Local officials and community leaders posed to cameras Thursday morning on Farish Street as they dug their ceremonial shovels into the symbolic dirt pile in front of them. The symbolism, they hope, is the continued momentum around rebuilding the historic but largely abandoned downtown Jackson neighborhood.

Nonprofits 2C Mississippi, Farish Street Community of Shalom, and the city’s urban renewal group, Jackson Redevelopment Authority, held the groundbreaking for a new green space between Amite Street and James Meredith Drive. Organizers see the project as both a communal gathering place as well as a shelter and heat sponge.

“This is a historic moment on Farish Street,” said Dorothy Davis, executive director of the Farish Street Community of Shalom.

The groups first announced the green s

See Full Page