Delta Regional Authority – Regional Development Plan

ChallengeThe Delta Regional Authority (DRA) is a federal-state partnership serving a 252-county/parish area encompassing portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. Led by a Federal Co-Chairman and the governors of each participating state, DRA is charged with improving the standard of living for the more than 9.5 million people living in the region. Relative to the overall economic well-being of the United States, the Mississippi River Delta region continues to experience pervasive economic and social distress. While many areas of the American South have prospered in the modern economy, growth and prosperity in the Delta has remained largely uneven. Indeed, only 10 of the region’s 252 counties and parishes are not defined as economically distressed.

ApproachWith our partner on the project – Taimerica Management Company – TIP developed a plan that includes large-scale initiatives designed to address regional challenges, such as developing a healthy and productive workforce, strengthening physical infrastructure, and expanding information technology capacity and access. As part of our stakeholder input process, the TIP team traveled to all eight states in the Delta region to meet with state and local economic development officials about the project. The plan provides locally-focused tools that promote civic leadership, entrepreneurship, and quality of place. Emphasis within the plan is given to designing policies, systems, and measures that enable DRA’s programs to stimulate additional private investment.

OutcomeTIP Strategies delivered the regional development plan to the DRA in May 2008. Since then, the Authority has incorporated the plan’s investment priorities into its state grant funding program.

“Earlier this year, we finished this landmark update of our strategic plan for the region…It became clear to us that traditional economic development strategies were no longer working. Economic development programs that encourage communities to offer cheap land, buildings and labor aren’t effective in the knowledge-based economy of this century. We’ve also come to the realization that the Delta’s problems can’t be solved simply by spending more government money on the same programs. We used this opportunity to totally rethink economic and community development strategies. Congress and the president have made it clear that they want the DRA to be more than an agency that simply administers a grant program. Through the release of the comprehensive regional development plan, we’ve achieved that goal.” -Pete Johnson, DRA Federal Co-Chair-

Reference Bill Triplett, Senior Advisor to the Federal Co-Chair
Delta Regional Authority
236 Sharkey Ave, Suite 400
Clarksdale, MS 38614
662.624.8600 ext 21
btriplett@dra.gov

TIP Contact Alex Cooke
512.343.9113
alex@tipstrategies.com

Photo credit Joe Ross