Southwest Mississippi Planning & Development District
SOUTHWEST MISSISSIPPI PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
100 South Wall Street
Natchez, MS 39120
Phone (601) 446-6044
Fax (601) 446-6071


SERVICES
  • Small Business Assistance:
    The SWMPDD utilized its revolving loan fund in achieving the goal of assisting in the creation and expansion of small businesses. The Mississippi Small Business Assistance Program, Minority Business Enterprise Loan Program, Economic Development Administration Revolving Loan Fund, and the Intermediary Relending Program provide a sound basis for accomplishing this goal.
  • Elderly and Disabled Medicaid Waiver Program:
    The Elderly and Disabled Medicaid Waiver Program is a Long Term Care Program which offers services in the home of clients in order to prevent or delay institutional placement.

    Services offered include:
    • Case Management;
    • Home Delivered Meals;
    • Homemaker Services;
    • In Home Respite;
    • Expanded Home Health (including Home Health Aide Services);
    • Adult Day Care;
    • Institutional Respite Care;
    • Escorted Transportation;
    • Transitional Assistance.

    Click here for more information
  • Area Agency on Aging:
    This office continually accesses new funding sources to expand services to senior citizens. The SWMPDD will continue to develop alternatives with which to face the challenges in the future of providing more services to a growing population so that these individuals live as independently as possible. The SWMPDD will continue to provide services to senior citizens in the areas of nutrition, homemakers, ombudsman, case management and service coordination, transportation, legal assistance, senior discounts, adult day care, and senior center activities. Also, the office has increased its efforts in the area of adult abuse identification and prevention, educational opportunities and employment opportunities.

    For information about contacting us, click here.
    For information about aging resources in our district, click here.
    To search the Mississippi Get Help Aging and Disability Resource Center, click here.
  • Housing:
    The lack of affordable housing has been made worse by the narrow and undiversified economic basis of this area. Currently, this office is planning means of assisting in the elimination of these conditions with the assistance of funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development ’s Special Needs Assistance Program, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, the Community Development Block Grant Program, and through the Home Investment Partnership Program.
  • Technical Assistance:
    The office has continued to upgrade its capabilities in light of the complexity that the next decade promises in economic development in southwest Mississippi. Staff members attend professional workshops and return to produce summaries of the information obtained to add to the office library. Staff also maintain contacts with various local, state, and federal agencies in order to more quickly and accurately secure required information from access points on a periodic basis to keep current the socio-economic data needed for analysis, proposals, and general information. SWMPDD also tracks particular subjects, such as legislation, solid waste management development, local government reorganization, grants management, loan program administration, housing, and tourism to balance the generalists ’ approach with requisite specificity.
  • Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Regional Planning:
    The SWMPDD Workforce Investment Board works with the Mississippi Development Authority's Employment Training Division to determine the most productive training programs to enable economically disadvantaged or dislocated workers to become gainfully employed in the private sector. SWMPDD ’s goal of economic development in the broadest sense is thus enhanced with the creation of a more motivated and trained workforce. The WIA program is coordinated with the other economic development and training programs in our office, including child care programs, senior employment programs, and is guided by the needs of those employers who must hire the participants for the program to be successful.
  • The SWMPDD Connection:
    The Planning and Development District functions in a liaison role every day in one sense or another. It is the link between government and business, between different levels of government, between business entities and the sources which may improve the economic environment, and between individuals who may benefit from networking with each other. This function is not to be underestimated in importance, for without the SWMPDD in place for this purpose, no other agency exists to bring together the right people at the right time. The SWMPDD strives to provide services on a regional basis more efficiently than individual units of governments could provide separately.
  • SWMPDD Clearinghouse Function:
    As required by Executive Order 12372, this office performs the regional clearinghouse function pertaining to government projects. The purpose of the function is to ensure the nonduplication of grant applications and to ensure compliance with the SWMPDD's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS).