1. Defining the community:
Jackson does contain several major industries in its city limits. Mainly machinery products as well as metal products; the surrounding areas produces many types of agriculture.
Jackson does have four companies that are publicly traded on the market.
These are Trustmark which is provides $8.1 billion in financial services.
Parkway Properties which is a major real-estate company, “Parkway owns or has an interest in 65 office properties located in 11 states with an aggregate of approximately 13.4 million square feet of leasable space as of August 3, 2009”.
Cal-Maine Foods-Largest producer of fresh shell eggs in the country.
East Group Properties- Has real-estate interests throughout the south and over 27.7 million square feet of property in their portfolio.
Jackson is also home to the Mississippi World Trade Center. Obviously the purpose of which is to foster international trade. It is unclear to how successful this venture has been to this point.
2. Geography:
Jackson is located between Hinds and Madison counties. This allows Jackson
large access to their agricultural products as well as moderate business district.
Jackson is also bordered by the Pearl River, which provides goods transportation as well as the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
3. Demographics:
Jackson has a population of roughly 173,000 and 530,000 if you include the surrounding metropolitan area.
The racial makeup of the city is predominantly black (70.6%) and white (28%). Interestingly enough Jackson Public Schools in 97% black and 3% white, as most white kids are going to private or county schools.
25% of households had a single mother as the head. With 23.5% of the population living below the poverty line.
76.1% of kids are living on free or reduced lunch.
In 2009 Jackson’s homicide rate ranked 4th in the country and 2nd in the country in terms of burglaries.
Population 25 years or older with a:
High school or higher: 79.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 27.1%
Graduate or professional degree: 10.2%
Unemployed: 8.9%
4.
5. Physical Infrastructure:
Is controlled by the Public Works department downtown. They have separate departments for facility management, solid waste, infrastructure management, engineering, water/sewer, and vehicle maintenance. The city claims to have extensive capacities for infrastructure development and waste management, but many city roads are full of potholes and the city seems to have little care for repair.
6. Cultural and Recreational Resources:
FAST FACTS:
|
Total Area |
Approx. 2,302.35 Acres |
|
Number of parks and recreational facilities |
54 |
|
Playgrounds |
31 |
|
Athletic fields |
72 |
|
11 |
|
|
9 |
|
|
Tennis courts |
61 (6 are clay courts) |
|
2 |
|
|
Driving range |
1 |
|
Walking trails |
8 miles |
|
Go-kart track |
1 |
|
Model airplane field |
1 |
|
1 |
The city does contain an extensive amount of recreational facilities. Unfortunately, the only quality ones are reserved for private use or big time sports events. Quality parks and recreational facilities actually open to the public are few and far in between. Many of these areas are so crime infested that children or people looking to relax would hesitate to venture inside.
7. Power structure: How do things get done, individuals, board leaders, linkages. ..
Jackson mayor Harvey Johnson is likely the most powerful individual in the city. He has been credited with reviving downtown Jackson including Farish street and surrounding areas. Strangely this area still appears to be in need of repair and contains a plethora of abandoned buildings.
This is likely why Johnson was easily ousted by former mayor Frank Melton in the 2005 election. Melton ran on a campaign to clean up the crime problem in the city in 90 days and received 63% of the vote.
Johnsons does seem to have a reasonable amount of power over the city council. He is able to appoint people to run certain government departments and the city council must vote to approve them. The only mayoral nominee to be voted down by the council occurred during Frank Melton’s term. The leaders subsequently appointed heads of these departments, have a large amount of power and money in running their different areas (Fire, police, public works….etc).
The council does have the power to control the payroll of these different leaders and chose to do so in the case of Melton’s appointments.
In general when the council and mayor remain at odds, there is little the council can do to combat the mayor’s power.
8. Heads of government agencies are appointed by the mayor then must be approved by the city council. They are independently run, but can have their finances checked by the city council.
9. Community barriers
Jackson is chock-full of community barriers. The first might be the huge amount of crime, homelessness, poor leadership, and poor schools. Obviously these are all factors, which are caused by the main problem of poverty.
Downtown Jackson is the most rundown place I have ever seen in the U.S. Starting with the white flight after integration, downtown has grown progressively worse. This remains a large barrier today as not only white families, but now middle class black families are leaving Jackson. This is a huge problem as downtown teems with homelessness and crime no one wants to bring businesses into the city necessary to turn the problems around.
10. Values
I would say the main values in the community are religion, race, and sports. A large amount of our students value school as a means to play sports or hopefully to gain an education and get a good job. I would not say that education is as important as the first three values.
