Editor’s note: Mississippi Today Ideas is a platform for thoughtful Mississippians to share ideas about our state’s past, present and future. The ongoing Brain Drain series is part of that effort. You can read more about the Ideas section here.
Nearly 6,500 people have filled out our brain drain survey to date, which is more than we could have imagined when our three organizations – Mississippi Today, the University of Mississippi’s Center for Population Studies and Working Together Mississippi’s Rethink Mississippi initiative – began developing this project.
Responses have come from people living in 76 of Mississippi’s 82 counties and 48 of 50 states (looking at you, North and South Dakota). We have also received responses from Mississippi expats living in 17 countries.
The most important takeaway from the survey is obvious without even looking at the results: Many people care deeply about Mississippi’s future, even if they live far away…