Phil Bryant (center), Dr. Clay Hays, Chairman of the Mississippi Health Care Solutions Institute (left) and Bob Hess, Executive Managing Director of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Global Corporate Services at the Governor's Health Care Economic Development Summit. |
Over 700 Leaders Attended Day-Long Event
Focusing on Mississippi's Future
Mississippi is pioneering new strategies in developing its health care economy, Gov. Phil Bryant shared with more than 700 people who attended the Governor's Health Care Economic Development Summit on August 15.
As part of the health care clustering strategy Gov. Bryant outlined last year in a report detailing his vision for growing Mississippi's health care economy, the governor announced that communities around the state are developing health care zone master plans to guide health care investment and expansion at the local level. At the Summit, Gov. Bryant announced the certification of 12 communities master plans.
"The cooperation of private sector leaders and Mississippi's elected officials is producing great opportunities for this state," Gov. Bryant said. "Mississippi is unique in its approach to applying health care zones and clustering to economic development, and today I am proud to announce 12 communities have been certified through the Mississippi Development Authority as certified Health Care Zone Master Plan Communities."
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Methodist Holds Grand Opening
for $137 Million Hospital in Olive Branch
 | | Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (behind red bow) is joined by U.S. Congressman Alan Nunnelee (thrid from left), U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (fourth from right) and other officials at the ribbon cutting held at the opening celebration for Methodist Olive Branch Hospital. |
Methodist Health Care Olive Branch Hospital held its grand opening ceremony on Aug. 21. The five-story 100-bed hospital will begin taking patients on Monday, Aug. 26.
"We are so pleased to be fulfilling our promise to the people of Olive Branch and surrounding counties to bring our healthcare services closer to them," said David Baytos, chief executive officer of Methodist Olive Branch Hospital.
From design to build, Methodist Olive Branch Hospital took just 23 months. It is the first newly licensed hospital to open in the state in 25 years. Methodist Olive Branch will grow to become a full-service community hospital, offering several specialties-general and minimally invasive surgery, orthopedics, maternity, cardiology and cancer care, among others. Emergency services, lab and imaging will be available upon opening, with other services following soon after as patient volume grows.
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Mississippi Increases Graduation Rate, Test Scores Continue Improvement
More students scored proficient and advanced at every grade level on the Mississippi Curriculum Test, Second Edition (MCT2) and on the Subject Area Testing Program, Second Edition (SATP2), according to test scores released Thursday, August 22 by the Mississippi Department of Education. Districts also showed a four-year graduation rate of 75.5 percent, the highest rate since re-calculations were done in 2007, and a four-year dropout rate of 13.9 percent, a nearly 3 percent drop from 2012.
"The assessment results are the product of hard work by students and teachers across the state under more rigorous standards. While we are pleased with the overall growth in academic performance, we know that some of our schools are still struggling. We are implementing initiatives and working with districts to help students as we continue to move Mississippi to standards that will better prepare them for postsecondary education and the workforce," said Dr. Lynn House, interim state superintendent of education.
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Ambassador Palmer to Receive Geographic Visionary Award
The Mississippi Geographic Alliance will host the Geographic Visionary Luncheon to honor Ambassador John N. Palmer on Thursday, September 5. The event will be held at the Jackson Marriott in downtown Jackson. As a former Ambassador to Portugal and private sector advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Palmer's experience in connecting Mississippi with the world around us sets a standard of excellence for the MGA Geographic Visionary Award.
Ambassador Palmer not only grew a successful telecommunications company, he made the choice to keep that company in Mississippi and help connect our state to global communications. The annual MGA Geographic Visionary Award honors a Mississippi business or civic leader who recognizes the importance of global understanding and awareness for Mississippians and/or promotes understanding about Mississippi in other parts of the world.
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Speaker Philip Gunn to Host Second Mississippi Solutions-an Ideas Tour
Speaker of the House Philip Gunn will once again set out this fall to visit towns around Mississippi in an effort to create an idea-sharing, solution-inspiring forum for all Mississippians. Speaker Gunn will be making various stops around the state during the week of October 7, 2013.
Mississippi Solutions-an Ideas Tour is a non-partisan town hall style meeting for all Legislators, citizens and the press.
 "The purpose of these meetings is to get into communities and hear ideas Mississippians have for improving our State," said Speaker Gunn. "Last year, we received an overwhelmingly positive response. A variety of people from all different backgrounds attended these meetings and shared some of their biggest concerns and opinions regarding core issues most Mississippians grapple with daily.
"This year, I want to focus on how we can fix those problems," he continued. "We hope to collect a lot of good information. However, we expect those who come to these meetings to tell us how they think these problems need to be solved. Let me know how you think your elected officials should be solving the issues that matter the most to you."
Click Here for Full Schedule |
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 Now Accepting Applications for Class of 2014
Click Here to Nominate Someone for Leadership Mississippi
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MCEE to Host U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Forum on September 26
The Mississippi Council on Economic Education will host the 2013 U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Forum on American Enterprise at the Jackson Convention Complex on Thursday, Sept. 26, from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
The program honors U.S. Senator Thad Cochran and will feature a keynote address from Yoram Bauman, Ph.D. Dr. Bauman is an Environmental Economist and Carbon Tax Fellow at Sightline Institute.
The event offers five sponsorship levels. The Mississippi Council on Economic Education is an MEC member. |
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NGV Solutions Opens Mississippi's First Public CNG Fueling Station
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From left, Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee, Rep. John L. Moore, Jackson City Councilman Quentin Whitwell, Rep. Mark Baker, Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads, NGV Solutions President Forrest Berry, Governor Phil Bryant, Sen. Josh Harkins, NGV Solution VP Kent Meadows and Sen. Dean Kirby.
