- Grant Services:
This office seeks, secures, and
administers federal, state, and foundation
grants for local units of government.
The SWMPDD employs professional grant writers to secure funding for
member units of goverment in the area
of public facilities, economic development,
housing, recreation, waste
disposal and others.
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- Economic Development:
The SWMPDD utilized its revolving
loan fund in achieving the goal of
assisting in the creation and expansion
of small businesses. The Mississippi
Small Business Assistance Program,
Minority Business Enterprise Loan
Program, Economic Development Administration
Revolving Loan Fund, and
the Intermediary Relending Program
provide a sound basis for accomplishing
this goal. These programs also enhance
participation by private investors and
traditional lending institutions. Furthermore,
this office administers current
Community Development Block Grant
Program projects which either provide
for the infrastructure necessary for
economic recovery, or the necessary
direct assistance.
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- SWMPDD Area Agency on Aging:
This office continually accesses new
funding sources to expand services to
senior citizens. The SWMPDD will
continue to develop alternatives with
which to face the challenges in the
future of providing more services to a
growing population so that these individuals live as independently as
possible. The SWMPDD will continue to
provide services to senior citizens in the
areas of nutrition, homemakers, ombudsman,
case management and service
coordination, transportation, legal assistance,
senior discounts, adult day
care, and senior center activities. Also,
the office has increased its efforts in the
area of adult abuse identification and
prevention, educational opportunities
and employment opportunities. Recently,
the office has dramatically
increased its role in the Medicaid Waiver
Program.
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- Child Care Management Agency:
SWMPDD serves as the Designated
Agent for child care services administered
by the Office for Children and Youth.
These programs include Child Care and
Development Block Grant, Transitional
Child Care, and Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families Child Care. These child
care services assist the parents in
obtaining and maintaining employment
and continuing education and job
training activities. Also, the program is
designed to enhance the capability of
child care providers to provide improved
child care and educational programs.
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- Housing:
The lack of affordable housing has
been made worse by the narrow and
undiversified economic basis of this
area. Currently, this office is planning
means of assisting in the elimination of
these conditions with the assistance of
funds from the Department of Housing
and Urban Development ’s Special Needs
Assistance Program, the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Dallas, the Community
Development Block Grant Program, and
through the Home Investment Partnership
Program.
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- Technical Assistance:
The office has continued to upgrade
its capabilities in light of the complexity
that the next decade promises in
economic development in southwest
Mississippi. Staff members attend
professional workshops and return to
produce summaries of the information
obtained to add to the office library.
Staff also maintain contacts with
various local, state, and federal
agencies in order to more quickly and
accurately secure required information
from access points on a periodic basis to
keep current the socio-economic data needed for analysis, proposals, and
general information. SWMPDD also
tracks particular subjects, such as
legislation, solid waste management
development, local government reorganization,
grants management, loan
program administration, housing, and
tourism to balance the generalists ’
approach with requisite specificity.
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- Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Regional Planning:
The SWMPDD Local Planning Council
works with the Mississippi Development
Authority's Employment Training Division
to determine the most productive
training programs to enable economically
disadvantaged or dislocated
workers to become gainfully employed in
the private sector. SWMPDD ’s goal of
economic development in the broadest
sense is thus enhanced with the
creation of a more motivated and
trained workforce. The WIA program is
coordinated with the other economic
development and training programs in
our office, including child care programs,
senior employment programs,
and is guided by the needs of those
employers who must hire the participants
for the program to be successful.
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- The SWMPDD Connection:
The Planning and Development
District functions in a liaison role every
day in one sense or another. It is the
link between government and business,
between different levels of government,
between business entities and the
sources which may improve the
economic environment, and between
individuals who may benefit from
networking with each other. This
function is not to be underestimated in
importance, for without the SWMPDD in
place for this purpose, no other agency
exists to bring together the right people
at the right time. The SWMPDD strives to
provide services on a regional basis more
efficiently than individual units of
governments could provide separately.
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- SWMPDD Clearinghouse Function:
As required by Executive Order
12375, this office performs the regional
clearinghouse function pertaining to
government projects. The purpose of
the function is to ensure the nonduplication
of grant applications and to
ensure compliance with the SWMPDD's
Comprehensive Economic Development
Strategy (CEDS).
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