Carl Small Town Center celebrates 40 years of service

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- If you live in a big town, or a small town, community development plays a vital role.

The Carl Small Town Center takes on design-projects in several cities around the state of Mississippi to help spruce them up.

Staff members in the Carl Small Town Center are recognizing all their hard work over the last four decades.

From buildings to crosswalks, this organization has implemented several adaptations for small town improvement.

Mississippi State University Carl Small Town Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

It’s a nonprofit community which serves cities in Mississippi helping with economic development.

Director Leah Kemp says the center has assisted in over 40 projects in community design.

” We bring services that cities often don’t have access to. A-lot of people don’t have access to architects or planners and we are able to provide a level of design services that help gets their projects started or even helps get their project marketing for fund-raising purposes,” said Kemp.

Carl Small Town Center has reached over 100 communities since 1979, spanning from the Gulf Coast to the Mississippi-Tennessee border.

” We’ve got projects all the way from the very first publication book and then we’ve got models, videos of projects we’ve done,”said Kemp.

One project in particular hits a little close to home…

Director of Parking and Transit Services Jeremiah Dumas says the center provided one of the most impact resources that’s in Starkville, transportation.

” So in 2004,the Carl Small Town Center did a feasibility study that evaluated our need for transit. In city they’re done several projects not only with transit, they did a study with walking paths they’ve done other types of work that through the years it took awhile to be implemented and for work to be done but obviously many have benefited from the work they continue to do, ” said Dumas.

Kemp says no project is too small or too large when it means you’re making a difference in a community.

” It’s really been amazing to have had 40 years of this center and see the impact that we’ve made over the last 4 decades. We are really hopeful that we can continue more many decades to come, ” said Kemp.

During the celebration, the Carl Small Town Center raffled off a one-day design project in a community.