Contact: Sammy McDavid
Three cities are winners of special achievement honors given for the third year by the John C. Stennis Institute of Government at Mississippi State University.
Olive Branch, Tupelo and West Point recently received 1998 Innovations of Municipal Government Awards. The awards program is sponsored in cooperation with the Mississippi Municipal Association.
Olive Branch was cited for achievements in management, governance and the arts; Tupelo, for protective services; and West Point, for community service. Specifically:
--Olive Branch was honored for creating a new administrative position that works both to provide special projects involving the city's youth and to constantly seek public and private grants that support the projects;
--Tupelo, for starting an alternative juvenile crime program called YOU R BUSTED, the acronym for Youth Offenders Under Restraint by Using Tough Education and Discipline; and
--West Point, for creating the non-profit West Point Community Foundation to address funding issues in an era of dwindling federal and state funds.
"These awards were created to encourage and reward novel and successful approaches and to spread the word about what can and has worked" in municipal government, said Stennis Institute executive director Marty Wiseman.
Mississippi's nearly 300 municipalities make up the largest single group of government units in the state, he added.
Named for Mississippi's former U.S. senator and MSU graduate, the Stennis Institute works to enhance state and local government through research, training and technical assistance programs; to conduct research and provide assistance specifically focusing on rural development; and to promote civic education and citizen involvement in the political process.