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All four of Mississippi’s incumbent U.S. representatives and its incumbent junior U.S. senator filed paperwork to run for reelection in 2026, according to news releases from the state Democratic and Republican parties. 

Twenty candidates qualified to run in the party primaries, which will take place on March 10. The party nominees will compete against one another in the general election on Nov. 3. 

Here is the list of Republican candidates running for Congress: 

United States Senate

• Sarah Adlakha 
• Cindy Hyde-Smith, incumbent 

U.S. House of Representatives – District 1

• Trent Kelly, incumbent 

U.S. House of Representatives – District 2

• Ron Eller 
• Kevin Wilson 

U.S. House of Representatives – District 3

• Michael Guest, incumbent 

U.S. House of Representatives – District 4

• Mike Ezell, incumbent 
• Sawyer Walters 

Here is the list of Democratic candidates running for Congress: 

United States Senate

• Scott Colom
• Albert R. Littell
• Priscilla W. Till

U.S. House of Representatives – District 1

• Kelvin Buck
• Cliff Johnson

U.S. House of Representatives – District 2

• Bennie G. Thompson, incumbent 
• Evan Littleton Turnage
• Pertis Herman Williams III

U.S. House of Representatives – District 3

• Michael A. Chiaradio

U.S. House of Representatives – District 4

• Paul James Blackman
• D. Ryan Grover
• Jeffrey Hulum III

A volcanic explosion 2,900 feet beneath Jackson forged the capital city’s very own superhero, Captain Jackson. 

The immortal man – born 1822, the year Jackson was founded – wears a green suit inspired by the city’s flag and takes to the skies in the inaugural issue of Jackson Comics. He fights fire with fire to defend the city from flamethrower-wielding villains who seek the downfall of Jackson. 

“He’s protecting not just the people of Jackson, but also the idea of Jackson,” said Blake Barnes, the writer behind Captain Jackson and the founder of Jackson Comics. “The villains show up in Jackson and they want to just burn the whole place down. They’re like, let’s just start from scratch, let’s burn it all up.” 

Barnes said he wanted readers to be able to imagine their own villains, so he gave the antagonists stormtrooper-esque outfits to mask their identities. 

“But I like to think they’re from Rankin County,” he said jokingly.

Barnes, a Mississippian who has lived in Jackson about five years, wanted to give local writers and artists a space to create comics about their home. Since launching in 2022, he’s published two issues of Jackson Comics so far, featuring short illustrated stories that explore a perennial topic for Mississippi writers – the relationship between the state’s past, present and future. A third installment is due to publish this spring. 

The stories also consider Jackson’s relationship to the state of Mississippi.

“Faulkner was the one who said to understand a place like America you have to first understand a place like Mississippi, and I think it can be said on a smaller note to understand Mississippi you have to understand Jackson,” he said.

When Barnes envisioned Captain Jackson, he knew he wanted the superhero to be a Black man in his mid 40s. He teamed up with local comic book legend Steven Butler, who has drawn for Marvel and DC Comics, to bring the character to the page.

While Jackson is a city so often associated with the issue of access to water, Barnes turned to another key element in Jackson’s past: Fire. He drew inspiration from the dormant volcano beneath Jackson, the Civil War-era moniker “Chimneyville,” a reference to Union troops burning Jackson to the ground, and the fires that so many abandoned homes succumb to today. 

Barnes wanted Captain Jackson to be able to use this element to protect the city. 

A television producer at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Barnes said he was also inspired by an oft-repeated description of civil rights icon Medgar Evers. 

“We just kept hearing all these people say that Medgar Evers had this fire inside him and he wanted to keep going,” he said. “I liked the idea of fire being a motivator and not necessarily something that was destructive.”

Captain Jackson belongs to the city in more ways than one: When Barnes held an exhibition at the Municipal Art Gallery in October last year, he donated a character sketch, created by Butler, to the city.

For the second issue, Barnes turned the clock forward, curating stories from students of all ages about the future of Mississippi. 

“Most of it was dystopian,” he said. “But they all ended on some good note. … They haven’t lost hope, so that’s good.” 

