Mississippi Today, in partnership with Rethink Mississippi (an initiative sponsored by the nonprofit Working Together Mississippi) and the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, launched the state’s first-ever scientific study dedicated to understanding Mississippi’s brain drain crisis — and what ideas could help reverse it.

Our survey, which we debuted on July 15, has been taken by more than 4,700 people so far. This far exceeds our expectations in such a short period, but the response is proving incredibly helpful to our journalists and research partners as we work to find solutions to the state’s brain drain problem.

Whether you’ve stayed in Mississippi, you’ve left, or you’ve considered leaving the state, we want to hear from you. If you’ve moved to Mississippi from elsewhere, or even if you’ve never lived here at all, your input is valuable. Brain drain in Mississippi affects all of us, and we believe hearing from people of any and all backgrounds and perspectives can only help us better grapple with the problems and develop some solutions.

The short survey asks everyone about the factors that influenced their decision of where to live, whether that’s in Mississippi or not. It follows with tailored discussion questions based on where you’re from and where you live now. We ask you to reflect on what has pulled you away or what has kept you rooted here, as well as the potential changes that could improve the chances that you live in the state in the future. We purposefully left plenty of room for you to share your own thoughts with us.

So how can you help? First, take the survey! If you’ve already done it, you can help even more by sharing it with as many people as you can. As laid out above, we need responses from anyone and everyone.

Over the next few weeks and months, we’ll spend dedicated time and energy with the results of the survey. We’ll dispatch journalists at Mississippi Today to dive deeply into issues that matter most to you, and we’ll work closely with our expert partners to dissect and share findings — all with potential solutions to the crisis at top of mind.

All of the stories, analyses and essays related to this work will be published on our new page at Mississippi Today called Brain Drain. Click here to access and bookmark the page.

We’ve also published a comprehensive list of answers to frequently asked questions about the problem, the data and potential solutions.

READ MORE: FAQ: The ‘Brain Drain’ crisis in Mississippi

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I can be reached at  adam@mississippitoday.org.

MORE: Click here to take the Brain Drain survey