• Our deep, often troubled and always rich Southern history and culture
• Work, unemployment, job development, and the special work requirements of the 21st century
• Learning and Education, both for the young and as part of an indispensable, continuing, lifetime process
• Race, not only as a problem and a matter of guilt and dissatisfaction, but as a unique and exceptional opportunity
• Children, who after all very quickly are going to become the mainstays of our society
• The rural poor, and with them the aged who are being cut off from the mainstream by more than just geography
• Young black females in need of education, jobs and a full and proper place in society
• Getting people out of prison and into the mainstream of a secure, interesting and productive life
• Humor, common sense and generosity (as learning tools which are particularly suited to a Mississippian)

Now, that may seem to you like an awfully long list for one small operation on the World Wide Web. And indeed it is. Fact is, though, that the challenges we intend to look at here tend to cut pretty wide swaths across all these issues and our daily lives. So it is quite unlikely that we are ever going to come up with really powerful solutions to our problems and opportunities, unless we keep all the key parts of the puzzle clearly in mind. Technology, for example, can be great stuff, but it is never going to get the job unless we keep a careful eye out for the bottom line issues of society and the economy, which after all define our real challenge.

Beyond that, of course, we need to make the point that Mississippi Rising is being put forth here not as some kind of total solution, but just as one more set of willing hands and hearts, ready to go to work with you to get that barn up.

To put all this into perspective, it is useful to bear in mind that what we are trying to do here is but one more of millions of sites already out there on the Web, good, bad, indifferent and blood-curdling. Our modest goal is to see if we can push this one toward the head of that list. We are optimistic that we have the resources and the approach to do just this.

The word "technology" may possibly be a bit misleading in the present context, so perhaps we should spell out what we mean right here at the start. Our interest here is not in the showy or rarefied "Big Bang" technology, but rather, and much more simply and more importantly, in technology that impacts on people in their daily lives. Since many of these technologies have to do with information and education, it is understandable that the focus of attention will often be on computers, telecommunications and the like. These are of course important as well as fashionable issues, however, as you will soon see if you pursue some of the best of the sources that are identified in these pages, there is quite a bit more to it than that.

In the final analysis it is really the human or social impact of all this technology that is our main concern here, as opposed to the hardware and software that so often tend to take over such projects. Furthermore, and as part and parcel of this, we have also to understand that one of the main conduits of this impact is going to be via the economy and the marketplace ... both for what it is, and for what it can be made into. If we chose to do so. At the same time, we must never lose sight of the fact there is a lot more to society than just economics -- while bearing in mind though the hard fact that if we don't get the economics right, all our noble ideas and intentions are unlikely to get very far. As you will appreciate, this is no small challenge.

We have tried to be modest and pragmatic in our approach here. This site will not propose any magic wands, quick answers or guaranteed recipes for success. Rather, we have set out to build a bridge of sorts, using the power of the Internet to create a series of efficient working links between those in and around the state who are eager to reach out beyond the constraints of past and present practices in the search for new and more powerful ideas - and the growing wealth of experience, accomplishments and resources that other groups and programs have accumulated in these matters over the last years. Truth to tell, there are a great many interesting things and approaches along these lines that have already been tested and developed in various places around the globe. So there is no good reason that we here in Mississippi should be condemned to investing all our time and money in reinventing some wheel that others have discovered a long time ago. Especially if that particular wheel does not roll so well.

But the concept of partnership in situations as demanding as this runs a great deal deeper than just bringing together several public agencies into the same room. Most of these are issues which are going to require a lot more than just 'government' to get us out of. Hence, we are going to have to be on the look out for a variety of different types of public/private partnerships, which involve not only public agencies and local and state government, but also the business community, churches and religious groups, parents associations, social groupings of various sorts and yet more. This includes of course the challenge of finding ways to bring in the power of the volunteer sector (which here in Mississippi can be exceptionally strong). In all of this, what is most important is that as a result of the strong commitment and efforts of many different people and interests, the "ownership" of the project or program ends up being not in the hands of any one individual, agency or sponsor, but of the community as a whole. If it's "my" or "his" project, who cares! If it's ours, we are going to make it succeed!

We are hoping that this forum -- since it is fully independent, open, non-profit and certainly not tied to any one approach or even political philosophy (save us from this!) -- may find its uses in this respect as a stimulus as well as a communications and collaboration device. Likewise, we are hopeful that, since we are a bit footloose and thus spend a lot of time in strange places like Washington and beyond, we may even be able to turn up some partners or capabilities that might be of help in advancing some specific case or projects here. You never know.

Ours is by many of the usual indicators one of the poorest states in the Union. And whereas there is no reason to trumpet that particular bit of news (since pretty much everybody around here knows it already), it is maybe a good idea to keep it quietly in mind.

Because we are starting with quite a stack of problems and disadvantages, we are going to have to be particularly ingenious and hard working if we are to begin to turn this situation around. There are going to be no magic cures for all this. Whatever happens to improve our lot and that of our children is going to have to come from us, from the concerned individual citizens and from our abilities to get together to make good things happen through our own joint efforts. Nobody else is going to do it for us.

If we have a few problems and disadvantages relative to the rest, we also have a few things going for us. One of these is all these new technologies that are coming on line and which, if we can only get them right, can help us greatly in many of the challenges we face. Mobilize ourselves now and we may be able to do some interesting leap-frogging.

The second is that, unlike many other parts of the country, people here in Mississippi most often have a very strong identification with the place they live in, strong and weak points included. Very few of us want to run away from these challenges (even if we could). To the contrary, as other parts of the country are being met with problems of violence and out-migration, we have now people who are coming back to Mississippi.

The third is that ours is a state which is made up largely of small towns and rural communities. Now, back in the 19th and 20th centuries (yes! back then), this was seen as a major disadvantage. But here in the 21st century, we are gong to find that this is really the way that many people wan tot live. And the technologies that are coming on line now give us this option. If, of course, we get the right and in place early enough so that we can build on what we already have.

But what perhaps we have that is most valuable of all is our love of our families, the fact that many of us are finding ways to spend a lot more time with them than, say, people living in big cities,and that this opens up real opportunities for our children in their development. It is our belief, in fact, that there is one most important place to start, and that has to be our children and the educational system in the largest sense of the word (bearing in mind that one of the main places that children learn is, or at least should be, the home). If we get a jump on the new educational and communications technologies that are now coming on line, that is going to be a big help. But it will never be a substitute for thoughtfulness and our commitment to the real purposes of education and the well-being of everyone in our state.

This then is our challenge. And our opportunity.