Successful destination branding is usually the answer to questions like this
Seriously, they can take all the federal aid they want, but until they find industries appropriate for the state and have a workforce of educated, skilled labor (unskilled laborers have stopped leaving en masse like they did from 1930 to 1980 because they are unable to afford housing elsewhere - lots of downward pressure on wages for all workers as a result), the state won't be getting anywhere. Like anyplace else, they need to have competent local government with ideas to attract businesses or other sources of money. Something tells me that their local politicians are likely afraid of borrowing money (the old Southwest has always been the source of absurd banking fears) even though I don't have the data to back that up rn. Their US representatives like Thad Cochran are forced to just bring home the bacon in the form of welfare since most other funding for legitimate projects is getting torn apart by the TEA Party. Beyond labor movement, New Deal programs were one of the biggest reason for their huge catch-up, but that stalled for a number of reasons, and I believe regional bank lending dropped off at the same time. Those three factors plus the lack of education are the reasons they are unsuccessful at the moment though I can't offer immediate particular fixes.
A big problem is knowing where to start redeveloping. You have to bring in capital from somewhere since most people there don't have much to spend it on. Without knowing much about the state, Biloxi is probably the obvious place to start. Alabama is attempting to push their beaches. Conveniently located between there and New Orleans. They have an airport and casino, which is a decent start, but I'm not sure how successful it is at getting out-of-staters for trips, and having the poor locals gambling probably isn't helping matters. Even there though, it's hard to think of where to branch out beyond that since everything is so spread out. Oxford, Starkville, and Hattiesburg are all so far apart, and the schools don't bring all that many out-of-staters, so it's tough to work on developing those areas like many other states do to their college towns. And who is even thinking about visiting or operating in Jackson? Maybe Vicksburg's location can attract some sort of business if the city works with potential suitors. But maybe two cities are not going to turn the whole state around, and the rural places are beyond hope. If I was in the state government, I'd consider directing resources to those two places, and literally just hope rural folk are receptive to moving there.
I'd like to think a wealthier Memphis would be a good start, but I just don't see why those people would visit MS when everything's across the state.
Maybe pilot programs with businesses to operate in the college towns that lessen the cost of attendance. That's a legitimate project to test out.
