Community Assessment and Action Plan
Mississippi is a beautiful state with so much history. Such as any state there are negatives and there are also certain health concerns that are specific to the area compared to other areas. Throughout this paper, I will review the demographics of the state as well as discuss one of the health concerns that prevail in the state of Mississippi.
State Demographics
For a little more than one hundred years, cotton was the undisputed king of Mississippi's economy. Over the last half-century, however, Mississippi has diversified its economy by balancing agricultural output with increased industrial activity.
Mississippi’s economy continues to grow with the development of oil resources. Revenue from many industrial products has surpassed those from agriculture in recent years. In the Gulf coast area there is a profitable fishing and seafood processing industry, and gambling is prevalent along the Gulf Coast and in Tunica County. There are military air facilities in Columbus, Biloxi, and Meridian, as well as the Stennis Space Flight Center at Bay St. Louis. The state's per capita income, however, has been among the lowest in the nation for decades.
Today, agriculture continues as a major segment of the state's economy. For almost four decades soybeans occupied the most, while cotton remained the largest cash crop. In 2001, however, more acres of cotton were planted than soybeans, and Mississippi jumped to second in the nation in cotton production. The state's farmlands also yield important harvests of corn, peanuts, pecans, rice, sugar cane, and sweet potatoes as well as poultry, eggs, meat animals, dairy products, feed crops, and horticultural crops. Mississippi remains the world's leading producer of pond-raised catfish.
According to the United States Census Bureau (2010), the 2010 resident census population is