News 8 Coverage - Temple Exploring Avenues to Entice a Younger Workforce

The Central Texas Economic Corridor and Workforce Solutions of Central Texas have teamed up to get young professionals to come to Temple.

CTEC has issued an online survey to figure out how exactly they can do that. The survey asks current residents why they live in Central Texas, and former residents why they left, and what it would take to bring them back. A survey - which is the first phase of the study - will idenitfy how Temple needs to build, and in which direction.

"Every community has financial limits, so how can we use some money and build hike-and-bike trails and other things that young professionals want in a community," Temple Economic Development Corporation President, Lee Peterson, said. Peterson said they figure what his generation desires from their place of residence varies from what younger generations want. "This is a different generation," Peterson said. "We don't think the same."

Sol Melton said he didn't think he'd be a young professional living in Temple. "It was eventually the plan that I would go off and do my own thing for many years and then come back to learn this business," Melton said. But things with his family business progressed in Temple sooner than expected, so he moved to Bell County. He hopes more people his age swill come to Temple, too, and stay.

Melton thinks a new study by groups in the city and throughout Central Texas might help. "I think it's a great initiative to find out from the social level and a professional level what people like and what draws them to certain areas," he said.

Other young professionals, like Jason Tuttle, said this multi-phase study will work. "We're trying to make the area more attractive to young professionals with retention and with just bringing them in, because as the labor force retires, it will need to be replaced," Tuttle said.

Peterson said as they learn more through the online survey, they can begin to spend money on things that will make a difference.

About Temple:
Temple, Texas is a community with a diverse economic base that includes healthcare, distribution and warehousing, and manufacturing as the foundation. Within 180 miles of a population of 17.8 million, Temple is in a strategic location that is central within the southwestU.S. marketplace.