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With the number of openings expected to grow exponentially nationwide over the next two years, state and local officials gathered on August 14 to cut the ribbon on the state's first compressed natural gas fueling station.
In operation since January of 2012, NGV Solutions fueling facility has been serving the small but growing number of natural gas vehicles (NGV) in the metro area.
"We've lead the charge in Mississippi to bring compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles to the marketplace," said Forrest Berry, president of NGV Solutions and Laurel Fuel Company.
Recently, Waste Management and Mississippi Materials Inc. both introduced respective NGV fleets to Mississippi.
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Suppliers Opportunities Seminar
Set for August 29th
The Suppliers Opportunities Seminar will be held August 29th, 2013. The event will begin at 8:00 a.m. in the Cochran Ballroom on the MUW Campus. This seminar is designed to be of value only for businesses which provide commodities, supplies, and services to industries and disributors. There is no cost to attend the event but please RSVP by email or phone.
Mississippi University for Women is an MEC member.
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AirGuide Celebrates Opening in Clarksdale
Gov. Phil Bryant, officials from AirGuide and local officials gathered Aug. 16, to celebrate the grand opening of the company's manufacturing operations in Clarksdale. The governor and company officials announced last August AirGuide's plans to locate in Clarksdale.
The new facility will create 40 full-time jobs with a company investment of $720,000.
"The grand opening today of AirGuide is great news for Clarksdale and the Mississippi Delta as our state continues to grow its manufacturing sector," Gov. Bryant said. "The opening of this facility and the jobs being created here will have a positive effect on the local community and economy for years to come. I wish the AirGuide team many years of success in Mississippi."
AirGuide manufactures parts for the HVAC industry and energy efficient lighting products. Last August, the company announced the consolidation of their operations in Mexico and Houston, Tex., into the Clarksdale facility.
AirGuide is an MEC member.
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Camgian Microsystems Increases Employee Base by 47%
Camgian Microsystems has increased its employee base by 47 percent creating new, high-tech jobs in Mississippi. This increase is due to a growth in the development of new programs and products.
Since January 2013, Camgian has added electrical engineers, computer scientists and marketing personnel in order to meet new project demands. With the majority of these new hires being recent Mississippi State University graduates and alumni, Camgian is enhancing the quality of job opportunities in Starkville for MSU students and graduates.
"Camgian is adding new, high paying jobs to the Thad Cochran Research Park which benefits both the University and the Starkville community", says Marc McGee, director of the MSU Research and Technology Corporation, the entity that manages the park.
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Improvement in Educational Results are No Accident
Greetings!
Incremental progress day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year results in exponential progress over time.
That truism is being further proved by the results of our Mississippi students -- and their teachers -- in improving test scores, released this week by the Mississippi Department of Education.
It shows that tougher standards adopted in 2007 -- recommended by Blueprint Mississippi and pushed aggressively by MEC -- are getting results and that our students are able to rise to the occasion.
"These scores demonstrate that our students will respond to academic challenges. Teachers are becoming better trained to help students achieve higher performance as we implement more rigor in the classroom," said James Mason, director of student assessment for the Mississippi Department of Education.
Right on!
News of these results comes at a good time, as some in Mississippi are focusing attacks on national efforts for Common Core Standards, and urging Mississippi not to adopt them. Across the nation some are referring to these standards as "Obama-core," when, in-fact, these standards are the outgrowth of years of work of a public-private partnership formed by the nation's Governors - Republicans and Democrats alike -- and top business leaders in 1996 to improve educational achievement and appropriately titled Achieve.
Common Core will give Mississippians a chance to prove in common comparison results with other states that our students can and do achieve, but if we do not move forward with our planned adoption of these standards, we will be out of step. It will become a challenge for economic development, because it is a tool that multi-state companies looking for new locations are eager to have as a tool for evaluating a state.
If we become one of the odd states out by not adopting Common Core -- with our own standards that don't compare -- we will run the risk of not being able to compete for the better skilled jobs and higher paying jobs which are already coming to Mississippi -- Nissan, Toyota, GE, PACCAR, Severstal and continued growth at Ingalls Shipbuilding, just to name a few.
In just a little over a decade, Mississippi's Gross Domestic Product has grown 15% faster than the rate of inflation.
During the same period, we have continued to achieve results in encouraging students to take a more rigorous course of study through MEC's Mississippi Scholars Program, run by our Public Education Forum of MS affiliate. Nine years ago, 24 Mississippi Scholars were recognized...and now over the length of the program, a total of 23,100 high school students have achieved this recognition of taking a more rigorous course of study -- which, by the way, also prepares them to be better-prepared for careers in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- related fields, a key goal of Blueprint Mississippi.
This comes from aiming higher, reaching higher and facing a more rigorous and challenging curriculum -- and as a result, Mississippi's overall educational performance moves up, as well.
It takes a long-term commitment -- and it takes time. By being demanding customers of our educational system...yet patient and supportive leaders in allowing results to be achieved over time, we can and will continue to make a meaningful difference for the future of our children.
 Keep the faith.
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ABOUT US
The Mississippi Economic Council has been the voice of Mississippi business since 1949. MEC deals with broad issues that relate to businesses through advocacy, research, resources and leadership. MEC has 8,600 members from 1,100 member firms in 2,400 locations throughout Mississippi. |
Mississippi Economic Council - The State Chamber of Commerce
248 E. Capitol Street, Suite 940 - Jackson, Mississippi 39201
P.O. Box 23276 - Jackson, Mississippi 39225-3276
Phone: 601-969-0022 - 1-800-748-7626
Fax: 601-353-0247 - 1-888-717-2809
Click Here for MEC Web Site
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