Community Assessment
1. The community has two key areas that link it to the global economy – farming and catfish which account for over 80 million in revenues for the county of Yazoo. The cotton alone had over 30 million and catfish had a little over 15 million in 2003. The city has been recently growing in population but this is due to the building of two Federal prisons in the area. The area of farming is changing though and it is costing more to maintain a farm along with several new factors like the growth of soybeans. There is not much trade potential outside the area of farming with very little business in the area directed toward meeting a wider market than Yazoo.
2. Yazoo is the ‘Gateway to the Delta’ and has a strategic location at the edge of the delta area and close to Jackson. It was built because of its proximity to the river and the ease of transportation to the Mississippi river. Because of its location it was more of a crossroads than a place of natural resources. It has catfish farms and over 590,000 acres of farmland.
3. The 2000 Census had 28,149 people in Yazoo City with a median age of 34. The ethnic breakdown was fairly balanced with 12,593 whites, 15,189 African-Americans and 1,233 Hispanics. The age breakdown was fairly even with 0 to 14 years old having the most at 6,618 and the ages of 55 to 64 as the lowest with 2,235. The average household income was $24,795. The percentage of families below poverty was 25.4% and the percentage of people below poverty was 31.9%. The number of males was 14,321 or 50.8% and the number of females was 13,828 or 49.2%. The 2000 Census shows the first growth of population since 1950 when the chemical plant was first established at Yazoo.
4. The major source of jobs for Yazoo County is the public schools with nearly 800 employed between the city and county school system. The next largest is the prison with 405 jobs and growing with another prison being opened to full capacity in the next five years. Agriculture is another major source of economic employment with Terra Industries having 204 jobs and the catfish industry supplying over another 250 jobs. While the agriculture remains steady and the prison is growing, no new industries are moving to the area. The rate of unemployment is growing over the past two years. In 2003 the rate of unemployment was 9.8 and it went down in 2004 to 7.4 but it went up again to 9.9 in 2005. These trends can be attributed to fact that the prison is not hiring locals but importing many of the higher positions. The local applicants do not qualify for the positions due to lack of schooling or failure at school.
5. The community has a solid infrastructure of roads and bridges due to a Nissan plant moving into the area and its need for better transportation. Many bridges off highway 49 around Yazoo were built or rebuilt within the last ten years. It has a water and sewage system for the city municipal area. The only international airport of Mississippi in Jackson is a little over an hour away from Yazoo. The downtown area of Yazoo has buildings that at one time were magnificent but over the years have lacked the necessary upkeep. With a program called the Model City, a plan to restore many buildings and the downtown area is underway. The Model City should help to beautify the downtown area and give money to help restore some buildings but there will need to be a larger effort to restore the older buildings. I currently live in one older building in the downtown which has been maintained over the years. Next door to this building is an old hotel which is almost falling apart from the inside out.
6. The community has several resources which draw recreation and cultural significance. There is a former branch of the Yazoo River people refer to as the oxbow which is similar to a long lake. This attracts people to do waterskiing and boating. There is a privately owned Petrified Forest attraction about twenty miles from Yazoo City which has such features as large assortment of petrified objects, picnicking areas, walking trails, and a kangaroo. Yazoo City also has several famous or infamous celebrities throughout the years. Willie Morris put Yazoo City on the map with several books of cultural significance and eventually a movie based on one book.
7. The power structure to the City of Yazoo and the county is divided up between several individuals and organizations. After discussing the power structure with several key people, it appears the community is divided and likewise the power structure. Several individuals are key influential people but at times they either do not coincide on key issues that need changed or they neglect to deal with them. The basic governmental structure is split between the city and the county with a separate school system for each. The mayor and the Board of Aldermen hold a small influence within the city system and the County Supervisors have the rest of the county. There is a basic division which follows the school systems – the city schools, the county schools and the local white academy. The support grows along the lines of either the county school system or the city school system. The county school system is considered the white alternative to the private academy with a more evenly racially mixed school system. The city is struggling to support the city schools because most of the wealth has either moved out to the county system or is dedicated to the private academy.
8. The local government is split into two factions – the city and county. The mayor and Board of Alderman govern the city while the Board of Supervisors govern the county region with some crossover into the affairs of the city. The county is divided into five districts called beats with a representative for each on the Board of Supervisors. The city is divided into four wards each with an alderman as a representative. It was interesting to note that the mayor’s brother is the supervisor over the Yazoo City beat. When I spoke with the mayor, he mentioned that the Board of Supervisors and Board of Aldermen were only part time jobs with the mayor’s position as the only full time paid position on either board.
