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[Kinchen] This community hungry to grow, to prosper. Every entity in this community
is willing to pitch in to make something happen.
[JW] This is an untapped resource. You have some hungry workers; young, old, all
the same—they're ready to work. We have technology, we have manufacturing,
whatever you need is right here in the Delta.
[Jon] Clarksdale, in many ways, is a dynamic community for a rural community.
People think of rural America as kind of a sleepy environment but the fact of the
matter is that both historically and cul- turally a lot has happened in Clarksdale.
[Chuck] We are strategically placed in the Mississippi Delta, where we're just right
there on the crest of the Tennessee border, but the beautiful part about it—
we allow you to feel that hometown feel and guess what? Your industry can fit
right in in our city. What we are initially interested in after attracting
PeopleShores, which was a Silicon Valley company, to come to the city of Clarksdale
we want to capitalize on that type of momentum. Clarksdale is open for business
and we're ready to do the work.
[Valmedge] What you have here is high-tech type jobs. In our area, that is
unbelievable. Right here in the Mississippi Delta, you can have high-end jobs, all
because PeopleShores is here.
[Murali] Most of the time, the main question that comes to the minds of the
executives of the tech companies is, "This workforce, can they do this kind of work?"
Having done it myself personally, [they] have proven that they have the talent that
they can do the job, and delivering work to the customers so they have proven that,
so we have taken the plunge, we came here and set them all [up], and here,
the proof is in the pudding.
[JW] Since PeopleShores has come, my focus is technology
that's advancing with the times. I'm more focused on making sure Clarksdale is better
than it was. I want to leave a mark so people understand that it's not just what
you thought it was.
[Stacia] Our look for relocation started back in 2017, and after we met Jon, I knew
that he was in it for the long haul. And Jon and his team did everything they could
to make it as easy of a process as possible. So again, whenever we came into
a roadblock, Jon handled it. Knock on doors or wherever he had to go to get us
the assistance that we needed.
[Johnny] Economic development does not stop when a company lands here,
that's really the beginning. We want to make sure that we roll out the red carpet,
and whatever it takes to make sure that they land safely, we're going to make sure
that we do all we can here in Coahoma County.
[Jimmy] It's easy to expand a business here because of the cooperation from the county
and the city, [and] of course the Industrial Authority. Anybody that wants
to come to Clarksdale should feel really at ease about it.
[Hartley] I've seen lots of good things happening in Clarksdale, and I see no
reason for it to not continue.
[Jon] Every time we have the opportunity to create a job, we have the opportunity
to break the generational cycles of poverty that exist in rural America.
We have the opportunity to change lives, not just those that exist today, but for
generations going forward. I can't think of anything that is more fulfilling and
meaningful to do.
♪ It's been a long time coming. ♪
♪ A change is gonna come. ♪♪