I grew up in a small town an hour south of Chicago. Not quite South Side then...but, increasingly so now.
It was a sensational place to grow up. My memories of Kankakee are fond.
When I elected to stay after college, I was one of the few. And, as the local economy began to tank, the wisdom of that decision was sorely tested. But, I loved my town...and eventually became its head cheerleader as the director of its fledgling Destination Marketing Organization.
In time, destiny called and I moved to the Mad City. But my love of Kankakee never wavered.
But, truth be told, in 1990, it was time to go. I could do no more for them. The naysayers (the "lifers") held sway over the city. After shedding thousands of manufacturing jobs, the general feeling was the town was dying a slow death. An entrepreneurial spark was nowhere to be found.
Those lifers still exist in Kankakee...but they are, thankfully, being replaced. And my High School friend Gary Moore (entrepreneur, author and columnist) who stayed, chronicles that evolution in a recent column for the local paper.
It made me smile...but, it also caused me to consider how many towns suffer the voice of the lifers.
May Gary's words inspire you to move to change the narrative in your town.
You got that right!
Posted by: Lee T | October 15, 2018 at 07:54