Citizen Portal
Sign In

Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!

Get email alerts on the Workforce Innovation topic

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

Accelerate Mississippi asks for $5.3 million to support operations, data systems and grant-making

Mississippi Senate Appropriations Committee (informational hearings) · January 15, 2024
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Courtney Taylor, executive director of Accelerate Mississippi, told the Appropriations subcommittee the office requests $5.3 million for FY26 to support Talent Solutions, data systems and day-to-day operations, including $500,000 to improve a unified data-management user experience; the office did not request additional career coaches.

Courtney Taylor, executive director of Accelerate Mississippi, briefed the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the agencyprograms and a one-page budget ask for FY26.

Taylor said Accelerate operates Talent Solutions, the career coach program (203 career coaches statewide), the Mississippi Works Fund and Equip Mississippi (a K-12 equipment grant program). For FY26 the office requested $5,300,000 to cover operations and data-systems support, including $3,100,000 for personnel-related increases and two new positions (communications specialist and database specialist), as well as level funding for career coaches.

On the data platform, Taylor asked for $500,000 to enhance the user experience of a uniform data-management system that the office received $1,500,000 to begin building last year. She said the $500,000 would not expand program scope but would improve reporting and usability for stakeholders.

Committee members praised Accelerate's early work and asked about technology, vendor selection, staffing and the office's decision to right-size ecosystem coordinators from 10 to five with expanded responsibilities. Taylor said the office has adjusted staffing using project funds and is refining internal operations to support larger projects.

The hearing recorded the request and committee feedback; no appropriation vote occurred during the session.