The Global Archives of the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs

Delta Pace, Mississippi

BACKGROUND

NAME ORIGIN: It is named for one of the men who bought and cleared the land in 1905.

GEOGRAPHY: Pace is located in the center of Bolivar County, Mississippi, 12 miles east of the Mississippi River. It is in the Delta, an alluvial plain resulting from the deposits of the flooding of the river.

POPULATION: Approximately 20,000 people left Bolivar County during the past 20 years, resulting leaving four stores where 17 once served and the closing of the railroad, high school, and many Pace businesses. The population had decreased to 630 with a high proportion being elders and over half of the citizens racing a major portion of their income from welfare at the time of the Human Development Consult.

CHALLENGES: This is some of the most fertile soil in the world. The major farming crops being cotton, rice and soybeans. However only 5 percent of the residents owned any farmland. Because of the mechanization of cotton production and the minimum wage law, employment in the area decreased drastically.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

By 1980 the people of Delta Pace celebrated the following accomplishments:

  • A total of $1,816,050 investment has been secured from the private sector and the public sector for use in community projects.
  • 25 new fulltime jobs for adults and 21 part-time jobs for youth represent a 15% increase of new jobs since October, 1977.
  • Residents consulted with the Mississippi Research & Development Center to create a Comprehensive Plan for Delta Pace including total land use, a sewer system, water systems, housing designs totalling $1,600,000.
  • Community Pride has blossomed with revitalization of the Main street, renovation of several buildings, the new Pace Town Hall, Pace Post Office and community playground.
  • Delta Pace has served as a sign of possibility to Mississippi where over 400 Town Meetings have been held the last three years.
  • A community preschool has provided employment for 9 people and serves 87% of the preschool population
  • Approximately 1/6 of the population has joined community service groups.

DOCUMENTS

“One of the Band of 24 Social Demonstrations was Delta Pace. Bishop James Mathews, Joe Mathews brother visited there recently and brought back great news!  He said there is a new Senate Building Town Hall, Post Office paved streets, a water and sewage system, and public housing. Bishop Jim went to the Mayor’s Office and met an African American woman who said to him, “These improvements have been made in the last 30 years since the ICA came there. There is night and day difference. I was in the Consult which the ICA hosted for us, and it transformed my life. I was in high school; and I ended up a person of intention and of value. I went on to Delta State Unversity; and I am now a techer in Rosedale. In Delta Pace, they named a street “Joseph Wesley Mathews”, and the cross street is called “Edie Washington Street”.  Joseph Mathews and you, Bishop James Mathews, called on the parents of Edie who was killed in a windstorm.”

                                                       ~~  Betty Pesek, November 29, 2005

has been added to the cart. View Cart