Series 106: Northeast Regional Office Files. 1985-1991. Economic and Community Development (RG 76).

Files of the Northeast Regional Office of the Dept. of Economic and Community Development (DECD) comprised largely of small business development project files, with a few related office files. The DECD regional offices offered convenient and comprehensive assistance to area businesses and entrepreneurs seeking to start or expand small retail or manufacturing business ventures. Office staff offered counseling and support to clients in developing business plans and marketing strategies, in securing financing, and in clarifying the client’s needs and goals. The Northeast Regional Office worked with the following counties:  Alcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Prentiss, Pontotoc, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, and Webster. These files originated in the DECD Northeast Regional Office known as the Northeast Manufacturing Assistance Center (NMAC or NEMAC), which worked closely with other business development agencies [including the Mississippi Research and Development Center (MRDC), the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the DECD’s own Mississippi Business Assistance Center (MBAC) and the University of Mississippi Small Business Development Center]. The office became the DECD Northeast Regional Office (around 1990?) and its efforts were focused primarily on providing assistance in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration (USSBA).    The project/subproject files usually contain routine information forms maintained by office counselors noting the client’s name, proposed business/business expansion, hours spent in counseling, and brief notations on project status. The files also include numerous supporting materials – client’s financial situation and business experience (tax returns, independent audits, statements of net worth, current inventories, credit reports, assets and liabilities, resumes), project ideas (blueprints for expansion, photographs of proposed products), projections for project (feasibility studies, demographic studies, cost estimates for construction or inventories), and financing possibilities (bank loans, Small Business Administration loans and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)).