Mayors of cities across the Deep South gathered at the Jackson Convention Center Wednesday for the inaugural DELTA FEST conference, a gathering of financial leaders and partners for economic change. The three-day event intends to usher in a 10-year effort to build prosperous communities in Southern states.

The plenary was moderated by Alaina Beverly, executive vice president of the Black Economic Alliance Foundation, and featured mayors from Jackson, Little Rock, Birmingham and Montgomery. 

“Our Southern cities are home to Black communities whose legacies have helped to shape this great nation and whose culture continues to drive it,” Beverly said, introducing the panel. “Our Southern cities are the proof point for ways in which innovation and investing in solutions to expand economic opportunity can be used by the entire country.”

Jackson Mayor John Horhn, who took office July 1, said the first thing he’s tackling is restoring trust with the taxpayers and county, state and federal governments. In recent years, the city of Jackson has dealt with maintaining the water system, retaining control of the Jackson airport and pronounced areas of blight.

“We also had an accountability issue of being able to get things done, so our focus is returning to basic services delivery and also coming with a plan of action so that we know where we’re going,” Horhn said. 

Horhn said the city needs to create a “Marshall Plan” — taking the name from a U.S. economic aid initiative intended to help Europe recover after World War II — for rebuilding, one that addresses blight, affordable housing and public safety.

“We’re looking for partners who can help us. If you have money, we have a problem for you,” Horhn said. “If you have an interest in putting resources somewhere, there is something in Jackson, Mississippi, that you can see.”

For his part, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott said his administration created programs such as BUILD Academy, a 12-week initiative that educates businesses and entrepreneurs on how to scale up their operations. He said Little Rock has focused on underserved communities, which has transformed neighborhoods and cemented partnerships, leading the city to become a leader in job growth.

“Transformation means that we all have to be unapologetic about doing things that weren’t done in the past and not care about the future, only focus on the present,” Scott said. 

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said local mayors need to get creative when thinking about the affordable housing crisis. According to Woodfin, in the last five years, the city has spent a little more than $16 million in critical repairs, new builds and down payment assistance for homebuyers, with $4 million of that provided by HOPE Enterprise Corporation. HOPE is a community development financial institution that aims to improve the financial well-being of underresourced communities in the Deep South. 

“We do that because it’s necessary. We do it because it’s the right thing to do, but we do it because we know it’s going to create opportunity and wealth for that new homeowner,” Woodfin said.

He also points to Birmingham Promise as an economic driver for wealth. The program provides tuition assistance for students who have graduated from a Birmingham school to attend any public two-year or four-year college or university in Alabama.

“When you graduate with a significant amount of debt from college, homeownership is probably not on your mind if your parents aren’t passing you the keys. This changes the game,” Woodfin said.

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said partnering with HOPE to expand low-interest financing for small businesses has led to a major revitalization.

“It has helped us give the level of motivation to some of our entrepreneurs that they can do it, that we are truly investing in them and we’re willing to partner with them because that strengthens our economy, and overall that strengthens our community,” Reed said. 

DELTA FEST was co-created by HOPE Enterprise Corporation and Yancey Consulting, and featured speakers from financial institutions such as Wells Fargo and Capital One. Bill Bynum, chief executive officer for HOPE, said the organization has been providing support and services to under-resourced communities for more than 30 years, but the path to prosperity cannot be paved alone.

“We need an ecosystem. We need people who provide technical expertise, who can open doors for contracts, who can level the playing field in these communities, and we’ve been doing that,” Bynum said. 

He said he and other leaders noticed that communities across the Deep South were not prioritized when it came to federal and state resources, which led them to creating DELTA FEST. Part of DELTA FEST’s goal is to connect people who have big ideas for economic growth to organizations that can help get those ideas off the ground. 

“We want to create an economy across the Deep South that opens up doors for opportunity for everyday people, regardless of where they live, who their parents were, their gender, their race,” Bynum said. “If we don’t equip people to thrive, to prosper, then we are not going to realize our potential as a country, as a nation.”