The stories contain imaginative plots: A bomb has fallen on the state, and a young boy discovers a ragged state flag among the ashes. Magnolia trees come to life and attack. The end times have come, but a biker and the owner of a home cooking restaurant still make conversation over a biscuit. 

For his contribution, Barnes imagined Captain Jackson accompanying a group of students to a museum, where they encounter a man from the future who has traveled back in time to punish people for their historical wrongdoings. 

The villain was inspired by Barnes’ own complicated feelings about Mississippi’s history. He challenged himself to embody that idea in a character. 

“That’s something I have felt for some time,” he said. “We’re always having to pay the dues of people who came before us, and I wish we could just restart with every generation, have it be our own way.” 

But Captain Jackson teaches the students that they can’t change the past. 

“They go off with this idea that they can change the future and that’s really what they have to work for,” he said. 

This year, Mississippians tuned into news about how federal funding cuts would affect child care and colleges. They also continued to follow news on the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and the death of Jimmie “Jay” Lee. Read the top stories of 2025 below.

Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws

The Mississippi Library Commission ordered the deletion of two research collections that might violate state law, a March 31 internal memo obtained by Mississippi Today shows. One of the now deleted research collections focused on “race relations” and the other on “gender studies.”

Mississippi 2025 special elections: See the results

Democratic candidates on Nov. 4 gained three Mississippi legislative seats, which included toppling a Republican incumbent in a special general election.

First Jacksonian exiled under new ‘squatters law’ claimed she’d scored one of the city’s many forfeited fixer-uppers

Latasha Chairse has a bizarre story. Equipped with a copy of someone else’s property deed, some elbow grease and a deluded interpretation of the state’s tax forfeiture process, Chairse claimed she thought she was acquiring one of Jackson’s many abandoned homes. Instead, the mother of three became the first squatter in Jackson exiled under a 2025 state law.

Three killed in UMMC helicopter crash

Three crew members aboard an AirCare helicopter from the University of Mississippi Medical Center died in a crash in remote Madison County near the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Trump once hailed WWII vet Medgar Evers as a ‘great American hero.’ Now the US Army has erased him from a section on the Arlington National Cemetery website

The U.S. Army purged the section that had lauded the late Army sergeant and civil rights leader, who was assassinated by a white supremacist in Jackson in 1963. The decision to erase Evers came after an executive order by Trump to eliminate all Diversity, Equality and Inclusion programs.

Jimmie ‘Jay’ Lee’s remains believed to be found

A gold necklace with Jimmie “Jay” Lee’s name on it was found with human remains in Carroll County, but authorities did not publicly confirm if the remains belonged to the missing University of Mississippi student and well-known member of Oxford’s LGBTQ+ community. 

‘You’re His Property’: Embattled Mississippi sheriff used inmates and county resources for personal gain, former inmates and deputy say

In Rankin County, incarcerated trusties allegedly cleaned chicken houses, fixed cars and installed flooring for the benefit of Sheriff Bryan Bailey and his associates.

Mother drives 45 minutes for day care. Another pays more than her rent. Welcome to Mississippi’s child care crisis

A dozen parents from across the state told Mississippi Today about summer child care plans for their toddlers and elementary school-aged children. They shared a mix of anxiety about finding care and frustration with existing options.

‘We should all be worried’: Trump order threatens funding for Mississippi’s colleges cultural centers and programming

For nearly three decades, a little-known federal agency has provided millions of dollars in support and funding to Mississippi’s colleges and universities museums, to libraries and to cultural institutions, including the Margaret Walker and COFO Civil Rights Center at Jackson State University. 

Leaders at the Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University warned of funding risks as Trump targeted the Institute of Museum and Libraries.

FBI arrests multiple law enforcement officers in sprawling Mississippi Delta drug conspiracy takedown

Twenty people, including 14 law enforcement officers, across the Mississippi Delta and Tennessee were arrested Oct. 30 by the FBI in a drug conspiracy takedown after a sprawling years-long investigation, federal authorities announced.

Mississippi Today reporters Gwen Dilworth and Michael Goldberg recap some of the findings from their series “Behind Bars, Beyond Care,” which uncovered widespread accusations of lack of adequate health care in Mississippi prisons and the suffering it causes. They discuss the potential for passage of reform in the upcoming 2026 legislative session.

