Welcoming and Celebrating Differences

Urban studies theorist Richard Florida, the originator of the concept of “creative class,” has emphasized the importance of diversity of opinion, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation on the growth of wealth and prosperity in the nation’s big cities.

But in West Virginia, we like our small towns, and we know that others do as well. Those of us who have opted to be here want to maintain the best of our easy going, neighborly lifestyle.

The Create West Virginia movement exists to stimulate thoughtful consideration, then action that welcomes and celebrates the creatives among us. We don’t want to hold anyone back. We just want to make it as engaging to be here as anywhere else.

The question is, do we welcome folks who are “different?” Many would argue that we do, and always have, maybe more so than more urban communities. Do we welcome new ideas? Might we change our minds, if given the opportunity to consider an issue from someone else’s standpoint?

Our young people are certainly open to new ideas. They want to dream, to dream big.

We host an ongoing diolog on what diversity looks like now, how our values impact our prospects for the future, and how we’re going to work together to make our chosen lifestyle the coolest it can possibly be, by anyone’s definition.