NATCHEZ &045;&045; A University of Mississippi community development expert will be back in Natchez next week to help citizens develop long-range plans for improving quality of life.

Vaughn Grisham, director of the McLean Institute for Community Development at the University of Mississippi, held initial community meetings in March.

The meetings, as well as those set for Monday and Tuesday upstairs at the Natchez Convention Center, were sponsored by Vision Natchez, a group of citizens concerned with community development.

In the March meetings, Grisham gave examples of communities that have turned themselves around. He also encouraged the Natchez group first to complete a short-term project to improve the community, improve morale and show it could be done. That resulted in a communitywide cleanup project that took place in the spring.

Monday and Tuesday’s meetings will be more in depth, inviting any interested citizens to help formulate a long-range community development plan.

&uot;We’ll be getting down to the nitty gritty of what we can do to improve the community,&uot; said Rena Jean Schmeig, an organizer and founder of Vision Natchez.

Grisham said he wants local residents to determine what results from next week’s meetings.

&uot;I won’t come with any preset ideas about what Natchez should do &045;&045; it just grows out of what your (community’s) assets are,&uot; Grisham said Wednesday.

Instead, Grisham said he will present the quality of life improvement projects other communities have undertaken and will mostly let participants come up with their own ideas.

&uot;It will be more workshop-style&uot; than March’s meetings, he said.

Grisham has worked in community revitalization for 35 years.

Grisham’s meetings are set for 9 to 11 a.m., 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday and 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

He will also speak at a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Monday at the Natchez Eola Hotel. Lunch will be $13 per person, and tickets can be reserved by calling the Natchez Chamber of Commerce at 445-4611.