9/30/2014 - Jackson, Miss.

The deadline for students to enter the Blueprint Mississippi Social Business Challenge is tomorrow, Wednesday, October 1, 2014. The Blueprint Challenge gives students from Mississippi Public Universities the opportunity to develop business plans to tackle some of Mississippi's most pressing problems and help reach the goals established by Blueprint Mississippi.

The application is available online at www.mississippi.edu and only requires the name of the team, names of team members, brief biographical information on the chair and co-chair, the name of the faculty advisor and contact information for faculty advisor. Open to any public university student, the challenge requires students to work in teams with at least one faculty advisor. Teams must have a minimum of three and a maximum of six students.

Students are asked to focus their efforts in support of one of the nine goals identified by Blueprint Mississippi. In 2012, Blueprint Mississippi, an independent cooperative of organizations and leaders conducted an objective review of Mississippi's economic opportunities and recommended actions for putting Mississippi in the place of greatest opportunity, identified nine goals to enable a more prosperous, vibrant, and resilient Mississippi, built upon a foundation of economic opportunity for all its citizens.

The nine Blueprint Mississippi goals include:

1. Increase the Educational Achievement of Mississippians
2. Cultivate a More Robust Workforce in Mississippi
3. Strengthen and Expand Mississippi's Economy
4. Promote Health Care as an Economic Driver
5. Support Mississippi's Creative Economy
6. Continually Develop the Infrastructure for a Competitive Economy
7. Increase Availability of Financial Capital
8. Cultivate Diversity, Community Cooperation and Racial Reconciliation
9. Improve Communication and Coordination Among Public, Private and Non-profit Leaders

The goals of the Blueprint Mississippi Social Business Challenge are to encourage students to develop ideas for solving Mississippi's most pressing problems, while learning important lessons about planning, teamwork and presenting ideas.

More information is available on Mississippi Public Universities' website and will be posted on Twitter @MSPublicUniv.

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The Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning governs the public universities in Mississippi, including Alcorn State University; Delta State University; Jackson State University; Mississippi State University including the Mississippi State University Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine; Mississippi University for Women; Mississippi Valley State University; the University of Mississippi including the University of Mississippi Medical Center; and the University of Southern Mississippi.

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