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Index Page
About the Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative
A Strategy for Building Communities
Counties of the Lower Mississipi Delta
| The Delta Compact: A Regional Partnership Agreement to Create a Strategy for Comprehensive Community Development in the Lower Mississippi Delta | |
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This agreement will set up a collaborative effort to devise comprehensive community development solutions to the problems arising from the persistent poverty, sluggish economy, and legacy of racial segregation in the Lower Mississippi Delta region. This partnership will be directed by local leadership from the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and will engage the participation of a broad range of public and private stakeholders. BACKGROUND In its guidance on the 1996 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a commitment to pursuing special initiatives, based upon partnerships and collaborations, to address the persistent poverty found in the Mississippi Delta. Driven by the goal of creating a holistic program for addressing the Delta region's economic, social, and housing needs, USDA launched a Lower Mississippi Delta initiative in late 1995. The Department of Agriculture entered into a cooperative agreement with the Housing Assistance Council (HAC) to facilitate the development of a comprehensive community development strategy for the Delta.The "Building Communities in the Lower Mississippi Delta" initiative began with a clear mandate against duplicating existing efforts or conducting another study on the Delta. Instead, the initiative was directed at building upon existing plans and community development efforts to establish a framework for identifying and promoting successful Delta projects, strengthening the capacity of nonprofit organizations to undertake community-based development work in the region, and leveraging necessary capital to facilitate a potential long-term regional collaborative effort in the Delta. HAC facilitated the development of this initiative through a consultative process, involving representatives of local, regional, state and national entities, including the government, community-based development groups, philanthropic organizations, and the private sector. Through participation in this initiative, a collaborative of Delta stakeholders has successfully synthesized recommendations for continued development in the region. These recommendations represent a consensus of priorities established by all participants in this initiative and focus on bringing together the combined efforts of a network of partners committed to improving conditions in the Delta. PARTIES This is an agreement among all participants in the Delta initiative. It is expected that as this partnership progresses, it will create a ripple effect, drawing increasing numbers of partners into an ongoing, comprehensive, collaborative initiative in the Delta. PURPOSE The purpose of this partnership agreement, known as the Delta Compact, is to encourage key stakeholders in the Delta to adopt development strategies for the Delta, and to redirect their efforts in the region as appropriate to better address the region's needs collaboratively. The strategy for the Delta, developed jointly by all the participants in the Delta consultations convened by the Housing Assistance Council with support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents a set of action recommendations that identify immediate opportunities for achieving key objectives in the region. These recommendations are grouped under two major categories: I. Initiating structural change in the Delta The Delta's legacy of racial segregation was cited repeatedly by participants in the Delta consultations as a major challenge to development. Disparity in access to assistance due to obstacles related to race and "age-old power structures" stymies attempts by local groups to address the needs of Delta residents. A strategy to overcome these difficulties is the first step in addressing entrenched inequities. Recommendations are directed at shaping/encouraging policy and program decisions to approach the Delta as a unified regional area and developing the capacity of local organizations. This will enable Delta residents to express their concerns with a unified voice, impact decisions related to the Delta in national policy discourse, and inform the way resources are allocated within the region. Recommendations are grouped under the following priorities:
Persistent poverty, and uneven distribution and underutilization of available resources restrict the ability of distressed rural Delta communities to create positive change in the region. Systematic disinvestment and lack of new resource delivery to the Delta were cited by stakeholders as major obstacles. Effectively targeting and leveraging of additional resources to the Delta would accelerate local community development efforts. Public and private investment is required. Partnerships and collaborations among religious, philanthropic, government and corporate interests are also required. Recommendations are designed to improve the delivery of federal resources for the Delta and to create special lending and credit enhancement mechanisms. They are grouped under the following priorities:
Download the Delta Compact in Adobe PDF.
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