MDA team offers perspective, ideas on community assets

“O would some power the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.”
–Robert Burns

A team from the Mississippi Development Authority visited Panola County last summer and returned this week to report on their findings: an assessment of the community’s assets as analyzed by outsiders.

The value in their visit is for us to see how others see us.

A dozen or so Batesville officials and citizens were on hand to hear Joy Foy’s report on Wednesday at City Hall. The MDA team’s picks for Batesville’s three top assets? The town’s location, the reputation of South Panola Schools and its national champion football team, and Batesville’s industrial park.

Assuredly these are not ALL of the community’s assets, but it does help to have knowledgeable people come in and assess what looks best to them, then make informed suggestions for ways to make improvements.

Foy’s insightful recommendations ranged from customer service training for “front line” employees in restaurants and stores to mentoring our student athletes so they are prepared to be successful at the college level.

“There’s no standing still,” the MDA report stated. “If a community isn’t growing, it is dying.”

The community has been given the opportunity to see ourselves as others see us. We have suggestions from experts to make things better.  (MDA representatives visited groups in Sardis and Como on Thursday to report on their assets.) Will inspired citizens take the ball and run with it?

The report is available at the Panola Partnership office. The phone number is 563-3126.