Tommy Goodwin, Executive Director of the South Delta Planning and Development District, Inc. based in Greenville since 2016, can’t be accused of hyperbole when he makes the following statement.
“There’s not much we can’t do, or haven’t done, for the citizens of the Delta in the area we cover,” says Goodwin, a Drew native who also played basketball at Delta State University and worked in the State Auditor’s Office during his lengthy and storied career. “I’m Deltan through and through with all of the other experiences I’ve garnered in my years of service here in the region. And I’m very proud of that.”
SDPDD provides services to six counties and thirty-five municipalities, explains Goodwin. The District has undergone continual change since its inception in its quest to provide increased services to area citizens. However, the District has always considered its prime objective to be “assistance to local units of government,” says Goodwin. It continues to provide technical assistance to the counties and municipalities in various capacities.
The Community Development Department division of SDPDD is responsible for providing assistance to the District’s counties and municipalities. The department provides grant writing and administration assistance to local units of government for a variety of grant programs. In addition, the Department gives technical assistance, census data, grant research and various other types of planning assistance.
The Community Development Department is also responsible, with input from each county that it serves, for the development of the district-wide Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy every five years.
SDPDD is the designated fiscal agent for the Delta Workforce Development Area (DWDA) Board, one of four workforce areas in the state and provides the administrative and fiscal support functions associated with the implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) in the fourteen counties of the Delta WDA. Adult and Dislocated Worker WIOA services are provided primarily through the WIN Job Center system.
In addition, The HOME Investments Partnerships Program (HOME) is a federally funded, large-scale grant program designed to strengthen partnerships between public and private agencies to provide affordable housing within state and local communities in the Delta.
“We work primarily with the Homeowner Rehabilitation part of the HOME program,” says Goodwin. “The Homeowner Rehabilitation Program allows local communities to use HOME funds to improve their housing situation by renovating dilapidated housing to get the unit up to code. The programs cover the following areas: Bolivar, Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey, Sunflower and Washington Counties.”
SDPDD serves as an affiliate office of the Department of Commerce, Economic Development Association and is dedicated to the betterment of the living conditions for its member units of government and the general citizenry. As a result, South Delta offers a unique perspective on the public-private partnership needed to create economic opportunities for all citizens in the six-county area, says Goodwin.
“In order to provide such economic opportunities, we at SDPDD, in conjunction with other area economic development agencies, offer a multitude of financing alternatives for businesses and individuals in order to assist them with their goals,” says Goodwin.
The South Delta Area on Aging is the focal point for service delivery to those sixty years of age and older and falls under the auspices of SDPDD. The Area Agency on Aging is one of ten designated aging units in the state of Mississippi and is the center for elderly services funded by the federal Older Americans Act, state and supplemental funding, in the six county coverage area.
Another ways the SDPDD helps senior citizens is through the Elderly and Disabled (E&D) Medicaid Waiver program is designed to offer assistance to qualified Medicaid beneficiaries and allows qualified individuals to remain in a home or community-based setting as an alternative to nursing facility care or other institutional care.
“Our PDD is the smallest in the state out of ten, but ranks fourth in revenue,” says Goodwin. “We do a lot of contracting out with other agencies in the region, especially with our Department of Human Services programs, to help people in any number of ways. We can assist in serving meals, providing transportation, housing assistance—anything that might be needed by a particular resident. Again, there’s not much we can’t help with in order to assist people in need.”
Workforce Development is also part of SDPDD’s mission, and Mitzi Woods heads up that aspect of the organization’s work.
“Mitzi, our Workforce Director, has obtained numerous grants to help build facilities, and start other programs, in order to train and provide for workers to set them up for good paying jobs,” says Goodwin. “We also have received grants from AccelerateMS to hire and place twenty-four career coaches in twenty-five schools throughout the Delta to help the students and their parents decide on what kind of jobs they might want to do for a living.
“We have also worked with Delta State and their fine ag pilot program there which wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith,” continues Goodwin. “Plus, we’re working with Mississippi Delta Community College offering an airplane maintenance program at the Capps Center. And, we’ll also be using Governor’s Discretionary Funding for other ag pilot programs on the table.”
SDPDD can also supply business loans and was chosen as the best small loan program in the Southeast United States by the U.S. Economic Development Administration. “We’ve had fifty business loans out and have only lost three,” says Goodwin. “That’s strong and goes to show how successful our loan program has been.”
Goodwin loves the work his agency is doing and says has no plans to step away from it anytime soon.
“I’m seventy-three now and, as long as I’m healthy, I want to stay here and work with my great staff of fifty-four employees—these people know what to do and are true professionals. It’s a true pleasure to come in everyday and work alongside them to help folks who need it,” says Goodwin. “My twenty-five Board members are also top-notch individuals, include Commissioner Willie Simmons who is an at-large board member. Working with all of them, and the local Superviors on the various County Boars in our coverage area—I love my job.”