West Jones celebrates a victory in the Mississippi High School Activities Association 5A football championship in December 2020 at Mississippi Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. Photo: Keith Warren

#JXNMS is in the news and we’ve got the good stuff! In case you missed it, here are a handful of positive, uplifting features from the past couple of weeks.

The Mississippi High School Activities Association state football championships are staying in Jackson for 2021. MHSAA Executive Director Rickey Neaves confirmed to the Clarion Ledger on Thursday that the 2021 football championships will again be held at Veterans Memorial Stadium. The championship games for 1A through 6A will be held on Dec. 3 and 4.

The Mississippi Museum of Art (MMA) announced it is a recipient of a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The $100,000 grant will support the fabrication of commissioned works for the upcoming exhibition A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awarded a total of $3.8 million to 50 organizations from around the country and Canada to support the vital work they do with artists and communities still reeling from the pandemic.

Residents and city leaders in Mississippi’s capital are working together on a vision for the city to cover the next two decades. At a meeting last week in south Jackson, five key issues were discussed: housing, the environment, neighborhoods, administration and mobility.

After being canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19, the Jackson Black Rodeo is returning to the Mississippi Coliseum. The 18th annual event is slated for July 9 and 10 and will feature hundreds of participants from across the Southeast. Hear from organizer/owner Jarriett Edwards Thursday at noon on My City TV.

Mississippi’s only children’s hospital, Children’s of Mississippi, received a $1,000,000 donation from The First, which is a national banking association. The funds from The First’s campaign will help fund construction at the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at the children’s hospital in Jackson. Hospital leaders said they hope the donation will help the hospital continue to grow.

Announcing a $1 million gift from The First, A National Banking Association, to the Campaign for Children’s of Mississippi are, from left, C. Jerome Brown, executive vice president of The First; M. Ray “Hoppy” Cole, president and CEO of The First; Dr. Mary Taylor, Suzan B. Thames Chair, professor and chair of pediatrics; and Children’s of Mississippi CEO Guy Giesecke. Image: UMMC