#DyingTowns #immigrants #RebuildingTowns #CommunityAcceptance #resilience
A town can die.
A factory, or other major employer, goes elsewhere, or out of business entirely.
Few jobs are left. People have to move to make a living.
Who, or what, can revive such towns?
One answer is immigrants.
Those who come from a certain country, or part of the world, could move to such towns and create their own communities. Often, when they do, the town begins a resurgence.
How? Many immigrants are entrepreneurs or have a mindset to create something that can turn into a business.
The immigrants then become the first customers of such businesses, followed by townspeople who happen to be left.
These businesses can grow into major employers. That might encourage more people – not just immigrants – to move there.
How can this work?
First, those townspeople who are left behind have to ACCEPT the new residents.
Once they accept them, they have to treat them well – i.e. give them reasonably priced housing to start.
It usually doesn’t matter to immigrants the condition of the initial housing, since it is probably better than the housing they left in their country of origin.
Because of their spirit and desire for work, they will fix up the housing over time.
That creates a housing cycle: one house is occupied, fixed up and sold to the next incoming buyer. The seller then moves into a bigger and better house etc.
As businesses start and succeed, many of the town’s neglected amenities, parks and downtown buildings get fixed up or rebuilt.
New schools, churches and other institutions of community are built, or rebuilt to suit the new residents. That may prompt old residents to do the same.
Over time, as these events take place, the community becomes a self-contained success.
As old residents accept new ones, the new residents have to accept that the climate in their new town may not be what they came from. But, because of the resilience of these new residents, they will adapt.
To those who believe that immigrants who come here are “the worst of the worst,” they can rebuild places in the U.S. that have succumbed to progress and new technology.
They are used to self-contained communities and, usually, are willing to work with townspeople to rebuild.
The townspeople, if they want their town to succeed again, have to work with the new residents, too.
Is your hometown dying, or, perhaps, already dead? Look for people who are coming here to find a better life. You’d be amazed at how they can rebuild your town over time.
Peter