VIDALIA — The Miss-Lou got another step closer to achieving a united front against many social and economic problems at the regionalism luncheon Tuesday.

The chairperson for each of the four sub-committees set up by the Miss-Lou Steering Committee spoke at the luncheon, outlining future goals they had for their groups.

Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton opened the luncheon in the Natchez Convention Center by saying he was grateful for the cooperation of everyone in the area.

“It is great to have three chambers of commerce working together to move this area forward,” Middleton said.

The four areas in which the steering committee is working on improvement are health care, education, economic development and community development.

Sarah Smith, chairperson for the subcommittee on health care, said there are many areas of health care in which the Miss-Lou is in need of help.

“Our public needs to be educated on health care options that are available to them,” she said. “We need to work on getting health care information out to the public.”

Smith said encouraging physicians to come to the area and also encouraging patients to stay in the area for treatment are two of the biggest goals for the committee.

“Sixty percent of patients leave the Miss-Lou for health care,” Smith said. “We need our hospitals to work together to convince patients to stay in the area to be treated.”

Smith said her committee is working on ways of getting the public aware of health care options.

“In the spring we are looking at having a regional health care event,” she said. “We are going to have physicians come in and talk to the citizens about health care.”

Ruth Nichols, chairperson for the subcommittee on education, said the subcommittee is working on ways of waiving the out-of-state tuition fees for students in the region.

“We have made some progress on this,” she said. “Alcorn State University did set up a fund to alleviate tuition for 100 students this fall.”

Nichols also said the group was working on educating the parents in the area.

“If the parents are educated we will have more support for the school systems,” Nichols said. “With help from Alcorn, we are going to be doing community surveys to help get a true report of issues and concerns in the region.”

Overall, Nichols said her subcommittee is working on more support for all aspects of education.

“All educational entities, from preschool through college, need support,” she said. “A better educated community is a better overall community.”

Charlie Speed, chairperson for the subcommittee on economic development, said communication is key to having the regionalism efforts work for the Miss-Lou.

“It is vital to have a region that communicates with each other,” he said. “This will help make the Miss-Lou a better place.”

Ken Walker, chairperson for the subcommittee on community development, said his committee is working on ways of getting more information on leadership in the Miss-Lou to its residents.

“One way in which we are working on this is by creating a Lead Miss-Lou class for leaders from both sides of the river to come to and participate in,” Walker said. “We are looking for 50 participants to attend a class weekly to learn about leadership and also to help build relationships with other community members.”

Walker said getting the youth of the communities involved is also a major part of helping to develop the community.

“Development of future leaders is essential to the survival of the area,” he said.

Walker said the group is working on a Facebook page and a Web site so younger citizens can be more involved.

“Kids use Facebook,” he said. “We need to work on a Web presence as a source for community information.”

Walker also said the leaders in the area are not well known, and that is something they are looking to fix

“We are starting a leadership profile series with the local media to let citizens know who the leaders are, and who they need to come to if they are having problems,” he said.

The importance of regionalism was something Nichols said can help give the region strength.

“This whole effort is very admirable,” Nichols said. “I applaud the leaders who are making it happen.