It’s a common question at community and economic development meetings.  It’s usually prefaced with discussion about the general decline in population in rural areas of Kansas.  And then someone says “Why are our young people leaving?”  The answer is that the youth are doing just what we’ve told them to do.  For at least the last 60 years, we’ve told them to leave.  The message, from our families, our schools, our peers, indeed, all of society has been that the opportunities are all “out there somewhere” and to be successful in life, you’ll have to go somewhere else.  That part of the message has been very direct.  A more subtle part of the message is the implication that if you come back to your home town, it means you couldn’t “cut it” in the city.  So, off they’ve gone for generations, many never to return and we wonder why they have gone. 

How do we change this?  Here are three things we should be doing.  1.) Change the message; 2.) As they leave to find fame, fortune or education, tell them they are always welcome to return and 3.) Invite those already “out there” to return. 

1. Change the message to one that says opportunities lie within finding solutions to the problems of others and that you can solve problems for others as an employee of a company or as an entrepreneur and small business owner.  There are problems, hence, opportunities everywhere. 

2. At 18 – 20 years old, most youth want to see their home towns in the rear view mirror; that’s natural.  We need to encourage them to “go out into the world” and find their way to a happy and fulfilling life by solving problems for others.  However, we need to also say that their home town is part of the “world” and there are plenty of problems here that need to be solved, and, that they are always welcome to come home.  Humboldt, Kansas gives each graduating senior a personalized mail box as a symbolic invitation to return at any time. 

3. Finally, every small town should have a process for inviting the home-town youth to return.  This effort would include a database of youth identities and locations discovered through inquiries with local family members and class reunion organizers.  Then, systematically, young people are invited to return.  Of course everyone won’t be interested in coming home, but even a success rate of 10% would be impressive. 

I’ve noticed that the best and brightest young people returning to the area as entrepreneurs and professionals are coming back to be close to family.  We should do everything we can to encourage them that there are opportunities everywhere, especially here in their home town. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.