Mission & Partners
Operating as a workforce development catalyst in the greater Natchez-Adams area, we strive along with our partners, to enhance the economic landscape and quality of job opportunities throughout under-served Southwest Mississippi.
Our mission is to create quality jobs with family-sustaining wages, worker protections, benefits, life-skill support, and advancement opportunities.
We are equally committed to fostering the growth of an available and trained workforce through training and development efforts to address workforce challenges and providing innovative solutions that support employers and workers, including promoting a more diverse workforce, green renewable energy best practices, American-made manufacturing, and human infrastructure services to alter generational economic and educational inequity throughout Natchez-Adams County and Southwest Mississippi.
Our Primary Partners
The City of Natchez
Mayor Dan M. Gibson, Natchez City Hall and The Natchez Board of Aldermen
Natchez City Hall houses the offices of the Mayor, as well as the Planning, City Clerk, and Inspection Departments, in addition to hosting meeting with the City’s Board of Aldermen. Call the main city hall number to reach any of the other city government offices or to find out how to obtain business and event permits, or visit their website at https://natchez.ms.us.
Adams County Board of Supervisors
The Board of Supervisors is the governing body of Adams County. One Supervisor is elected from each of the five districts in the county to serve a four-year term. The Board is responsible for adopting an annual budget, establishing the annual property tax rate, setting policies, goals and objectives to direct the county’s growth and development, and carrying out other responsibilities as set forth by Mississippi state statutes. The Board appoints the County Administrator to manage the daily operations of the county.
Natchez, Inc. Economic Development
Natchez, Inc. is a dynamic organization in the economic development of Natchez, Vidalia and Adams County. Their primary responsibilities are the recruitment, retention and expansion of business in the Natchez, Vidalia, and Adams County area. Their basic objective is to strengthen the region through economic and community development initiatives with emphasis on creating new jobs.
Delta Regional Authority
Established in 2000, Delta Regional Authority (DRA) is a formal framework for joint federal-state collaboration for the encouragement and promotion of economic development of the lower Mississippi River and Alabama Black Belt regions. DRA invests in projects that support workforce training, business development, transportation infrastructure, and basic public infrastructure.
Natchez-Adams School District
The home of the “Bulldog Nation”, the Natchez-Adams School District (NASD) is one of the largest school systems in the Miss-Lou, serving over 3,000 students in 7 schools that represent a unique blend of diverse students. NASD is divided into elementary, middle, early college, and high school learning communities, and they are one of the largest employers in the county with more that 600 workers district-wide.
Affiliate Partners
Natchez Chamber of Commerce
The mission of the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce is to be “the positive, independent, voice for business.” They serve not only as a business recruiter, promoter, and good will ambassadors of businesses in Natchez, but also as a spokesperson in local, state, and national affairs. They are one of the longest running organizations in Natchez, being founded in June of 1908.
Copiah-Lincoln Community College
A public community college with its main campus in Wesson, Mississippi, Copiah-Lincoln Community College (Co-Lin) also has two additonal campuses located in Natchez and Mendenhall.
The college provides academic college-level courses for the first two years of four-year degree programs as well as career and technical programs. Co–Lin serves a seven-county area including Adams, Copiah, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln and Simpson counties.
Alcorn State University
Alcorn State University is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. The main campus is located in Lorman, Mississippi with the School of Nursing located in Natchez and the Thad Cochran Mississippi Center for Innovation and Technology (MCITy) in Vicksburg.
Accelerate MS
The AccelerateMS Ecosystem approach is designed to develop and improve strategies that meet the unique needs of specific regions within the state. We seek to maximize proven practices delivered at local “micro” levels, while addressing “macro” concerns in an effort to meet the current and emergent needs of Mississippi’s workforce.
Natchez WIN Job Center
The Mississippi network of WIN Job Centers matches employees with prospective employers. The Natchez WIN Center is currently managed by Copiah-Lincoln Community College.
WIN Job Centers are service centers that offer programs and resources geared toward your job seeking and claim needs and are partners in the American Job Center Network.
Mississippi Economic Development Council
The Mississippi Economic Development Council, Inc. (MEDC) is a professional association of economic development, chambers and associated stakeholders who work together to advance the profession and to advance economic development efforts in Mississippi through advocacy, collaboration, education and by providing resources to its members. MEDC is the voice of the economic development profession in the state.
The Women’s Business Center at Alcorn State University
A gateway to growing your business and professional skills through continuing education, the mission of the Women’s Business Center at Alcorn is to empower women in Southwest Mississippi and adjacent parishes in Louisiana through expert training, coaching, and guidance. Though their main focus is on women in business, men will also find their services useful. As a resources partner of the U.S. Small Business Association, their training and counseling focus on assisting both those with no experience in business and those who wish to grow their career.
Central Mississippi Planning & Development District
The Central Mississippi Planning & Development District has been promoting regional excellence since 1968. Their purpose is to assist with creative regional solutions to relevant and emerging issues for our participating governments.
We connect Mississippians to good jobs and employers to the right people. That means creating new pathways to higher wages, higher skills, and higher-demand jobs.
MAGCOR
We provide realistic work experiences for sentenced, adult offenders residing within Mississippi correctional facilities. This gives offender workers the opportunities to obtain valuable skills that will lead to long term sustainability.
Southwest Mississippi Planning & Development District
The Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District (SWMPDD), headquartered in Natchez, Mississippi, is a private, non-profit organization created for the purpose of providing regional community and economic development services to a ten-county area that includes Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Lincoln, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson counties in Southwest Mississippi. The SWMPDD secures and administers grants and other funding for its member governments, provides direct assistance to individuals in areas such as financing for business start-up and expansion, and services to senior citizens.