Economic Development
The Counties of North DELTA Mississippi
Introduction
North Delta Planning and Development District, Inc. (NDPDD) is one of the ten planning districts in the state of Mississippi. The district is composed of seven counties and thirty municipalities in the northwest region of the state. The landscape of the region is rural with limited resources available to the citizens living in the area.
The district highway system includes Interstate 69 and Interstate 55, U.S. Highway 61 and Mississippi State Highway 6 as major transportation corridors for the area.
Northwest Mississippi offers several attributes for people living, visiting and doing business in the region. The area is known for agriculture, casino gaming, the blues, Southern cuisine, and the mighty Mississippi River. The land provides numerous recreational activities that range from fishing to hunting. The business sector has proximity to major markets and an abundant labor force. The transportation infrastructure and available industry sites supply industries with numerous resources.
We invite you to explore our region’s data using the pull-downs and interactive tools below. Please hover your mouse over the legend and the map to see the values of the data you’re analyzing.
Historical summary
In 1969, the local governments of the region helped establish the PDD to serve seven counties and thirty municipalities in Northwest Mississippi. The founding principles of the Planning and Development District were to provide the local units of government with regional planning, local technical assistance and coordination, and review of applications for federally sponsored programs for this area.
During the administrative years of Governor John Bell Williams, the PDDs were supported by the Office of Federal State Programs. This support helped assist the District and the local government entities with federal grant incentives, especially in the area of economic development. To further the efforts of the economic development hubs, Executive Order 81 was issued to select the Planning and Development Districts into sub regions out of the 82 counties in the State of Mississippi. Additionally, the order made the Planning and Development Districts the agencies that would receive Office of Management and Budget Circular A-95 notifications; this action helped insure federal funding was in accordance with local plans, and the state would not be producing duplication. Today, the Planning and Development Districts still uphold the same principles and standards. We are governed under Federal Executive Order 12371.
Tallatchie County – Charleston Courthouse
The ten Planning and Development Districts operate independently, and each regional district is governed by a Board of Directors composed of local government officials and activist in the community. The day to day operations are managed by an Executive Director and staff working in areas ranging from clerical and administrative, Medicaid Waiver, Economic Development, Small Business Loans, and the Area Agency on Aging.