MidSouth Regional Roundtables
The MidSouth Region is at a tipping point. For years we have seen our population decline while the rest of the southeast is growing. Growing communities have one thing in common: Jobs. And in our region, we have the potential in the next 10 years to see the most rapid job growth in our history.
MDD’s Regional Employment Forecast (released in late 2025) demonstrated three levels of potential job growth: Status Quo (30,000 jobs); Moderate (70,000 jobs) and High Growth (100,000 jobs). The difference between these goals is whether we build up the MidSouth to attract the higher levels of jobs through: increased workforce training, more housing, transportation solutions and resilient utility infrastructure.
To accomplish this goal, we must work together as a regional team and focus on making it easier to implement the solutions.
Join us in 2026 at a series of Regional Roundtables to bring together public, private, nonprofit, and community stakeholders to build relationships, identify shared priorities, and lay the foundation for long-term, region-wide impact.
The first MidSouth Regional Roundtable will take place on January 8 from 8:00am to 4:30pm at The Great Hall & Conference Center in Germantown. Here, we will identify what we need to do regionally to make it easier for everyone in our community to meet their goals, state by state, county by county, city by city and neighborhood by neighborhood.
About the Roundtables
MDD’s Regional Roundtables are designed to bring critical regional conversations into one shared space. The day is divided into four sessions. Each session focuses on a key issue (workforce development, housing, transportation, and utility infrastructure) shaping the Mid-South, offering participants the chance to dive into the topics they care about most while benefiting from being part of a larger, interconnected network of leaders.
By hosting these conversations side-by-side over the course of a single day, the Roundtable aims to:
Identify the data needed to make informed decision in the focus areas.
Build cross-sector relationships and networks
Increase accountability toward region-wide goals
Lay the groundwork for coordinated federal funding efforts
Create opportunities for insights to flow across topic areas
Our hope is that you will come to the session focused on your daily work and stay the full day to elevate the interconnectedness between all of the focus areas. Each session will be professionally facilitated to support productive dialogue, inclusive participation, and actionable outcomes.
As the Roundtables continue, future sessions will be supported by shared dashboards tracking key indicators and providing a transparent view of regional progress and gaps. These tools will help partners stay aligned over time and make data-informed decisions across topic areas.