The Creative Activists, a Delta State group of students and faculty, will represent the green and white at the state level of the Blueprint Mississippi Social Business Challenge in March of 2015.<\/p>\n
Delta State students recently participated in the challenge on campus, which invited teams of students to come up with a business plan addressing one of Mississippi’s most pressing problems. The challenge required students to work in teams of six with at least one faculty advisor.<\/p>\n
The Creative Activists won the challenge at the campus level, qualifying the team to compete against other teams from Mississippi’s Institutions of Higher Learning this spring.<\/p>\n
Members of the team include: FaDerricka Harvey; Harrison Downs Wood; Toby Tombers; Ann Sweezer; Chace Holland; Justin Boatman; Dr. Beverly Moon, dean of Graduate and Continuing Studies and Research (faculty advisor); Tricia Walker, director of the Delta Music Institute (faculty advisor); and Charly Abraham, instructor of Entertainment Industry Studies (faculty advisor).<\/p>\n
“It was a great team experience winning first at Delta State,” said Harvey. “It shows a a group of people can come together to shape positive ideas. We’re looking forward to competing at the state level repsenting Delta State, and seeing what other creative ideas are coming out of IHL institutions.”<\/p>\n
Groups were asked to focus their efforts in support of one of the nine goals identified by Blueprint Mississippi:<\/p>\n
-Increase the Educational Achievement of Mississippians
\n-Cultivate a More Robust Workforce in Mississippi
\n-Strengthen and Expand Mississippi\u2019s Economy
\n-Promote Health Care as an Economic Driver
\n-Support Mississippi\u2019s Creative Economy
\n-Continually Develop the Infrastructure for a Competitive Economy
\n-Increase Availability of Financial Capital
\n-Cultivate Diversity, Community Cooperation and Racial Reconciliation
\n-Improve Communication and Coordination Among Public, Private and Non-profit Leaders<\/p>\n
The winning team is responsible for a project called Mississippi Entrepreneurial Center for Creative Arts (MECCA). The MECCA will create a comprehensible, sustainable database of artists and businesses within the creative economy sector.<\/p>\n
This database, providing specific information on individual artists and creative economy support businesses, addresses the fifth BM goal \u2014 support Mississippi\u2019s creative economy.<\/p>\n