As you solidify your New Year’s resolutions, it’s a great time to start having a conversation with your kids – whether they’re in elementary school, high school, or college — about smart ways to navigate finances. Starting the conversation earlier on will help to create healthy money habits as they grow, ultimately benefiting their financial future.

To help you get started, here are tips that make it easier for kids of all ages to learn how to save, budget and begin managing their finances more independently:

1. Start the conversation

It’s never too early to start talking about money in a realistic way so kids can understand how it’s used to support your lifestyle and help you achieve your goals and dreams. Begin the conversation in an age-appropriate way that highlights ideas, such as knowing the difference between needs and wants, saving for something special, and tracking the money you earn, as well as the money you spend. For example, young children can understand the idea of saving up money from their allowance or lemonade stand to buy something they want in the future.

2. Take notes and use tools

As your kids get older, explain the budgeting basics – even as simple as listing what you earn and what you spend, so you can ensure you won’t spend more than you have. Any leftover money is best put in savings first, then they can consider working toward items or experiences they might want to buy. There are many budgeting resources out there, so you can find the one that works for you, including budget worksheets to track spending.

3. Get organized and go digital

Financial confidence starts with getting organized. You can find easy-to-use budgeting tools that work for kids and parents both, with different levels of parental oversight and management suitable for different age groups. Whether it’s a first banking account, or an account geared towards a high school or college student, there are multiple options that can help students of various ages with firsthand digital transactions and account balances, assisting with budgeting and saving.

4. Plan for the future

According to Bankrate, 59% of Americans are uncomfortable with the amount of emergency savings they have, and 27% have no emergency fund at all. It’s important for kids of all ages to know that unexpected events in life can happen, so planning ahead may help reduce stress and better cope with whatever may occur. For this reason, building an emergency fund or saving for a rainy day is a crucial skill to learn.

Your kids can start learning and practicing vital money skills now that will stay with them for life, as well as how to use financial tools so they will be able to stay on top of their finances and achieve their goals.

Learn more about all the options available to get your kids started on the right financial footing at chase.com/studentbanking.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Seven decades after Rosa Parks was thrust indelibly into American history for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, new photos of the Civil Rights Movement icon have been made public for the first time, and they illustrate aspects of her legacy that are often overlooked.

The photos were taken by the late Civil Rights photographer Matt Herron, and they depict Parks at the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 — a five-day-long, 54-mile trek that is often credited with galvanizing political momentum for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965.

History lessons tend to define Parks by her act of civil disobedience a decade earlier, on Dec. 1, 1955, which launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott. On Dec. 5, some boycott participants and many of the boycott organizers’ descendants gathered to mark 70 years since the 381-day struggle in Alabama’s capital caught national attention, overthrowing racial segregation on public transportation.

The never-before-seen photos were released to the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery on Dec. 4. They were taken a decade after the boycott and are a reminder that her activism began before and extended well beyond her most well-known act of defiance, said Donna Beisel, the museum’s director.

“This is showing who Ms. Parks was, both as a person and as an activist,” Beisel said.

Never printed before

There are plenty of other photos placing Parks among the other Civil Rights icons who attended the march, including some that were taken by Herron. But others were never printed or put on display in any of the photographer’s numerous exhibits and books throughout his lifetime.

Herron moved to Jackson, Mississippi, with his wife and two young children in 1963 after Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers was assassinated. For the next two years, Herron’s photos captured some of the most notable people and events of that time. But in most of his photos, Herron’s lens was trained on masses of everyday people who empowered Civil Rights leaders to make change.

Herron’s wife, Jeannine Herron, 88, said that the photos going public in December were discovered from a contact sheet housed in a library at Stanford University.

The photos weren’t selected for print at the time because they were blurry or included people whose names weren’t as well known In Parks’ case, the new photos show her sitting among the crowd, looking away from the camera.

Now, Jeannine Herron is joining forces with historians and surviving Civil Rights activists in Alabama to reunite the work with the communities that they depict.

“It’s so important to get that information from history into local people’s understanding of what their families did,” Jeannine Herron said.

