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As the old adage says, “The best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.”

There is no doubt that Natchez and Adams County has a long way to go when it comes to replacing the hundreds of jobs that have been lost in the last several decades.

By now, most residents can recite by heart the timeline of plant closures that have contributed to the steady decrease in population for the area.

Trying to find one business that will suddenly bring Natchez back to its heyday is unrealistic.

Instead of a silver bullet, local leaders have “Project Silver.”

On Tuesday, City leaders authorized Mayor Dan Gibson to enter into a grant agreement with the Mississippi Development Authority in order to receive no more than $260,000 in MDA grant money on behalf of the city for the purpose of completing infrastructure related to “Project Silver,” the code name for a project that could bring the city 200 jobs or more.

The announcement of the project by Natchez Inc. Director Chandler Russ is welcome news to the area. The new business associated with “Project Silver” would be located in the former Regions Bank Building on Franklin Street.

With Gibson’s plans for a variety of new projects, we hope that Russ’ announcement is the first in a string of good news announcements for the area.

“Project Silver” may not be the silver bullet, but it could be the first “small bite” that helps consume the area’s mammoth unemployment problem.