Merced Ahead is based on a simple premise: Our county is a great place to live, work and raise a family. Members include long-time residents who are ready for change; but not at the expense of tradition, history and heritage.

Others have come from far and wide, appreciating what they discovered and now ready to join forces with new friends and neighbors to move Merced ahead.

Founded on principles that transformed Tupelo, Mississippi from a dying cotton town in one of the poorest counties around into a thriving and prosperous community.

Vaughn Grisham, a sociologist who both studied and participated in Tupelo’s economic metamorphosis, visited Merced last year.

“The next break-through in social and economic development will not be in Tupelo,” he has said. “It will be somewhere else – and I’m looking for where that will be.”

After spending time in our community and meeting with leaders, Grisham declared that conditions in our county provide advantages not available in Mississippi.

His advice is to begin with small, tangible goals and to focus on team-building.

Merced Ahead is following that advice. Several groups have formed and are seeking what Grisham calls “low hanging fruit” – projects that can be undertaken soon and completed quickly in order to gather momentum for larger victories down the road.

–David Burke, Americorp