A joyous reunion

One of Herron’s most frequent subjects throughout the Selma-to-Montgomery march was a 20-year-old woman from Marion, Alabama, named Doris Wilson. Decades after he captured her as she endured the historic march, he still expressed his desire to reconnect with her.

“I would love to find where she is today,” Herron said in a 2014 interview among Civil Rights activists and journalists who witnessed that transformative period in the Deep South.

Herron died in 2020, before he had the chance to reconnect with Wilson. But on Dec. 4, Wilson joined other residents of Marion, a rural town in the Black Belt of Alabama. Milling around an auditorium in Lincoln Normal School, a college founded by nine formerly enslaved Black people after the Civil War, people looked at black and white photos that Herron took over the years, pointing out familiar faces or backdrops.

Some photos were familiar to the 80-year-old. But others, including ones where she was the subject, Wilson had never seen before.

One of the photos depicts Wilson getting treatment at a medical tent along the path of the march. Wilson had intense blisters on her feet from walking over 10 miles each day.

The doctor who was tending to her injuries, June Finer, also flew in from New York to reunite with Wilson for the first time since Finer gently cared for Wilson’s bare feet six decades earlier.

“Are you the one who rubbed my feet?” Wilson asked, as the two women laughed and embraced. Finer, 90, said she wasn’t even aware that people were taking photos — she was laser-focused on the safety of the marchers.

Later, Wilson reflected on how meaningful the reunion had been.

“I longed to see her,” Wilson said.

Robert E. Wilson, Wilson’s eldest son, said he had never seen the photos of his mother that were on display in the old school building where she went to school. He was a young child when she completed the march.

“I’m so stunned. She always said she was in the march, but I never knew she was strong like that,” said the now 62-year-old who was raised in Marion.

Years of searching

Cheryl Gardner Davis has faint recollections of the evening in 1965 when her family hosted the weary walkers on the third night of the march to Montgomery. She remembers hordes of strangers erecting tents on her family’s farm in the rural Lowndes County, Alabama. Just 4 years old at the time, she remembers how her mother and older sister had to mop up mud inside their hallway from people who had come in to use their landline phone.

It wasn’t until she was an adult that she fully understood the significance of her family’s sacrifice: Her mom’s job as a teacher was threatened, the family’s power was cut off and a neighbor menaced them with his rifle. For years, she scoured the internet and libraries for photo evidence of their hardship — or at least a picture of her family’s property at the time.

Among the hundreds of photos that made their way back to Alabama in the first week of December, were pictures of the campsite at Davis’ childhood home. Davis, who had never seen the photos before, said it was a vital way to bring light to the people who often are an afterthought in the recounting of that transformative historical period.

“It’s, in a sense, validation. This actually happened, and people were there,” Davis said.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, then-state Rep. John Reeves, a Jackson Republican, made the point of order on more than one occasion that economic development projects offering incentives to private corporations should require a two-thirds majority to win the approval of the Mississippi Legislature.

Reeves danced to his own tune and would often forgo the edicts of both political parties. He argued that it should require a two-thirds vote to provide the benefits to the private companies because of Article 66 of the Mississippi Constitution.

Article 66 states, “No law granting a donation or gratuity in favor of any person or object shall be enacted except by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members elect of each branch of the Legislature, nor by any vote for a sectarian purpose or use.”

Then-House Speaker Tim Ford, a Baldwyn Democrat, ruled against Reeves’ point of order, stating that the economic development package was for the greater good, not just to benefit a private company.

In later years, Rep.Bryant Clark, a Holmes County Democrat, raised a point of order saying that some of the funding in the annual end-of-the-session mammoth bill that doles out money for projects across the state was going to private entities, which thus would require a two-thirds vote. Clark later withdrew his point of order when it was pointed out that some of the money was going to private entities that he would support, such as Tougaloo College.

Money going to private Tougaloo College brings up the issue-du-jour – public funds being awarded to private schools under the moniker of school choice.

Republican House Speaker Jason White has proclaimed that school choice will be a priority during the session that begins in early January.

