Coordinated push revives downtown Carthage, officials say

A coordinated effort by the Leake County Board of Supervisors, the Mississippi State University Extension Service and local leaders has led to rapid revitalization of downtown Carthage, bringing new businesses, jobs and improved emergency services, officials said.

“The supervisors started the ball rolling,” said Dr. Rachael Carter, an economist and community development specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service Center for Government and Community Development. Carter said Carthage, a Mississippi Main Street community of about 5,000 people in a county of about 22,000, had many empty storefronts and few employment opportunities in 2020.

At the request of the Mississippi Development Authority, Extension helped gather data and guide a six-month planning process through the statewide Wake Up Downtown program, Carter said. Stakeholders completed a community survey, a retail trade study and market analysis to shape attainable action steps, she said.

Officials also addressed a poor fire rating that limited development. Tommy Malone, Leake County fire coordinator and Emergency Management Authority director, said legislative funding bought five new fire trucks and two used units, and that county leaders worked to staff them. Leake County has nine paid firefighters and about 180 volunteers, Malone said. He described a joint program that recruits, screens and trains nonviolent offenders and short-term inmates at Leake County Corrections to support local fire units under law enforcement supervision.

Aaron Akers, director of economic and community development for the Central Electric Power Association and acting director of the Leake County Development Association, credited Carter’s strategic planning and said private and public investment has followed. He cited a facelift to the Carthage Coliseum, renovation of a motel into a wayside inn and a burst of diners and boutiques. “With new small businesses, there has been growth in employment and the tax base,” Akers said. The original story was published in partnership with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, according to the report.

Source: Original Article