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HISTORIC SCHOOL MAY GET NEW BAY ST. LOUIS ASSIGNMENT
August 1, 2009
MS-1604-07-569
Joint Information Center Media Contact:
FEMA/Mississippi News Desk: 228-594-3560
BILOXI, Miss—A piece of Bay St. Louis history may acquire a new use that will promote revitalization of the town’s Beach Boulevard Historic District, thanks to a recent agreement among federal, state and local officials.
The State Historic Preservation Officer, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District to address issues related to possible alternative uses for the Second Street School, built in 1926.
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The district decided to relocate the elementary school, vacating the historic but Hurricane
Katrina-damaged Second Street School.
“Relocation was made possible with funding from MEMA and FEMA, allowing the old school and its annex, the Ingram Building constructed in 1956, to be available for another use,” said MEMA Director Mike Womack.
The school is a central feature of the Beach Boulevard Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Katrina damaged more than 30 percent of the structures within the district, including Second Street. The 1926 building originally served as a public high school and most recently as an elementary school.
“The Second Street building is of tremendous symbolic importance to the community,” said
FEMA’s Environmental Liaison Officer Mike Grisham.
Several developers have made queries about the potential reuse of the historic structures.
The school district, knowing the architectural and historical significance of Second Street, signed an MOA along with state and federal stakeholders that stipulated how the district should proceed to find other uses for the school that would maintain its status as a resource within the Beach Boulevard Historic District.
“The negotiation of this MOA was a particular pleasure in that everyone at the table wanted the same thing – to find a new use for a historic building so that it can continue to be an important part of community life in Bay St. Louis,” Grisham said.
Points of agreement included marketing the building for three years to identify potential developers and alternative uses, protecting Second Street and the Ingram Building during those three years and appropriate rehabilitation when new uses are determined.
“The proposed reuse of the historic buildings could create jobs and help jump-start revitalization of the Beach Boulevard Historic District,” said FEMA’s Alec Watson, acting director of the Mississippi Transitional Recovery Office. “This is an example of how to successfully balance historic preservation goals with economic recovery objectives.”
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BUSY IS AS BUSY DOES: ONE MAN’S MISSION ON THE MISSISSIPPI COAST
August 1, 2009
MS-1604-07-569
Joint Information Center Media Contact:
FEMA/Mississippi News Desk: 228-594-3560
BILOXI, Miss. -- Some say if you need something done give it to a busy person. On the Coast
that would be Pastor Elijah Mitchell, a one-time employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
A Methodist minister, Mitchell served the spiritual needs of people at one church in Waveland, another in Biloxi. Hurricane Katrina took both houses of worship – and six members of his staff. Loss of those lives is not something he likes to talk about.
Mitchell prefers to focus on the events after the storm, the part when people began their lives again.
His bishop tapped him to be disaster relief coordinator for the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church. It wasn’t that he was lacking for anything to do. He was already tending to needs of the homeless along the Coast – counseling, directing some to possible housing options, providing emotional support to others.
“Mississippi owes much to people like Pastor Mitchell in this disaster recovery,” said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) Director Mike Womack. “He’s a member of an ever growing roster of individuals who have committed their time and effort to helping this state get back on its feet.”
Mitchell was chosen to help coordinate disaster relief efforts because he knows the people in the lower counties, their culture and the ins and outs of local community assistance agencies. Not an easy thing to do for someone who arrived here in 2002 – just three years before the historic storm. As a newcomer, it’s tough to get close to people on the Coast.
“Katrina proved that my past was not relevant,” Mitchell said, who once served as a U.S. Army officer and retired as a lieutenant colonel. The advantage of not bringing up his past was a working assumption before the storm. By that time, he had already cultivated an extensive network of friends and community organizers and activists. “I didn’t bring my culture with me. I developed an understanding of the locals.”
FEMA staffers out in the front lines after the hurricane noticed Pastor Mitchell. It was hard not to
notice this man who got things done in the midst of chaos – connecting people and services and coordinating disaster relief among agencies. It wasn’t long before people at FEMA spoke with him about what he knew about the lay of the land and then encouraged him to join their ranks at the MEMA/FEMA Joint Field Office.
Mitchell joined FEMA and still kept all his other commitments to his bishop and community organizations and to the homeless. He served with the agency for nine months, where he helped in the formation of Long Term Recovery Committees.
“I loved working for FEMA,” Mitchell said. But there was much that beckoned him to his other life.
Today he tends a new flock at the H.A. Brown United Methodist Church in Wiggins, a long drive from the Gulfport area where he lives with his wife, daughter and granddaughter, all assistants in his endeavors. He serves as a board member of the Mississippi Interfaith Disaster Task Force (IDTF) and with Coastal Family Health as outreach coordinator in Biloxi and Gulfport. Mitchell is a member of the Open Doors Coalition in Gulfport and the Steps Coalition in Biloxi; both organizations serve the homeless. As a member of the Biloxi Lion’s Club, Mitchell assists in their initiatives to help those seeking shelter. He also serves Project Safe Space, a ministry of the United Methodist Church.
“It’s hard to pinpoint what I do,” said Mitchell who has his cell phone on 24/7. “It all goes back to my homeless ministry.”
Many appreciate his work in that ministry. In March, Pastor Mitchell was lauded for his “tireless” work with the homeless by the Mutual of America Foundation. It came as a surprise because the foundation traveled to Biloxi to present their Community Partnership Award to IDTF at a luncheon.
The foundation, a subsidiary of Mutual Of America Life Insurance Company, presented a $15,000 check to the faith-based disaster relief organization, for whom Mitchell serves. But Mutual of America also recognized him with an award for his outstanding efforts helping the homeless.
It may be hard to pinpoint what Pastor Mitchell does, but it’s easy to appreciate him for all he does. Next on his plate: expanding his homeless ministry to Stone County.
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