Video: Research Gives First Impressions of Amory

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AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – People in Amory want you to know what you think of their town. They recently completed a study to get visitors’ impressions. They talked about those findings in a town hall meeting Thursday night.

The city of Amory participated in the First Impressions program to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses as a community.

Joe Fratesi at MSU’s Stennis Institute presented the findings.

“We want to get an idea of what it’s like for a 1st time visitor to be in that community. We want to look at all the good things that are there as well as some of the opportunities for improvement,” says Fratesi.

The Stennis Institute conducted the study over a 6-month period and reviewed things like the city’s entrances, the downtown as well as commercial and residential areas.

“Amory is a great community and we went through and looked at some of the great things they have. Like obviously, being right on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. Having the presence of things like the Gilmore Foundation and the Regional Hospital here. They’ve got a lot that’s been going on with their downtown area and they actually had more commercial development than what we had expected,” says Fratesi.

Amory Main Street Manager Lorie Bryant says now their challenge is to take their findings and create a plan.

“We will meet again into a core group of different individuals and volunteers from tonight’s meeting. We will set up a strategic plan of action for us to take as a city,” says Bryant.

The First Impressions program has been used in more than 100 communities throughout Mississippi.

Amory’s participation in the First Impressions program is a part of the Mississippi Community Action Project.

It’s funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission.