The Mississippi Free Press is committed to fostering dialogue across race, ethnicity, economic status, political parties, gender and religious beliefs. MFP’s Solutions Circles help provide a platform for these conversations where Mississippians can not only address challenges but also imagine solutions.
MFP convened a Greenville Solutions Circle in Greenville, Mississippi, on Oct. 20, 2026, when 30 people gathered at the CB&S Bank building. This marks our second visit to Greenville and a continuance of Solutions Circles across the Mississippi Delta over the last year, including in Greenwood and Clarksdale. The attendees discussed challenges such as economic development, gun violence, education and racism.
You can read more about our prior Solutions Circles here.
Gun Violence and Public Safety
Problems:
- Greed and jealousy
- Revenge/dislike
- Hate crimes/prejudice
- Weapons
- Mental health
- Learned aggression
- Bullying
- Systemic racism
- Desperation/poverty
- Difficult home life
- Boredom/thrill-seeking
- Despair
- Lack of attention
- Chaos
- Trauma
- Self-defense
- Anger
- Intoxication/drugs
Solutions:
- Confession circles
- Therapy
- Stronger gun laws
- Dialogue circles
- Home checkups
- Alcohol laws
- Drug laws
- Mental health workers at school
- Spread out kids with bad behavior
- Question adult assumptions about bad kids
- More support/training for parents
- Hygiene/food bags
- Class assistants
- Check-ins/background checks
- Hand-me-downs
- Turn into bullying, which turns into violence, which turns into self-harm
- Taking bullying reports more seriously
- Adults taking responsibility
Education and Youth Engagement
Problems:
- Mental health and the stigma surrounding it
- Not being cooperative with mental health priorities
- Parents and educators not wanting to discuss substance abuse prevention
- Lack of youth-focused activities
- Parental involvement with schools
- Parents present were not good examples
- Pressures around state testing
- Self-esteem
- Emotional and regulation development
- Gun violence ties back to this
- Lack of college role models
- Lack of leadership involvement
- Questioning if leaders care
- Lapses of communication among community leadership
- Youth agency, lack of youth advocating for themselves
- Not being confident about themselves
- Teachers’ support
- Lack of trusted adults
- Issues with being prepared to work with the children
Solutions:
- Collaboration among youth based organizations
- Focus on mental health and self-esteem
- More youth empowerment
- More safe spaces for youth and communities
- Leadership development
- Create more after school programming
- Community coalition
- Invite youth and adults
- Interacting with PTA
- Be more adaptable
Economic and Professional Development
Problems:
- Lack of qualified workers
- Digital integration
- Digital skills lacking
- AI
- Not knowing basic computer skills
- Schools
- No follow-up to training
- Not getting big economic projects
- Lack of soft skills training
- Costs
- People leave once they are trained
- Disconnects
- Employers need workers, people need jobs. Where’s the disconnect?
- Fingerpointing between stakeholders
- Resource distribution
Solutions:
- Reinvest in downtown
- Work with other counties
- Think regionally
- Digital education
- Focus on K-12
- Digital infrastructure
- Hold elected officials accountable
Racism and Hate
Problems:
- Racism
- Inclusion
- Mental health
- Black-owned businesses left out of community decision-making
Solutions:
- Unequal treatment of all businesses / Equal treatment of all businesses
- Respect for all stakeholders in downtown decisions
- Mental health support for seeking help
- Seeking treatment is not taboo
- Form a group talking about how drugs impact the community in a negative way
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