“Delta Vision, Delta Voices”

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Conclusion

President Clinton encourages all the supporters of the Mississippi Delta regional Initiative to persevere in this movement to assure that the people of this region can participate fairly and fully in the unprecedented prosperity America faces at the beginning of the new millennium. The Delta Initiative will continue to support the bipartisan, fundamental recommendations advocated in this Report, from the establishment of a permanent regional commission, to the President’s budget proposal for additional funding for the region, to the “circuit rider” proposal for technical aid to the poorest and smallest communities.

In the “information age” of the 21st Century, it is critical to listen to the voices of the Delta and disseminate information as widely as possible. The Delta Initiative encourages all people interested in the region that lies at America’s heart to provide us with your ideas and recommendations for the region’s future progress. We invite communications to the Department of Transportation’s Website at http://www.dot.gov/delta. The recommendations in this Report are part of a continuing process. A compendium will be published shortly after the May 2000 Delta Vision, Delta Voices conference in Washington, D.C. to summarize the results of that meeting. There are many ““Voices of the Delta”,” of course, in addition to those included in this Report, and we invite all of those voices to provide their thoughts for the compendium and the Delta Website. Secretary Slater and other leaders of the Initiative will continue to hold listening sessions in the region and consult with the people of the Delta.

As the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Commission wrote eloquently a decade ago, “If there is one common plea of the people from the Delta it is this: ‘What about us?’” The quest to respond to that plea requires a holistic, integrated strategy supported by the bipartisan coalition of forces emphasized throughout this Report—Federal, State, local, private business, faith-based organizations, nonprofit foundations, and grassroots organizations. The value of ethnic diversity and cooperative race relations must always be kept foremost as we pursue the lofty goals of working for the Delta’s progress. We must always promote sound environmental policies that will assure and strengthen economic development for future generations. As Vice President Gore urges in the opening of Delta Vision, Delta Voices, “Let us all join together to push for the continued success of this initiative and bring the economic prosperity of America to all Americans.”