Q3: What are you looking forward to in 2021?
In 2021, I’m hoping we can have a bit of a reset. Everything has changed and we want be back to where we were. The silver lining to this dreadful virus has been that people have had a chance to stop and think about what’s really important in life. I’m hopeful that 2021 will turn a corner and be more about togetherness, neighborliness and a sense of community.
What I hope we will see is the vision of the younger adults in our community; they get it. They know that we should be in this together and that it’s a multiracial, multigenerational world that we need to embrace. I want to follow their leadership in that regard. Rome needs to be a welcoming, warm city that thrives and grows with creativity and encourages entrepreneurship moving forward in a positive way.
Closing Thoughts: I talk to so many people from every demographic in our community, and in so many ways, everybody wants the same thing. They want a good life for their family. People want their kids to grow up here, maybe go off to college, but they want those kids to want to come back to Rome to raise their families. In a lot of ways, as a Berry girl, I never saw myself returning to Rome, and it’s the smartest decision I’ve ever made. I want that to be the obvious decision.
Rome is a great place to live. I want to make sure that there are job, economic, and housing opportunities to make Rome an obvious pick for Berry and Shorter students and the doctors who are here getting their training. I want Rome to be the kind of place that’s a magnet for people who want to know their neighbors and want to have that strong sense of community.