BY LaNette Mize
Contributing Writer

  A small community may have the same potential in technological or industrial growth as that of a larger community but may not have the same advantages of being noticed by big businesses or corporations that are looking for places to expand, simply because of its lack of exposure.
  The Mississippi Resource Center gives these small communities as well as large communities the opportunity to compete for the expanding or moving businesses.
  "The Mississippi Resource Center is an organization that is a combination of private and public funding that enables every community in Mississippi regardless of how small or large to make a first class presentation of their strengths and capabilities to industrial prospects," Jim Moore, executive director of the Mississippi Resource Center said.
  "It used to be that communities that had more resources could do a better job of presenting themselves in a real favorable light and communities that had fewer resources couldn't."
  In response to that need, the center was formed in 1993 with major funding from the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development,  and from the private sector which included all the major utilities and banks.
  "We have a very high-tech interactive multi-media display of data which shows a business the best place to put his or her business according to the business's specifications," he said. "In other words they tell us what they want and we find a place that matches their description."
  The individual or business representative that chooses to use the resource center is first brought to a theater where they are welcomed by the governor, or if the governor is out of town a recording of the governor's welcome in six different languages.
"It's a very little thing but it is very much appreciated by the company to hear the greeting in their native tongue," Moore said. "We would move on and give them an overview of the state of Mississippi, its infrastructures, highways, waterways, airports, railways, etc....."
  Moore said that the businesses would then give the center their requirements for the placement of their business and the requirements would be entered into a computer database. All the locations that matched the requirements would come up for the business to see.
  "The technology that we use can find a building matching the square footage the business needs, in the area the business wishes to be located," he said. "We can get the labor situation in the particular area that the business has chosen, the latest demographics there, education, whether or not the location has an industrial park sufficient to the businesses needs."
Moore said that the system is being constantly updated so the information is current for any potential businesses.
  "Instead of having to thumb and sort through inch thick manuals and search for the answers that the businesses need they just ask us the questions and we find the answers," he said. "Also when the businesses leave they are presented with a bound manual of everything that they had seen on the screen."
  Moore said that the center has presented the state of Mississippi in a positive light as a high-tech state which has helped to diversify the business coming into the state.
  "People are pleasantly surprised when they see that we have cutting edge technology for displaying this information," he said. "Our role in economic development is very narrowly defined as the presenter of data."
Moore said that the local community has to prepare itself for development and all the center does is present that information to businesses.
  "It is teamwork between the communities and the center that get the job done," he said.