As the issue of vouchers for students to attend private schools is debated in the upcoming session, the question is whether there is in the current Mississippi Legislature a John Reeves-type who would argue that the voucher – whether to a school or to a student to attend a private school – is a gift, thus requiring a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

There is, as has been reported often, another section of the Mississippi Constitution – Section 208 – that states plainly that any public funds cannot go to any school that is “not a free school.”

On occasion, when points of order are raised, the presiding officer will respond that it is not up to the Legislature to decide constitutional issues. That is the job of the courts, they have said in the past.

But in reality, that argument is disingenuous, even hogwash.

After all, in their oath of office, legislators swear to “carefully read (or have read to me) the constitution of this state, and will endeavor to note, and as a legislator to execute, all the requirements thereof imposed on the Legislature.”

Each time, legislators call up a bill for a vote they do such in accordance with the mandates of the Mississippi Constitution. They allow legislators to enter a motion to reconsider after a final vote on a bill because that is what the Mississippi Constitution mandates just as they require a three-fifths vote to pass a revenue or tax bill because it is a constitutional requirement.

The list of areas where legislators adhere to constitutional mandates is long, and at times nonsensical and antiquated, but they do so because that is what the Mississippi Constitution says to do. Any legislator can request a bill to be read aloud to the chamber because it is constitutionally required.

In a sense, they seem to be cherry picking which constitutional mandates to follow.

Perhaps, they should at least consider and provide a reason for not adhering to the mandates preventing public funds from going to schools that are not free and requiring a two-thirds vote to provide a gift to a private entity.

After all, it is in the Mississippi Constitution.

POPLARVILLE — As Mississippi’s blueberry industry faces a steep decline, one Poplarville farm is finding new ways to keep the state fruit growing — from fresh berries to teas, baked goods and even dog treats. 

J&D Blueberry Farm, co-founded by Donald Van de Werken and Jeff Brown, started small in 2004 selling fresh blueberries. Over time, they expanded their operation to include blueberry-infused products and a mobile bakery, part of an effort to build a lasting brand and reduce food waste. Van de Werken said their goal is to preserve the local blueberry market while creating new opportunities for future generations of farmers. 

Evolution of the farm 

Van de Werken, who has an agricultural background in citrus farming, said growing blueberries in south Mississippi felt like a natural fit. Poplarville, known for its annual Blueberry Jubilee, has long been a hub for growers across the region. 

 “We’re trying to build a brand more than we’re trying to sell,” Van de Werken said. “It makes great sense to sell, to make money because that’s what keeps you in business, but if you build a brand, people tend to recognize you.” 

That mindset has guided J&D Blueberry Farm’s growth. What began as a micro fresh-produce operation has evolved into a year-round business that turns Mississippi-grown blueberries into teas, juices and baked goods. Van de Werken said the idea was to create products with longer shelf life and a stronger local identity. 

Beyond the blueberry bushes 

At J&D Blueberry Farms, even imperfect berries have a purpose. Van de Werken said the team uses pulp and juice from fruit that might otherwise go to waste to make new products. 

“For example, we take the fresh blueberries and then we pulp it to make juice, where otherwise, if the berry wasn’t perfect, we would have just tossed it,” he said. “It would have been complete food waste.”  

That approach led the farm to partner with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce to research and refine its products. Today, J&D Blueberry Farm is known for its blueberry-infused teas but also sells coffee, baking mixes, juices and blueberry-based dog treats.

Van de Werken said their product line expanded even further in 2013 after acquiring a bakery from retired baker Capt. Karl Mueller, who was a neighbor and friend of van de Werken’s.  

“We became self-taught bakers, and we’re known for our German stollen, which is a Christmas bread, and also blueberry pies, muffins, pound cakes — and we now dabble in gluten-free products,” he said. 

Next season, the farm plans to add pear trees and begin producing pear cider as part of its goal to keep diversifying Mississippi-grown goods. 

The local industry

J&D Blueberry Farm began selling its products at local farmers markets before expanding across the region. Van de Werken said his team sold their baked goods and teas at Oktoberfest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was selected to take part in the Christmas market in Tomball, Texas — one of only 150 vendors chosen from more than a 1,000 applications. 

