A city struggles: ‘We are back at square one’
Kingsport, Tennessee could be in the same situation as Elkhart, IN if something happens to Eastman Chemical. What does it take to wake up our politicians and get them to be more diversified in the industry here?
In hard-hit Elkhart, leaders and citizens are exploring all economic options
In a sense, the entire community is hitting the reset button. With the virtual collapse of the RV industry, long the mainstay of the economy, nearly 20 percent of workers in the area are unemployed, about triple the number a year ago. Meantime, the jobless benefits system, food banks and emergency assistance programs are struggling to meet demand, and home foreclosures are climbing. Elkhart — dubbed the “RV Capital of the World” — is scrambling to attract new industries and to retrain its workforce for new occupations. The task is more daunting amid a national economic crisis.
“We’ve not had to do it, and I guess you don’t do things when you don’t have to,” said Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore. “I think we’ve learned a lesson, and we’ve learned that we’ve got to be more diversified in the industry here.”
Read more via A city struggles: ‘We are back at square one’ – The Elkhart Project- msnbc.com.