At many schools sports will take the cake over any scholastic event and often cut into classroom time. Many teachers are also coaches and spend hours after school everyday and are forced to neglect their teaching duties.
11. Uniqueness
The most surprising part of the community I have witnessed so far is the huge population of immigrants. Most people would expect Jackson to be majority multi-generation Americans, but there is a sizeable population of African immigrants.
At Murrah I have met a large amount of these kids especially coaching soccer. I have had players from Zimbabwe, Sudan, Uganda and others.
The most public proof of this large group of immigrants I have found is the election of Chokwe Lumumba to city council. I found this excerpt from his website campaigning for city council “The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) is taking a bold step to advance the cause of New Afrikan Self-determination. Building off the experiences of developing the Freedom Party in Selma, Alabama and the Reconstruction Party in New Orleans, Louisiana, MXGM co-founder, Chokwe Lumumba, is running for City Council in Jackson, Mississippi. The aim of this run is to implement a program of progressive social and economic change that will not only improve the lives of New Afrikan people in Jackson, but also empower Black and other oppressed people throughout the Kush District (the Mississippi Black Belt) and the Deep South by advancing a new social and economic agenda and strengthening their self-organization.”
12. Schools, colleges, universities.
Jackson does have a number of good universities and colleges in many different areas of study.
One unfortunate quality of JPS is its lack of diversity (97% black, 3% white), even though the city as a whole is more diverse (30% white, 70 % black). Most white kids go to private, or county schools.
Colleges and universities
Belhaven College (1883)
Hinds Community College's campuses in Jackson are the Nursing/Allied Health Center (1970) and the Academic/Technical Center
Jackson State University (1877)
Millsaps College (1890)
Mississippi College School of Law (1930)
Reformed Theological Seminary (1966)
Tougaloo College (1869)
University of Mississippi Medical Center (1955), health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi
Wesley Biblical Seminary (1974)
[edit]
Public high schools
Private high schools
▪ Christ Missionary & Industrial (CM&I) College High School
Private Schools
▪ Magnolia Speech School [1]
St. Andrew's Episcopal Lower School - South Campus
References
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/strong_mayor_weak_council_042209/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Johnson,_Jr.
http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/hood-news/36815-chokwe-lumumba-jackson-ms-city-council.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_Mississippi#Political_structures
Governor Haley Barbour is not an engaging speaker, but he is a Good Ole Boy. Is education really over 60% of the state budget? Education will still be $20 million more then last year because of stimulus funds. Guess we should not have taken them. I did not know the policy about the Governor being required to cut 5% from each area before they cut over 5%.
Barbour says schools get over $8,000 per student. Is this true, or is it highly skewed by richer areas of the state whose students receive substantially more.
Governor Barbour says that money for corrections facilities has gone up 10% in the last 5 years while money for education has gone up 35%. This is great, but is it not obvious that if we spent the money used for correctional facilities on our children instead we would not need the money for corrections down the road.
The argument that stimulus money hurts the economy down the road bewilders me. Maybe it is only short term help, but is it not help? Does it not give you more time to plan better down the road, and for the recession to hopefully recede? To me it seems like blatant partisan politics attacking Obama and democrats.
As someone once said Governor Barbour would rather “cut taxes then have sex”. Taxes will not be raised to help out those most hurt by the recession.
To be quite honest the hazing at Millburn High does not seem to intense compared to what we have seen recently in Jackson. Jackson State recently suspended 27 band members suspected of hitting incoming freshman with beer bottles and 2x4 and committing other acts of violence JSU hazing. That being said I am sure that different forms of hazing, bullying, and the general stresses of being a new kid at a large school can be very damaging to a student’s psyche. In every class I have a substantial amount of students who are very withdrawn usually as a result of being intimidated or made fun of to a point where they no longer desire to speak up. These students are sometimes the most rewarding to reach, but it is often difficult in larger classes or when they are so stuck in their shell. I remember being hazed as a 9th grader on the high school soccer team and taking it pretty lightly. Fortunately, I was one of the ones who did not get it the worst. First of all I had made the team and was accepted by my peers and the older kids. I knew I would experience a little hazing, but it was more exciting than something I feared. The kids who had it really bad where the ones who got cut from the team, did not have many friends in school, and were generally seen as outsiders. Because worse then being hazed by a team member, they were constantly ostracized by peers and older students alike. Creating a culture where this is unacceptable and all students are viewed as equal and important is one of the most important parts of our education system. This is a difficult point to reach and is only possible with good classroom management, a positive school culture, engaging extra-curricular activities for every kid, and probably eliminating all forms of hazing at school.
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