30-01-2025
Best & Brightest sets record with latest class
Jan. 30—The Best & Brightest Initiative, a program that attracts new residents to Decatur, has set a record with its latest class of 41 young professionals plus their 13 spouses or significant others.
The program's goal is to recruit recent college graduates in the higher paid areas of science, technology, engineering, math, nursing and education to the city in the hopes they will become permanent residents.
This large class came to Decatur during 2024 on the promise of getting $15,000 toward paying off their college loans or purchasing a home. The money, broken in $3,000 annual payments, comes with the requirement that the new members make Decatur their home for the next five years.
Sam Lee, 23, of Somerset, Kentucky, is a member of the new class. He started in July with Toray Industries' process engineering group. After graduating from the University of Kentucky in May, he chose Decatur over Bowling Green even though he said he initially wanted to stay in his home state.
"Part of the reason I chose Alabama was the fit," said Lee, who did an internship with Ascend Performance Materials in Pensacola, Florida. "Decatur was a better fit of the two when it came down to work environment. The role was more along with what I like."
Lee said the final thing that put Decatur over the top was the Best & Brightest money, and he likes Decatur's lifestyle over Huntsville's.
Unlike many of his Best & Brightest (B&B) classmates, Lee said he doesn't have any student loans. Instead, he said he plans to use the money as a down payment on a new home.
John Joseph IV, executive director of the Decatur-Morgan County Entrepreneurial Center and the initiative creator, said they recently decided to allow payments on housing instead of just student loans because they found that many graduates didn't have loans because of scholarships.
Joseph said they intentionally built B&B slowly after it began in 2016. He began with only about a half dozen annually in each of the first few years. But the initiative added 24 in 2023 and then the number made a big leap this year.
"It was good year," Joseph said. "We've been steadily growing the program, and we've been aiming to make a big jump in 2024."
B&B began with private donations and then transitioned to public support. It got $500,000 in each of the past two years from the city, with another $500,000 in the city's fiscal 2025 budget.
State Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, co-sponsored a bill that provides state appropriations of $135,000 annually for the last four years to Decatur and Marengo County for "Retain Alabama," a state initiative created as a mirror to Best & Brightest. The only difference is only Alabama college graduates can qualify.
Initially, Best & Brightest members had to be STEM graduates. They recently added teachers and health professionals to meet the needs of the school system and Decatur Morgan Hospital.
Joseph said he wanted to first make sure they had enough money up front to support a big class. This meant having at least $600,000 in savings, he said.
"We have to be able to pay the $3,000 a year for five years," Joseph said. "Whereas a lot of programs are like the Shoals, they're paying $10,000 up front. But we're paying as they live here because we want them to stay in Decatur for a longer period of time."
He said he also wanted the initiative to be able to provide the necessary and expected support for Best & Brightest members. This includes helping them find a place to live and connecting them with people and resources within the city.
Lee said another reason he likes the initiative is because of the networking it provides, whether it's a real estate agent to find that home or providing community connections.
He said he's also made several friends through B&B that have made the transition of living four hours from his native Kentucky easier.
"We're all a year or two out of school, so we've all banded together," Lee said. "We actually get together quite a bit."
B&B spokeswoman Sydney Taylor said they developed more private partners like Toray, Renaissance Bank, Ascend and United Launch Alliance.
She said 60% of the class is from the state, particularly from Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Birmingham and Huntsville. Several are from Mississippi, she said.
"We do have one from Washington, two from Florida and one from Kentucky," Taylor said.
While most in the new class are recent college graduates, Joseph said there are some in the group that are closer to age 30 and have been out of college for several years.
Joseph said the 2024 additions increase the number of new Decatur residents via the initiative to over 100.
"The percentage of members who stay in Decatur after their five-year commitment is still over 70, which is much higher than we projected," Joseph said.
Council President Jacob Ladner said he challenged Joseph to attract 200 new people to Decatur.
He said the program is a "big deal" for two reasons. The first is it continues to spur the residential growth that the city needs after its population growth had been stagnant for many years.
His other reason is the program attracts the needed STEM graduates, nurses and teachers who increase the city's median income.
"It's a great program," Ladner said. "They've delivered as they've been funded."
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