A local organization is launching a new campaign aimed at strengthening community ties and encouraging residents to put down roots in the region.
“Make it Home: Live Local, Love Local” is a project of Maximize Northwest Missouri and comes in response to findings from the group’s 2025 Alumni & Resident Survey.
Survey participants were divided into four groups: lifelong residents, those who left and later returned, newcomers to the region and those who left and did not return. Each group showed varying levels of community engagement and activity, according to the results.
Christel Gollnick, the program’s director, said community participation plays a key role in regional pride and growth.
“Who doesn’t want to be really proud of the place that helped shape them?” Gollnick said. “The stopping point on your life journey should be something you feel really good about. And the only way to do that is to make sure that you’re engaged in it and participating fully if you can.”
The new campaign aims to strengthen those connections by attracting new residents and retaining those who already call northwest Missouri home.
According to the survey, nearly a quarter of respondents said they are considering moving out of northwest Missouri within the next year — an exodus Gollnick described as “disastrous” for the region.
Gollnick said population growth is critical to long-term sustainability.
“When we increase population, we also increase the ability for cash to flow in and out of our communities in a way that supports health care, education, infrastructure and housing,” she said. “It’s all interconnected.”
Based in St. Joseph, Maximize Northwest Missouri collaborates with organizations across the region to promote long-term economic vitality and a sustainable future for northwest Missouri communities.