Closer to home, the farm is a familiar sight at the Poplarville Blueberry Jubilee, where thousands of visitors sample products and learn about Mississippi’s blueberry industry each year. Events like these, Van de Werken said, are vital to keeping the state’s blueberry community connected and visible. 

But despite strong local support, the number of commercial blueberry farmers in Mississippi has fallen over the past two decades. Van de Werken estimates commercial farms decreased from about 85 growers in 2004 to roughly 15 today — as many longtime farmers retire and few new ones take their place. 

Information from the 2022 Census of Agriculture shows evidence that supports these numbers, but at a slightly different angle. While the number of farmers has increased slightly through Mississippi, the number of acreage on farms has decreased from 2017 to 2022.  

Fewer farms, Van de Werken said, means fewer local jobs and less visibility for a crop once celebrated across the region. 

“There’s not a lot of young people jumping into it,” he said. “You either inherit it or you win the lottery, and you buy a farm. In our case, we started everything from scratch, and I would venture to say to start at our scale, it would cost a million dollars.” 

Van de Werken now serves as president of the Gulf South Blueberry Growers Association, a small network of commercial farmers who meet twice a year to discuss the growing season, market trends and U.S. Department of Agriculture developments. He said the group offers one of the few remaining support systems for growers trying to keep the industry alive. 

Room for improvement

While J&D Blueberry Farm continues to grow, Van de Werken said he’s keeping a close eye on how international competition could reshape the industry.  

The USDA Horticulture Lab in Poplarville developed a variety of blueberry in 2008 known as Southern Highbush, or “Biloxi berry.” The plant has proven highly productive — but not in Mississippi. Instead, it thrives in countries like Peru, Mexico and Colombia, where the climate allows for longer growing seasons and higher yields.  

Van de Werken said he believes Mississippi can still compete by investing in food manufacturing and processing facilities that turn local crops into market-ready products. 

“We would be better off agriculturally and encourage more people to farm,” he said. “Right now, you can only sell so much fresh product before it goes to waste.” 

For Van de Werken, that vision goes beyond his own farm. He said reducing food waste and strengthening local production could give Mississippi’s residents better access to high-quality foods while supporting the next generation of growers.

The question on everyone’s mind: Does Ole Miss have a shot against mighty Georgia. The answer: Of course they do, but the Rebels will have to play their best game and hope Georgia doesn’t. The Cleveland boys also discuss the New Orleans and Duke’s Mayo bowls and the resurgent New Orleans Saints.

Stream all episodes here.

When students have to grapple with challenges outside of school such as homelessness and food insecurity, it can curb academic performance, attendance and mental health. 

Those struggles can also lead to higher dropout rates and lower grades, said Josh Anderson of FutureEd, an education think tank. It’s like a stone dropping in a pond, with the impact rippling outward. 

But wraparound services, such as washers and dryers and food pantries, can directly counteract these negative effects, research shows. 

About 25 million students, or more than half of public school students in the country, were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during the 2022-23 school year. Wraparound services are also essential in a district like Jackson Public Schools, where about a third of students live in poverty.

Jackson Public Schools leaders say the district works hard to eliminate barriers to education through wraparound services especially at their four “community schools.”

It’s a long-standing, mutually-beneficial model where communities pour into their schools to create students who will go on to support their communities. Jackson’s community schools aim to support the whole student, inside and out of the classroom.

“We preach it all day long: What’s your plus?” said Stacey Webb, principal of Lanier Junior Senior High School. “It’s a diploma, plus. It’s not just about academics, but also providing things to help scholars be successful.” 

But the services don’t just affect the students. Caring for the child includes caring for their families, Webb said. The services impact parents, too, boosting engagement and cementing schools as the anchors of their communities. 

“A helpful way to think about this is the hours we have,” Anderson said. “If you add them up over 18 or 20 years, we’re spending less than 20% of those hours in a school building and a lot more of our hours with our families and in our neighborhoods. 

“Schools are vital, and we need them to be better and better. But if we want kids to be ready to learn in school, supporting the family makes a tremendous difference.”

‘Just showing we care’

Laundry services operate on a need-to-know basis at Lanier. 

