With the big question mark that hangs over South Georgia’s economic health, state officials are doing what they can to work with rural communities to encourage growth.

Thursday, a council designed to help will come to Bainbridge.

The House Rural Development Council, co-chaired by Appropriations Chairman Terry England and Ways and Means Chairman Jay Powell, will stop by Southwest Georgia to hold a community meeting.

The event will be held at the Kirbo Center from 8 a.m. to noon and is open to all residents in Bainbridge and Decatur County.

Despite tremendous economic growth in Georgia creating more than 500,000 new jobs since 2010, the success hasn’t translated to the state’s rural communities quite as well. Loss of population, health care deficiencies, poor infrastructure, diminished quality of educational opportunity and a scarcity of employment opportunities are among the reasons rural Georgia hasn’t grown like the more urban areas of the state have.

The HRDC was created during the 2017 Georgia Legislative Session by House Resolution 389 to study these reasons and create policies to enhance rural Georgia’s economic growth.