Gov. William Winter

  One of the most significant but not highly publicized initiatives in the Delta region over the last ten years has been the work of the Foundation for the Mid South.  Launched in 1990 by a small group of business and civic leaders from Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, the Foundation has succeeded in bringing substantial additional philanthropic dollars to the three states.
  It was begun with contributions in the aggregate amount of $3 million from individuals and corporation in those states, and in the decade since then it has succeeded in leveraging an additional $33 million in grants primarily from outside the region.  The Foundation has also been responsible for another $20 million in funding for separate programs in the region.  It is fair to say that in ten years this organization has been the reason that some $50 million has come to our three states in the form of philanthropic gifts that we would not otherwise have gotten.
  The work of the Foundation cuts across three major areas - education, economic development and families and children.  Educational efforts have centered around the creation of the Workforce Alliance to help develop a competitive workforce.  The communities which have been selected to participate in this initiative have received planning and implementation grants
of $425 thousand each to carry out workforce training and job development activities.  The result has been the visibly enhanced readiness for the workplace of many people in all of the Workforce Alliance communities.
  More recently and really just now getting underway is the Mid South Middle Start program. Tracking a successful national model, this undertaking includes some 288 schools.  The Foundation for the Mid South has been selected by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan to oversee the process of raising the performance level of children in the middle grades.
  On the economic development front the Foundation organized and successfully launched the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta to make available venture capital and management assistance to new and expanding small business enterprises in the Mid South.  This corporation now has approximately $50 million in assets and has been spun off as a free-standing operation.  It has provided a source of badly-needed capital to numerous fledgling enterprises in the Delta region of the three states.
  The third thrust of the Foundation’s work, assistance to families and children, also involves education but it is much more than that.  With a commitment to the strengthening of the values that keep families together and with a dedication to helping eliminate the barriers that cause families to disintegrate, the Foundation works in collaboration with churches and community-based organizations to address health and nutrition needs, substance abuse, domestic violence, and the myriad other elements that affect the family environment.
  I have observed first-hand the results of these efforts.  In a recent tour of several communities across the region that I took with George Penick, president of FMS, and Wayne Leonard, CEO of Entergy Corporation, a major supporter of the Foundation, I saw many encouraging signs that a better day is dawning for a lot of people who, through no fault of
their own, have gotten left behind.
  There is obviously much more that has to be done to raise the hopes and fulfill the dreams of many of our poorer neighbors.  But because the Foundation for the Mid South is resolutely working to solve some of the worst problems, the outlook for the future is brighter for many of them.  This is important not just for the people who need our help but it is also important to all of us that we are creating productive self-sustaining citizens and stable communities.

(William Winter is an attorney in the firm of Watkins Ludlam Winter & Stennis in Jackson.)