The YoungWilliams child support and customer services call center returns to Yazoo City, bringing in 35 initial jobs at its former downtown location on Monday.
Austin Barbour, a political and advertising consultant, said YoungWilliams is eager to return to Yazoo City, having been impressed with its workforce and supportive county supervisors.
“We are very happy to have 35 jobs at the old Fred’s Store in downtown Yazoo City starting on Monday,” Barbour said, during his visit with the Yazoo City Rotary Club. “We think very quickly, in the next couple of months, we are looking at 100 new jobs coming to Yazoo City. That is a big deal.”
YoungWilliams first arrived in Yazoo City in 2009 when it opened a call center in downtown Yazoo City, having acquired a contract with Mississippi Department of Human Services Division of Child Support Enforcement. The center brought in 80 new jobs to the community.
Unfortunately, the center was force to close when YoungWilliams lost its contract with the state. But this week marks another chance for the business at its former location.
“Young Williams was once a law firm that morphed into the child support area,” Barbour said. “They were very smart to realize that state and some local governments needed help in handling their child support cases. Young Williams, about 15 or 20 years ago, got into that business. Now they have become the largest private child support company in the country.”
Barbour said the Ridgeland-based company could have easily operated within the Jackson area. But President Rob Wells, who was born and raised in Yazoo City, saw the potential in the downtown area.
“He (Wells) loved the workforce in Yazoo City,” Barbour said. “I think he got 180 people sending in their applications within the first day or so. The first time that we came and brought these jobs, I remembered we talked to someone with the state department of human services. He said, ‘youre crazy. Don’t go there. That town is falling apart.’ But Wells said this was the right thing to do. And they were fantastic. They did a great job. And we were so happy for that opportunity.”
Barbour said a major key to the center’s success falls with the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors, when he said were “fantastic” in securing the business.
“They don’t get enough credit,” Barbour said. “I have worked with local elected officials from all around the state. They were so easy to work with. They did a great job. They do deserve the credit.”
Barbour said the call center will not only bring jobs to the community, but it will also give back economically.
“These workers still have to eat, buy clothes, go buy insurance,” he said. “It will be more people downtown.”
Barbour said his firm constantly brings Yazoo City to the table when it comes to enticing new businesses and companies.
“We try to talk to other big businesses to tell them that they have to come look here,” he said. “This is a hidden gem with Yazoo. You got local elected officials who will do anything to get you here.”
“We are trying to get other people to look at Yazoo City; other big and small businesses,” Barbour added. “Yazoo has the workforce to come in and turn this around. When they see 100 job there, it certainly signals a beacon.”
