It is, simply put, the Winner’s Circle – the 120-mile radius with Winona-Montgomery County at its center, providing fast easy access to the entire region, from Memphis, TN, to Jackson, MS; from Mississippi’s Golden Triangle to Oxford to the Delta. And the Winner’s Circle doesn’t just promise proximity, it also means cross-roads connections in a strategic convergence of interstate and U.S. highways, rail, and air, promising coast-to-coast, cost-effective reach from Mexico to Canada.

HIGHWAY:

Winona-Montgomery County highway connections include:

 I-55 – The north-south artery connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Great Lakes, I-55 crosses six states, providing critical heartland market penetration and yielding easy access to Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis; and St. Louis. A dozen Interstate junctions, including I-10, I-20, I-40, and I-90, ensure coast-to-coast omni-directional highway coverage.

U.S. 51 – The historic and legendary highway route that goes far, extending 1200 miles from New Orleans to the Wisconsin-Michigan border, U.S. 51 also goes “way back,” memorialized by blues and rock singers for generations. Today, it’s one of the multiple reasons industry sings the praises of transportation assets in Winona-Montgomery County.

U.S. 82 – As an east-west route starting at White Sands, New Mexico, and terminating in Brunswick, GA, U.S. 82 offers access to the Port of Brunswick, the second busiest ro-ro port in the nation, which also offers breakbulk and agri-bulk services.

RAIL:

Now owned and operated by RailUSA, the Grenada Railroad has a rich history that includes the legendary Casey Jones and famed passenger trains such as the City of New Orleans and the Panama Limited. Today, the line connects industry to the superior Class I service of Illinois Central Railway – now owned by Canadian Railway (CN) – which extends from Chicago through Memphis to New Orleans, where the Port of New Orleans provides deep-water service as the nation’s fourth largest port in cargo volume.

AIR:

Just one mile south of Winona’s central business district, the Winona-Montgomery County Airport is an exceptionally comfortable and convenient asset for corporate travel, with a 4,000-foot runway, ground transportation, and in-flight catering. Corporate aircraft are maintained in peak condition through the extensive and expert services of Heath Aviation, the airport’s FBO and an FAA Part 145 certified repair station specializing in avionics work, carrying the latest technology for a broad range of aircraft. Also located just over an hour away are municipal airports in Columbus and Greenville, and within an easy hour-and-a-half drive the Jackson-Evers International Airport offers service by Delta, American, United, and Southern Express Air.

Labor Shed Data

Counties	Labor Force	Unemployed	Unemployed Rate
Montgomery County	4,110	190	4.6
Grenada County	9,630	370	3.8
Webster County	3,940	180	4.6
Choctaw County	3,640	170	4.7
Attala County	6,850	390	5.6
Carroll County	3,540	180	5.2
Total	31,710	1,480	90

Source: Mississippi Labor Market Data

Building effectively requires a strong foundation. That’s especially true when you’re building an effective workforce that’s both flexible and skilled enough for global competitiveness, which is why Winona-Montgomery County is addressing every foundational need from the ground up. In the winner-takes-all global economy, the Winner’s Circle of Winona-Montgomery County isn’t just geographic and logistical, it’s also a holistic strategy connecting and driving improvements in all labor components for maximum performance.

It begins with a regional labor shed of over 37,000 and a local available force of over 2,000, in a county where the work ethic is still a powerful and empowering force. That ethic, combined with effective K-12 schooling, results in graduates who are college- and career-ready. Winona-Montgomery County adds further strength to our labor chain with participation in the ACT Work-Ready Community program. The National Career Readiness Certificate (ACT® WorkKeys® NCRC®) is an assurance of worker skill and fluency in workplace documents, applied math, and graphic literacy, all foundational to work readiness in today’s global industrial environment. While the school system facilitates this readiness – high school juniors and seniors take the NCRC exam, earning one of four levels of proficiency – local employers are also embracing the program, incentivizing workers for achievement of certification.

WorkKeys isn’t the only key to Winona-Montgomery County’s rock-solid workforce foundation; a uniquely strong network of state resources underpins the county’s carefully aimed and coordinated job training efforts that assure both custom-tailored training and critical employer support. Together, Mississippi’s local WIN employment center and Holmes Community College (HCC) work as a team with Montgomery County’s Economic Development staff to answer every employer need, from startup through expansion. That includes recruitment, targeted skills training at either HCC or on the shop floor, and even training for expansion.

When you’re building your business, it’s good to know your workforce has the right skillset and the right mindset, each facilitating the other for global performance and both powerfully supporting your success. It’s the perfect circle – the Winner’s Circle of Winona-Montgomery County.

Common Sense Economic Development, LLC and Edwards Economics, LLC has prepared a full Economic Development Analysis for the Winona-Montgomery County Area.

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