It’s been just over a year since Greenwood native and Moorhead resident Frederick Lewis Washington came aboard as the Sunflower County Economic Development Director and the retired Army colonel has been hard at work promoting the county and implementing measures to spur its economic growth.
Washington assumed his new role on January 1, 2019, after the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors announced his appointment at one of their December 2018 meetings.
During the last 12 months Washington has traveled to various workshops and trainings and is on a path to become a certified economic developer. He said that certification will enhance his credibility with potential employers and alert them that they are working with someone who is knowledgeable of the potential success or failure of their company within the county.
Washington said that at a recent conference held in Colorado, he gained knowledge of a formula that would aid him in what he’s trying to do here. A.B.C.D., stands for Asset Based Community Development. According to him, it’s a practice whereby you take whatever assets you have on hand and use them to your advantage.
Working with the board of trustees for economic development and the board of supervisors, Washington has hopes of devising a plan. “But it can’t just be my plan. I need folks in the community to come up with a plan, lets work together. I can assist what they’re doing, I can endorse what they’re doing, but if it comes from the community then they have ownership in it,” he said.
He stressed that participation needs to be from a city, county, state and federal level. “We’ve had some great success over the past 12 months, unbelievable,” he said, “And I’m very proud of what we have done here so far.” However, Washington acknowledged that things sometime take longer here in the Delta than he would like.
On his list of accomplishments is the acquisition of a $450,000 grant that he assisted Delta Protein International in receiving that was used for plant expansion; plus an additional $320,000 grant that was used to improve the road leading up to the plant.
Additionally, two solar farms are in the works with construction on the first one set to start in September of this year. More recently, he got approval from the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors to participate in project Aspire Mississippi, an application-based initiative that is designed to build greater capacity in Mississippi counties.
The project will allow local stakeholders to receive relevant training and community-based projects that should result in significant and sustainable community and economic development outcomes. Washington said, “We’re going to try something that hadn’t been tried.”
Washington is originally from Leflore County, but moved to Moorhead when he was around 11-years-old in 1970. “We were already going to church in Moorhead,” he said. He attended Gentry High School until the 11th grade when he left to attend Tougaloo College, where he graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.
One of the goals of his office is to stop high school graduates from leaving and not coming back. “That’s what I had to do, I left to go make some money to try to be successful because there was just such limited opportunities here at the time. But now I’m asking peers and young folk, next generation, let’s get involved, let’s take our ideas and develop something, lets work together to make something happen here,” he said.
He is about providing opportunities to aid in recruiting people to stay in the area.
One of his first work experiences was with one of his family’s businesses in Texas, where he worked until 1983 before returning to Mississippi.
He joined the National Guard in Moorhead before attending Jackson State University as a graduate student where he joined the ROTC. After three years as an armor man, Washington went on active duty as a commissioned second lieutenant in military intelligence. “I worked for the government in a lot of hush-hush programs,” he said.
Washington is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the last five years of his military career were spent in biometrics and forensics “I led up the effort for all of the services, for Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines to build all of the future systems that are going to be used for biometrics and forensics,” he said.
Washington said of his military accomplishments, "It was all about being in the right place at the right times.” As for his degree in political science, “The political science just helped me to understand how the government works,” said Washington.
As an officer he got to work both in uniform and civilian clothes. “I got to do all of the fancy and great things you only read about. It was a great career and very few people get to operate on that level,” he said.
While in the military, Washington also acquired several other degrees including a master’s in military arts and science from the Commander General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth plus a degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University. He explained, “I can go into any country and conduct an operation. I know how to coordinate with the government to make things happen.”
Washington said it was a combination of all of his experiences and training that prepared him for his current role as the economic development director. “Being able to coordinate with agencies both inside of the government and outside of the government,” he added.
He asserts that one of his greatest undertakings while in the military is the JPIV2 program, which stands for Joint Personnel Identity Version 2. It’s used to capture an image, eye retina and fingerprint. “It can take that information and send it to a national database and determine whether or not this guy is wanted," he said.
He stressed that the application is not for domestic use, but is intended to identify those who may be on a national watch list. “It gives immediate feedback to the soldier on the field…detain, capture or arrest. It will tell you what to do,” he said.
According to him, the device is expensive, which is why they are holding off on deploying it for now. However, when the technology is called into service, Washington said the intent is to manufacture it here in Sunflower County. “Because this is home and this place is in need,” he said.
Washington credits several acronyms and abbreviations from his military experience that served as guides for his growth. Among them is DIME, which he said evokes the elements of national power. “If you can understand those and learn how to fit into those you can make anything work with the government,” he said.
And another is TRADOC, which he explained was about finding out what is missing and what is needed.
Washington explained that in his youth, while living in Sunflower County, he considered this as flourishing. “Moving off of the farm, I thought Sunflower County had it going on, but we’ve lost a big step. Rather than complain about it, I’m trying to do something about it,” he said.
He projects that the key is to develop an interest and reestablish hope. He knows that one of his objectives is to bring in jobs and industry, but he asserts that a greater need is to have people who are trained, ready and willing to work.
“We have a lot of people here who are not willing to work,” he said, “We’ve got to reach out and inspire, find a way to inspire people to do a lot because right now they’re sitting on their behinds and waiting on a check or waiting on somebody to give them a handout,” said Washington.
He continued, “Everybody wants to be a millionaire, but they don’t want to put in the work. People will say, ‘I want to be a doctor,’ but they don’t want to put in the work to become that doctor; so that’s what I’m seeing. So teaching people realistic goals - that’s the part that’s missing,” he said.
In his opinion, the problem generates from several different things, but he indicated that the lack of values is the most significant. “One reason I was successful with the military is because they had values and they were very inline with what I was taught at home. The home training I had set me up for success,” said Washington.
LDRSHIP was the acronym for the Army’s value system. It is an abbreviation of the word leadership that stands for loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.
Washington assured that he is not “pointing fingers” at anyone in particular, but sees that as something that needs to be done overall.
He is also urging people to come up with their own entrepreneurial ideas as a way of becoming empowered. “I will connect them with the money sources in Jackson and at the federal level to try to finance their ideas to get them funded,” he said.
Washington is not just pushing for others to step up, he said his family expects to break ground soon on a big venture with recently acquired land in Moorhead. “We’re proud of where we came from and when people come to see it, we want to have something to show,” he said
The 28-year Army veteran retired in March of 2014.
