Coahoma County has a low unemployment rate of 5.4 per cent, which is the lowest in nearly 30 years according to data from Mississippi Department of Employment Security. 34.8 percent of the residents live in poverty. The key to moving forward in the county’s future is to provide employment opportunities for its 23,000 residents. Leaders from the region believe that there is some hope that improvements in employment opportunities are beginning to pay off. Jon Levingston, executive director of Clarksdale/Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce announced on March 19 that MAP of Easton Inc., a sound insulation company, had created 40 jobs at its existing plant. The Clarksdale Press Register reported in July that 101 employees had been hired. There are hopes of 40 more over the next year. Last week, Levingston announced the opening of 200 new jobs in the area with the assistance of a Silicon Valley company. On Dec. 18, Levingston, a Coahoma Community College pinnacle, stated that “for so many years there have been those who believe the best days in the Delta are over us, the future looks bleak, crime has up, and we’re losing population — our educational and financial opportunities are shrinking.” I say to them, today we turn around the tide. We are proud to announce that a company will invest in Clarksdale. They believe in Clarksdale, our people, and our workers. These people aren’t naysayers.” PeopleShores, a technology company, will begin training 25 people in January 2019. The hourly rate of pay is between $10 and $15. Jan. 3rd will see a job fair at the existing Chamber of Commerce building at Desoto Avenue. The WIN Job Center in Clarksdale and the job fair can both accept applications for these full-time positions. PeopleShores, the U.S.-based version of RuralShores (based out of India), was established in 2017. It provides outsourcing services for large multinational corporations. PeopleShores currently has a center in San Jose, Calif. and a second one in Clarksdale. PeopleShores’ mission is to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth to high-paying technology jobs and provide work centers within their communities. Shiva Patibanda is an investor in the tech company. According to the website, they target areas with high numbers of unemployed young adults, military bases, Native American reservations, dilapidated industrial towns, and military bases with unemployed vets. The company offers services like image processing, data collection, service management, machine-learning data services, web services, and technology services. After workers have been trained, they can be hired to code and work on other projects for various tech companies. According to Ashley Bowen, Clarksdale center assistant manager, the needs of corporations will dictate the tasks that employees perform on projects. Officials say the company’s goal is to make a positive impact on underserved communities around the globe. To make an impact on underserved communities you must have measurable results. You can’t make a paper article about it. It must have a lasting impact. David Moxam, a founding board member of PeopleShores, stated that to have a lasting impact, one must create jobs. The Coahoma Community College Workforce Development Center instructors will train employees in soft skills and technical skills as well as customer service skills, Excel, or other trades. Murali Vullaganti is the Chief Executive Officer of PeopleShores. He also co-founded RuralShores. Vullaganti stated that while bringing jobs into the region is important, the true impact is in the transformation of workers and the creation of jobs that will keep them in the state. Bowen, a former assistant manager from Marks, Miss., left the state to move to Chicago, and she said that she thought she would never return. She said that she changed her mind two years ago when she was introduced at the University of Mississippi to the McLean Institute. She wanted to return to Mississippi to work for positive change because she believes the same. Bowen said, “I feel like Clarksdale, the Mississippi Delta and the rest of Delta is really fortunate that we have so many people seeing the potential in the region.” “The vision we have, our passion for the area, the connection we feel for the area, and the history of this region, all of these things are wrapped up in who and what we are. But for Patibanda it was more difficult at first. When Patibanda first tried to accept the state’s history, she was unable to remember the murder of Emmett till, a black teenager who had made inappropriate comments to Carolyn Bryant (a white woman) in 1955. Bryant admitted to an author in a book about Till this year that some of her 1955 statements were false. The Justice Department reported to Congress that it would reopen Till’s case in Money, Miss., 50 miles south from Clarksdale, in a March report. Patibanda stated that Emmett Till was a documentary that he had shown to me in 1985. “That documentary shaken my insides and destroyed something very fundamental about me.” “I made a promise to myself that I would never visit Mississippi in my entire life.” That was my cowardice.” Patibanda first met Levingston in May, along with Dinesh Chwla, owner and operator of several hotels in Delta. It was then that the “coward in me” vanished. He now wants to work in Mississippi. Patibanda said, “(Jon] opened the speech saying, ‘We, the Mississippi Delta, are paying for the crime of our ancestors.’” “All that’s needed is to give back to the community, and you’ll witness extraordinary things here…. I can come to this place and spread love and affection on both sides — to all. “Love is the best way to heal.” The executives of the tech company accepted the state’s past and decided to dedicate the center to Till’s memory. We are not a people that is divided. Instead, we are one person striving for peace and reconciliation for the future. We dedicate the center to Emmett’s memory. This allows us to speak to our future and our present through the lens of our past. Not to relive it but to learn from it and create a better future. Levingston read a statement for the company. Mayor Chuck Espy said: “The county and city are working together to make it happen. We have found our rhythm, and we are ready to move forward in 2019. “…I believe that this is our season. This is our time. This is our moment.”