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                    "Christopher Thompson, founder and president of Starkville Voices, points to City Hall Thursday in Starkville. Thompson founded Starkville Voices, a nonprofit civic engagement group, earlier this year to promote interest and participation from residents in both county and city affairs. Braden Simmons/Dispatch Staff\t\n\t\t\tWhen Christopher Thompson moved from Kosciusko to attend Mississippi State University in 2016, he wanted to get a real taste for Starkville after hearing about it all his life.\nHoping to get a taste of the true local experience, he started at the place where he knew opinions would fly free \u2013 the barbershop.\nIt only took a few cuts at Touch of Luv Barber and Beauty Salon for Thompson to realize residents really had great ideas for improving the city; they just weren\u2019t effectively making their way to the local officials who could bring them to reality.\n\u201cI would sit over there just quiet, but at the same (time in my) mind I was saying, \u2018Wow, everybody has these ideas and things of that nature,\u2019 and they weren\u2019t presenting it in a hostile way,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThey were just saying that we need a Starkville for all communities, and when we get there, Starkville will rise to be what it needs to be.\u201d\nThat sent Thompson on a nearly decade-long journey that culminated in the creation of Starkville Voices, a nonprofit with a focus on promoting civic engagement in the city and in Oktibbeha County more broadly.\nThompson, 28, founded the group in May, and since then he has seen the group\u2019s Facebook page grow to more than 1,300 followers. The group officially became a nonprofit in August.\nThompson said his goal in starting the group was to show others the lesson he has learned during his decade in Starkville, which is that participation can make a difference.\n\u201cYour mayor, your board of supervisors, they just have a title,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThey\u2019re just people. Go and have those conversations with (them like) you\u2019re talking to a friend \u2026 And let them know what\u2019s going on as well because we can\u2019t expect them to know (about issues), if we don\u2019t let our voices be heard and tell them what\u2019s going on.\u201d\nMoving to Starkville\nThompson originally enrolled in MSU as an elementary education major because of his work in high school instructing kids through after-school programs. He knew he wanted a career where he could make a difference, and teaching seemed like a straightforward avenue.\nDuring his sophomore year, though, a professor teaching a political leadership course opened his eyes to the world of politics and the direct impact governments have on the daily lives of residents, which made him rethink his original career aspirations.\nAfter pivoting his major to political science, Thompson began scouring the city for job opportunities and internships, eventually finding work with the city of Starkville as a receptionist and an intern.\nThompson said that experience brought him to the forefront of local issues and made him want to learn more about why the city makes decisions as it does.\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tChristopher Thompson, founder and president of Starkville Voices, looks at an image of the nonprofit\u2019s logo on his phone Thursday at City Hall. Since founding Starkville Voices in May, Thompson has grown the nonprofit\u2019s Facebook to more than 1,300 followers. Braden Simmons/Dispatch Staff\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\nHe started attending board meetings in his spare time and learning all that goes into governmental decisions, so he could share more information with those who called City Hall.\n\u201cI was the first person to really hear the concerns about what was going on with Starkville, and also my job then was to get them to the right person,\u201d Thompson said. \u201c\u2026 I took that job with pride. \u2026 And there are many times that we had some good comments coming through, bad comments as well. \u2026 (That) gave me that kind of connection to not only the residents, but also to the people in Starkville, the students, but also to the team who work within City Hall.\u201d\nLesa Hardin, former city clerk and Thompson\u2019s supervisor at the time, said she had never seen a college student in City Hall so passionate about local affairs.\n\u201cWhat stuck out to me was his love for the general public and people,\u201d Hardin said. \u201c\u2026 (He had a) love of politics, but his was more (wanting) to help the people more than just be (involved in) politics.\u201d\nAfter graduating in 2020, Thompson worked as a court reporter and an E-911 dispatcher for Oktibbeha County for a few years before being hired on to lead the Starkville Boys and Girls Club in 2022.\nWhile he didn\u2019t mind being the bridge between local leaders and parents until September 2025, Thompson said he wanted to build something to show that any resident can advocate for civic projects, not just organizational leaders.\n\u201c(I felt like) voices are out there, and we needed to create a space where they can be projected and heard,\u201d Thompson said.\nMoving forward\nThompson initially founded Starkville Voices to spread the word about public meetings, but it has since grown into an educational page featuring interviews between Thompson and city and county officials like Mayor Lynn Spruill, Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Tony McGee and Tax Assessor JoHelen Walker.\nThrough the interviews, Thompson hopes to promote a better understanding of those positions and an increased awareness of their interconnectedness.\nThompson said the five-member board is already working on its growth plan through 2030 with goals that include developing a permanent headquarters, increasing student engagement efforts and potentially developing a youth scholarship.\nBeyond those goals for the nonprofit, Thompson said his personal goal over the next few years, even if it\u2019s incremental, is to see more seats filled by residents at board meetings and work sessions, whether for them to raise concerns or to learn about potential projects.\n\u201cJust show up,\u201d Thompson told The Dispatch. \u201c\u2026 Grab a friend or somebody who\u2019s comfortable to go with you. But at the same time, do not let that hold you back because your voice could be the change that our city needs \u2026 to move forward.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n      \n      \n        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.\n      \n    \n\n\t\t\t\n      \n      \n        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community."
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