Quitman County advances workforce center upgrades, seeks bids

Quitman County moved its 100 Roger Road workforce center into the bid phase, a key step in deciding whether the grant-funded project will become a working training site in Marks or remain a plan on paper. The county’s HUD action plan calls for renovations and upgrades to the existing Workforce Development and Training Center at 100 Roger Road, marks the site as county-owned and previously disturbed, and says no new site disturbance is expected.

The project carries HUD No. B-24-CP-MS-1296 and follows a phased path that includes design, bid advertisement, bid opening, bid review and contract prep, county board award, construction, and final inspection and closeout. County records show the paperwork had already advanced beyond the planning stage, with an executed workforce development document, engineering requests for qualifications, a request to advertise engineering and architect services, proof of publication, and addenda to the contract documents.

Bids for Workforce Development Training Center Improvements were advertised Aug. 14 and Aug. 21, 2025, and sealed bids were due Sept. 15, 2025, at 10 a.m. in Marks. An addendum dated Sept. 5, 2025, added pay item S-603-PE, 15-inch corrugated HDPE pipe, to the bid schedule. That kind of detail matters because it shows a project moving through formal procurement, not just another public promise about workforce development.

The practical question for residents is what the building will actually do once the work is finished. A renovated training center could support GED preparation, adult education and job-skills training, giving Quitman County residents a local route into better-paying work. The county’s earlier Career Empowerment Center, launched in Marks in 2020 by The Marks Project with Coahoma Community College and Northwest Mississippi Community College, served adults 18 and older and offered technical training in residential electrical wiring, welding, forklift operation and screen printing along with GED support and basic education.

That local need is clear in the numbers. Quitman County had 6,176 residents in 2020, a median household income of $32,412, a bachelor’s-degree-or-higher rate of 17.1 percent, an employment rate of 46.6 percent and 91 employer establishments in 2023. The county’s unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in February 2026, underscoring the gap between the jobs residents have now and the skills the county is trying to build.

Quitman County is also part of the Delta Local Workforce Development Area, where MDES job centers and MDHS training programs connect residents to adult education, career and technical education, and workforce services. The Quitman County Career and Technical Center at 1501 Martin Luther King Dr. in Marks adds another piece to that network, but the test for 100 Roger Road is straightforward: whether the county can turn a funded renovation into a place residents can actually use for training, credentials and a shot at steadier work.