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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Exit 100 Beautification Project

A group of merchants and citizens are working on the Exit 100 Interchange Beautification Project, dedicated to cleaning and improving the landscaping at the Exit 100 Northside Drive-Interstate-55 interchange.

BRAVO! Italian Restaurant and Broad Street Baking Company, located near the exit, each made $1,000 donations to the project. The goals of improving the space are to help increase property values, decrease crime and create a more pleasant environment.

With the help of LeFleur East—a group of residents, businesses, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, neighborhoods, churches and schools dedicated to community and property improvement—the organizers of the Exit 100 project set up a fund that recently reached $50,000 one third of its target amount. The group also got residents of Hinds County to enter into an “Adopt An Interchange” agreement with MDOT. The Hinds County Board of Supervisors passed the agreement unanimously last December.

To make a donation to the Exit 100 project, visit the Network for Good website.

St. Dominic’s New Behavioral Health Services Building

On July 11, St. Dominics Hospital (969 Lakeland Drive, 601-200-2000) completed work on its new Behavioral Health Services Building. Rather than renovate the old BHS building, which was in need of substantial repairs, St. Dominic’s razed the building and reconstructed it in phases at the same location.

St. Dominics Administrators designed the new two-story facility after touring some of the most advanced facilities in the country offering this type of care. It is 56,500 square feet on the first level and 21,500 square feet on the second level and houses 77 beds. The building houses an acute care and general psychiatric hospital.

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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.

Digital Editor Dustin Cardon is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi where he studied journalism. He started his journalism career years ago at the Jackson Free Press in Mississippi’s capital city as an intern and worked his way up to web editor, a role he now holds within the Mississippi Free Press. Dustin enjoys reading fantasy novels and wants to write them himself one day. Email him at dustin@mississippifreepress.org.