The East Mississippi Business Development Corporation, the city of Meridian and Lauderdale County launched a campaign to restart the local economy, as the region continues to feel the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The goal of the “Restart, Restore, Recover” campaign is to help build momentum and confidence as local businesses reopen, according to a news release.

“We want to responsibly restart our local economy, help restore jobs and services, and recover our quality of life,” EMBDC President and CEO Bill Hannah said.

Meridian Mayor Percy Bland said that the city’s March sales tax revenue, which decreased about 9 percent in a comparison of March 2019 and March 2020, was better than January and February revenue.

The pandemic’s impact to April sales tax revenue would not be known until later this month, he said.

Sam Dabit, owner of Sam’s Fashions on Fifth Street, said business has been slow at the downtown shop, which has been back open for only a few weeks.

“It’s going to take a while for us to recuperate,” Dabit said. “So far, things are going well.”

Dabit said he was supportive of any campaign to help local businesses.

Lauderdale County hotels that were traditionally at 68 percent occupancy were at 25 percent occupancy for the month of April, said Executive Director Dede Mogollon with Lauderdale County Tourism.

Meridian’s food and beverage sales tax revenue decreased about $16,652 from February to March this year, according to city records.

The campaign aims to create momentum for local shopping and dining and visits to entertainment venues and other local businesses.

It encourages communicating with the public that procedures are in place to protect customers and employees, including wearing masks, social distancing, sanitizing surfaces and monitoring temperatures, the news release said.

Hannah applauded businesses for their work to reopen safely.

“Not only have they been shut down, now that they’re opening back up, they’re doing that with lots of added costs,” he said.

A new logo is available for download at www.embdc.org/restart for businesses, individuals, governmental agencies and other interested parties.