As we highlighted in our “This Is Us” series earlier this year, young people are important to the economic future of communities.

If young people set roots in a community, they’re likely to stay in that community, starting businesses, spending in local stores, sending their kids to local schools, and more as they grow older.

And, good news for us, Alpena County is getting younger. While our population has declined, the number of people in the millennial generation has stayed the same, at about 4,500. That makes youth a growing percentage of our population, helping to secure our future, The News reported in “This Is Us” (if you missed any of the that series, you can read all of the stories here: https://tinyurl.com/yy6nyw9y).

More good news for us: Many of those young people are stepping up to the plate, taking on leadership roles in business and other community endeavors, as was highlighted by the Alpena Area Chamber of Commerce at a Good Mid-Day Alpena event last week.

Art in the Loft Executive Director Justin Christensen-Cooper, proprietor Jackie Nicoll, financial advisor Andrew Kowalski, and attorney Chelsea Wallace all were honored by the chamber at the event, the News’ Steve Schulwitz reported, part of the chamber’s efforts to combat the misconception that Alpena is unfriendly to young people.

“We were hearing that people can’t come back here and make a living here, so we started this series to combat that perception, because that is absolutely not true,” chamber President/CEO Jackie Krawczak said.

We couldn’t agree more. As the four feted by the chamber and many other examples show, Alpena is a great place to start a family, start a business, or start a career.

Thanks to the young professionals in this community who are kicking off a bright future for Northeast Michigan.

We hope to see many more like you in the years to come.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)