Students put their clothes in a laundry bag and hand it to a teacher, and by the end of the day, their clothes are washed, dried, folded and ready to go home with them — no questions asked. 

Parents in need, too, can wash their clothes at the school on weekends. 

“If the only thing keeping you from coming to school, we’re going to take care of that for you,” Webb said. “I tell my scholars all the time, we’re going to break the cycle some of them are in.”

The home appliance company Whirlpool started donating washer and dryers to schools across the country in 2015, making it easier for students to have access to clean clothes. At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, nearly 61% of students at participating schools considered at risk for chronic absenteeism were no longer at risk, according to the company. 

Laundry services are just one of the ways educators at Lanier care for their students. The school also operates a clothes closet — stocked with prom dresses, professional clothes for jobs interviews, school uniforms and casual attire — a food pantry and health clinic.

The clinic, staffed by nurse practitioners and nurses, opened a decade ago through a partnership with University of Mississippi Medical Center. 

Students can receive primary and preventive care of the clinic — services like mental health and physical assessments, prenatal care and asthma management — instead of missing class to go to a doctor’s office. 

Webb said all of these services the school provides signals to the students that their teachers and principals care about them, which she’s seen reflected in student grades and attendance.

“I believe it’s about the relationship, just showing we care about you as a person,” she said. “I tell my staff and students that if you can develop a relationship with someone, you can do anything to help them.”

Serving the whole family

This past school year, more than a quarter of K-12 students were considered chronically absent statewide, according to data from the Mississippi Department of Education. That’s more than double the rate during the 2018-19 school year. 

More than a third of JPS students are chronically absent. 

The more needs students can have addressed at school, the more likely they are to stay in class, Johnson Elementary Principal Guyniesha Johnson said. 

“If they don’t have a way to wash their clothes, let’s provide them with one,” she said. “If they don’t have food, let’s get them food. It’s our goal to meet all of those needs.”

Aside from laundry services and a uniform closet, the school has operated a weekend food service for years through a partnership with the Mississippi Food Network and the Junior League of Jackson: Students can take home a bag of food on Friday that will last their family through the weekend. Last year, Johnson Elementary also started stocking a food pantry, where students can go “shopping” for groceries.

Johnson Elementary is located in the Georgetown neighborhood. Many homes in the community continue to be multi-generational, the principal said, with grandparents and great-grandparents living in the same house as their grandchildren. 

The neighborhood has seen decreasing access to fresh food over the years, Johnson said — today, there’s just one grocery store. 

When food insecurity is an issue for a Johnson Elementary student, their families are struggling, too. Part of the district’s community schools model is to help the whole family, Johnson said. 

“We ask the kids how many people live in their household because we expect and believe that the food is to help everybody, not just our students,” she said. “We want to be able to fill those gaps.”

Reducing barriers to learning

Everything a student might need is located in one room at Walton Elementary School: The aptly-named “community room.”

The room houses nonperishable food items, uniforms, backpacks, coats, personal hygiene products, and on occasion, even bikes. 

Principal LaRoy Merrick considers it a personal responsibility to keep the room stocked at all times, making sure the needs of all of his students are met. 

“I can’t control what a child gets when they leave me, but while they’re with me, they’re getting everything they need,” he said. “My responsibility is to make sure they’re educated and nurtured and loved.”

The school relies on community partnerships to serve its students. During the holidays, nearby Cade Chapel Missionary Baptist Church provides Thanksgiving meals to students and their families. The Junior League of Jackson hosts a sort of farmers market once a month at the school, where families can select fresh groceries to take home. 

“We’re a family here,” Merrick said. “In order to educate students’ minds, we have to educate them in all other ways.”

That community collaboration component is integral because schools alone cannot solve the myriad of challenges students face, said Anderson of FutureEd. A web of community partnerships help support the schools’ work. 

“If you provide support to a child and their family, you are doing one of two things, and both are super helpful,” he said. “You’re reducing barriers for them to get to school ready to learn … and you’re making home a more conducive environment for child development. A model that does these things consistently can make a meaningful contribution to a child’s wellbeing.”

It’s work that’s going to impact students far beyond their years at school, he said, “20 years down the road.”