BY Julie Speed
Contributing Writer, Delta Business Journal

    In the last eight years, the National Association of Development Organizations has presented the South Delta Planning and Development District with more than 20 awards for innovative programs.
    "Our staff has expertise in tackling challenges by developing programs in the least costly manner," said William B. Haney, Jr., executive director of the non-profit organization in Greenville. "Many times, our staff does not simply implement a program, they wire together existing programs with new ones to make it work. They are very, very innovative in finding ways to help others."
    A major objective of South Delta Planning and Development District, which serves 35 municipalities in Bolivar, Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey, Sunflower, and Washington counties, is to improve the infrastructure to allow new industrial, commercial, and residential development.
    "It is our primary goal to provide overall improvement of living conditions for the population," said Haney. "We are responsible for the administration of around $110 million a year in various programs. Many people don't realize the extent of what we do. We handle a lot of things for which there is no money set aside. For example, we do most of the water applications for rural development of rural water systems gratis."
    On a continuing basis, the 32 district staff members provide technical assistance to municipal and county governments in determining the potential for developing fundable projects that will assist low to moderate income citizens. This ongoing assessment and prioritization of community needs allows the district to put together more competitive applications for local governments, Haney said.
    South Delta continues to act as the Area Census Data Affiliate, providing technical assistance in the six-county area. South Delta recently prepared an application for Sharkey and Issaquena Counties for funding to develop an Economic Adjustment Strategy, Haney said.
    "It seems slightly complicated, but we are not only an associate department of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which includes the Economic Development Administration (EDA), but the EDA is an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and we are an associate office of the EDA. We do applications for EDA to EDA for units of government programs."
    South Delta assisted Washington County and Mississippi Delta Community College in preparing Economic Development Administration applications.
    "We recently submitted an application for the Greenville port, a project to fund a covered loading and unloading facility in Greenville," he said. "We also applied for funds for the expansion of the port in Rosedale through EDA. We applied to EDA for $1.5 million to go toward assisting the new workforce development center in Indianola."
    In addition to a grant prepared for Delta Drug Task Force for continued activity funding, South Delta prepared applications for several municipalities for the COPS Fast program, targeted to areas with limited funds in need of additional law enforcement officers.
    "South Delta works at trying to acquire funds from different sources and pool resources to improve housing conditions in Washington, Sharkey, and Issaquena counties," he said.
    South Delta has processed EDA revolving loans totaling almost $2.5 million, Farmers Home Administration Intermediary Relending Program (FmHA IRP) loans totaling almost $1.4 million, and Minority Business Enterprise Program loans totaling more than $1.8 million.
    "One of the most important things we have is a revolving loan fund of $15.5 million where we can assist businesses in expansions or locating businesses in our area," he said. "At the current time, we're servicing about 137 business loans. It's not a primary loan program but mostly gap financing."
    South Delta contracts Meals on Wheels and transportation for the elderly through local communities. A new program under the South Delta Area Agency on Aging is the Long Term Care Alternative, which began Oct. 1.
    "It's an alternative to institutionalization," Haney said. "The program is geared to keep people who need services but do not necessarily need to be institutionalized for those services, such as Meals on Wheels. Through a case management process, we contract to provide those services with someone in that area. We try to allow them to stay at home as long as possible."
Other programs that fall under South Delta's umbrella are Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Transitional Child Care Program (TCC), Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), he said.
    "All we do is determine eligibility and then issue a certificate to the individual who qualifies," he said. "That individual can take the certificate to any child care provider they want to who can provide child care services."