Vicksburg officials hope a new brochure to be released Tuesday will help influence people who work here and live elsewhere to move to the city.

The brochure developed by Front Porch Fodder of Vicksburg is titled “Live Vicksburg … our history • your future,” highlights the Vicksburg Warren School District, attractions like the Vicksburg National Military Park, recreation, events like Riverfest, restaurants and casinos, and job opportunities like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center.

According to a press release announcing the brochure, its purpose is to target about 500 people who work in Vicksburg but live elsewhere.

“It says what we have in a nutshell,” said Vicksburg Convention Center director Annette Kirklin, who was one of a group of business leaders to prepare the brochure. “It’s all encompassing. It’s a way for us to show off our city.”

“What we’re doing is trying to get people who live in the outlying areas from Vicksburg like Clinton, Madison and Ridgeland who live there and work here to come live here; these are people the federal government brings here everyday to work,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “We’re also looking at Tallulah and Port Gibson.”

He said there is another reason to attract more residents to Vicksburg.

“Most grants go to urban areas — housing, infrastructure; everything,” he said. “We need to reach a threshold of 25,000 people, which would qualify us as an urban area. Vicksburg now has about 24,000 people. I believe we could increase that to 35,000. We serve a lot of areas around us.

“Using a brochure like this to attract people hasn’t been done before.”

“Everybody can use it to show what we have,” Kirklin said. “If an association has booked a convention and I want to show off what Vicksburg is, I can throw that in there. It’s something extra we can (use) to show off our city.”

Lucy DeRossette, career and technical administrator for the Vicksburg Warren School District, was also involved with the brochure,

“We’re just really excited about what the mayor’s doing to promote Vicksburg and the school district,” she said. “We were fortunate to be a part of that and put that together. We’re going to give them to everyone who comes through our door who wants to come to Vicksburg.

“I think it’s another great source to tell people about Vicksburg,” said Retha Crear, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker All Stars. “I was on the committee to make sure we showed the versatility of the city. I believe everyone can come and work and play and live in Vicksburg.”

The brochure will be distributed to several areas around the city after a press conference Tuesday at the mayor’s office in City Hall.

It will be available at the Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vicksburg Convention Center, Vicksburg Main Street, Hind Community College, Vicksburg National Military Park, ERDC, Vicksburg Warren School District and some local businesses.