A resource team consisting of professionals from Mississippi and South Carolina was in Picayune on Monday to perform an evaluation as part of a $70,000 grant that has been awarded to Picayune Main Street.

Picayune Main Street Manager Reba Beebe said in a phone interview Thursday that the team will return next week with their findings and recommendations for the area.

“The grant is to help us keep all information up to date about what’s going on in Picayune. People are turning more and more to the internet for information, and a lot of Picayune’s websites are not very up-to-date,” Beebe said.

The group was comprised of Mississippi Main Street Association Executive Director Bob Wilson, MMSA Southern District Director Stacy Pair, Principal Randy Wilson of Community Design Solutions in Columbia, S.C. and Tripp Muldrow, an urban planner with Arnett Muldrow and Associates in Greenville, S.C.

“When they come back, they’ll have more people with them, and they’ll show us how to work on stuff like landscape designs, traffic suggestions for downtown and things like that. They will also provide training and classes on website design and software,” Beebe said.

The team was also scheduled to visit other Main Street communities across the lower six counties, including Ocean Springs, Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Pascagoula.

Findings will allow Mississippi Main Street to prioritize and schedule services and technical assistance to the Main Street communities in the lower six counties most affected by hurricane Katrina.

The grant that is funding the program was part of a $500,000 grant that was awarded to the lower six counties that is being divided among the Main Street communities.

“Each community will get around $70,000, and about $50,000 of that will be used toward this community development and technical support program,” Beebe said.