Congressman Bennie Thompson Announced Over $21 Million Awarded to Mid-South Center for Occupational Innovation  

BOLTON, MISSISSIPPI – Today, United States Representative Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) announced the U. S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration awarded $21.5 Million to Mid-South Center for Occupational Innovation as 1 of 32 winners of the American Rescue Plan $500 Million Good Jobs Challenge to Expand Employment Opportunities.

The project titled “Opportunity Now!” (ON!) is a regional strategy, led by the Mid-South Center for Occupational Innovation (MCOI), designed to create economic mobility for adult and youth learners in East Arkansas, North Mississippi, and West Tennessee.

The Good Jobs Challenge is part of a suite of American Rescue Plan programs developed by EDA to equitably distribute its $3 billion allocation to assist communities nationwide in their efforts to build a better America by accelerating economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and building more resilient, shockproof local economies.