Jackson Free Press

Vision 2022: A Regional Vision

The greater metropolitan area of Jackson is a collection of loosely aligned, often-at-odds cities, towns and communities worthy of a university-sanctioned study on diversity and race politics.

Green Space

If you want to see how differently various people approach the idea of planning for Jackson's future, listen to a discussion of parks and green space.

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Big Ideas: Getting Jacksonians into City Parks

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's Parks and Rec Transition Team compiled the following suggestions to get more residents into Jackson Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) facilities throughout the city.

Revisited: Town Creek

Many see Jackson's multiple creeks as nothing more than drainage ditches. They are undevelopable space offering only the threat of flooding, bank caving and snakes. Other cities, however, are increasingly …

Defined: People's Assemblies

Mayor Chokwe Lumumba has helped bring a grass-roots approach to idea generation and decision-making to Jackson, both in the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, which he co-founded, and later as a …

New Idea: More Than Sports

When Jed Oppenheim of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mississippi Youth Justice Project ended up as a "quasi-member" of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba's Parks and Rec transition team, he decided to …

Bright Idea: Conserve Energy, Create Jobs

You want to reduce your energy bills, improve your in-home air quality, increase the value of your home and help create jobs in the local community? Then invest in energy-efficiency …

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Filling the Emptiness

When family or friends say Jackson is a bad place, I always want to take them on a trip to the city I've grown to know over the last six …

Your JXN Idea

Highlighting good ideas is one GOOD Idea that I see Jackson benefiting from!

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Best Practice: Mid-South Minority Business Council Continuum

"Established in 1973 as the Mid-South Minority Business Council (MMBC), a component of the Memphis Area Chamber of Commerce, the MMBC Continuum now serves as a minority business-development organization and …

What the Heck Is An IBA?

Sure, we have business organizations such as chambers of commerce, but they are not primarily and exclusively serving interests of small, locally owned businesses.

Radical Idea: Vacancy Tax

So, just how do we unlock the empty buildings that are "warehoused" downtown by landlords, often absentee, who let their spaces rot waiting for the huge rent check of the …

Build a Bicycle- and Pedestrian-Friendly Jackson

The key to change is finding simple, affordable tools that are easily accessible for people of all ages, races, socio-economic levels and abilities.

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Everyone Needs a Roof

You've heard it before: For many Americans, homelessness is just a couple of paychecks away.

Jackson Planning Map

Jackson is a unique city with great potential. What makes this city great are her people, their passions and their visions.

Disrupting the Status Quo

A baker's dozen of good ideas: That's what I came up with when asked to contribute a pithy set of good ideas to this issue.

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The Devil Is In the Questions

I really don’t get hating people because they ask vital questions.

Jerry and Helen Young

Pastor Jerry Young laughs heartily about his upcoming appearance at Friday's Mississippi Sickle Cell Foundation Annual "Evening with the Sickle Cell Stars Gala," where he and his wife of 39 …

Public Universities Ramp Up Aid for the Wealthy, Leaving the Poor Behind

Many public universities, faced with their own financial shortfalls, are increasingly leaving low-income students behind.

10 Local Stories of the Week

There's never a slow news week in Jackson, Miss., and last week was no exception. Here are the local stories JFP reporters brought you in case you missed them.