Determined residents and local officials have helped turn the tide on a declining population in a northwest Kansas community.
As High Plains Journal reports, the U.S. Census of 2010 reflected that Quinter, Kansas had experienced a 4.5 percent population decline and that Gove County’s population declined 12.2 percent since 2000.
Quinter City Administrator Ericka Nicholson told the High Plains Journal that the census figures were “crippling” but that it served as a wakeup call to prompt officials to turn the tide – and it seems they have.
According to 2015 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Quinter’s population grew 3.3 percent from 2010, slowing Gove County’s overall population decline to its lowest level since 1880.
The increase is attributed to, among other things, new businesses development, strong local financial leadership and a city council willing to trust Nicholson to help solicit federal, state and regional grants to develop new civic infrastructure that promotes a lifestyle welcoming to workers in all lines of work.