9. There is an enormous amount of history to Yazoo from a hundred years ago which still shapes its current condition today. Yazoo City was built for the use of river navigation to ship and trade. Yazoo City is also strategically placed on the edge of the delta as a boundary between the delta area and Jackson. When the delta was big in the plantation era, Yazoo City was known as a little brother to the rest of the delta. When the plantations began to close, Yazoo had a large company, Mississippi Chemical, to come and supply the area with a large number of high paying jobs and professional atmosphere. The company had the effect of keeping the city from losing it economic base unlike what happened to many delta towns when the plantations changed. Mississippi Chemical kept Yazoo healthy until the 1990’s when it began to suffer severe cutbacks and an eventual closing in the latter part of the 90’s. This factor, along with the location of Yazoo not far from Jackson, has kept it from falling into worse economic depression over the years but is not sustaining it. Going into the 21st century, the area has potential but the fact that it keeps itself divided will remain its single greatest weakness and eventual downfall. It still has the location to remain significant but it is not regaining its attractive qualities once held many years ago when the community schools stood less divided.
10. When interviewing and talking with many people, the most common theme was either to avoid the topic completely of racial tension or address it directly as a work in progress. When I spoke with the superintendent, it was as if there was no such thing in the community but rather a brief history of it. She spoke more about the idea of parental involvement and the lack of jobs as the overall deterrent to progress. While others mentioned jobs and the community involvement as deterrents, they spoke more directly to the point of a divided community whether along the lines of city versus county or private versus the public school system. What amazed me was how the schools become a focal point of either division or unity. Yazoo was not always as it is now. I was told the city school was the best in the area and a lot of pride existed in the school system from both white and black households. The student population was also more evenly mixed racially, but over the years the white population has dwindled to less than ten out of a school system of over fifteen hundred. The most serious barriers are the inability of the community to come together to embrace what realities have landed and fix them. Also, a more serious problem of drugs was introduced into the town several decades ago and the results are still heavily embedded today. While most people overlook the problem or dismiss it entirely, I spoke with two gentlemen of repute for once being addicts and recovering. They both agreed the drug problem is serious and not being dealt with in the somber and realistic attitude it deserves.
11. The values of the community are most noticeable in the number of churches and the wide attendance to the church. Both in school and in public forums, the Christian ‘ambience’ permeates the atmosphere with prayers, petitions to God and reading of scripture. It is an everyday value system built right from the foundations of the city. The values of family also run very high as most people in Yazoo are natives and many who leave come back at some point. There is even a Yazoo day held where people come from New York City and Detroit and one or two other major cities back to Yazoo to celebrate their heritage. The factor of family is the number one mentioned value that came from all the interviews. These two values do not appear to be changing in the future, however, I feel that the Christian values are somewhat a front at times because there is also a culture of allowing the youth to do as they please on football nights – drinking and doing other things contrary to what they preach on Sunday. The values of tradition in many cases seem to trump both family and church ties. It is these traditions which sometime land people in the precarious position of not changing.
12. The community is unique in its location and landscape. It is called the ‘Gateway to the Delta’ and for good reason; in the center of the city lies a large hill that signifies the end of the flat delta land and the beginning of the rolling hills. Its location to Jackson and a major gate to the delta make it a place of travel commerce although the Interstate has taken much of the traffic away from it. There is also a relatively unique atmosphere to Yazoo from the people and history it spouts. Willie Morris and his books have put national recognition on Yazoo as the background for his stories. There were also a few people born in Yazoo who have gone on to fame or infamous deeds.
13. There are several public school systems in the area. The Yazoo City and Yazoo County schools are both K – 12 systems separate from each other. There are also the private white academies of Manchester and Benton. A private Christian elementary school in the city offers from K – 12 for both whites and blacks. As for colleges or post-secondary schools, the area has Holmes Community College, Mississippi State University Extension, Delta State University, Bellhaven College, Milsaps College, Jackson State University, Mississippi College, Hind Community College, and University Medical Center.
References:
“A Look Into Yazoo” by Gary Andrews, 2005
“Mississippi Blue Book 2000-2004” online at www.sos.state.ms.us
Interviews with:
John Wallace – Principal Yazoo City High School
Rebecca Turner – Superintendent Yazoo City School System
William Barbour – Judge
Wardell Leach – Mayor of Yazoo
Griffin Norquist – County Attorney
Cecil Cartwright – Business Owner
● What do you think are the biggest problems with which the public schools in this community must deal?
I believe the largest problem facing the public schools is the lack of support from parents and the community. The community is already divided and this is further compounded by very few parents involved in the school system. The last parent meeting had less than twenty individual parents show.
● What makes this community unique and/or distinctive?
The unique setting on the edge of the delta and the strong sense of family tied to the region make it a place where several generations of a family have lived. Some people have moved away but later returned to the area.
● What are the most critical problems facing this community?
The problem is divided support among the schools and lack of any real integration to begin solving the problem keeping the community from progressing.
● What are the key priorities for this community?
The priorities lie mostly in traditions and family. Although at first glance, the church is a large part of the community and its values, this is categorized under tradition because for the most part traditions trump the values preached by the church.
