Tackling the Brain Drain

What is the brain drain? The brain drain is loosely defined as higher educated and more talented residents leaving an area after high school or college and taking their knowledge and skills elsewhere. In economic development, the brain drain usually refers to talented youth leaving their rural roots and starting their lives and careers in a metro area.

Georgia Department of Economic Development’s (GDEcD) Rural Georgia Initiatives (RGI) division has participated in community meetings in 135 Georgia counties to date. In these meetings, local leaders are charged with addressing the community’s strengths and challenges. The “brain drain” is a topic that has been discussed in almost every meeting the division has had with community leaders and economic developers across rural Georgia. As a state, Georgia ranks about middle of the pack in terms of overall out of state brain drain according to the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee 2019 report ”Losing Our Minds: Brain Drain across the United States.”

rural georgian family

The topic isn’t new, but with a renewed focus on rural Georgia and rural economic development, we can take steps to solve the brain drain at the local level. RGI has recommended several approaches to tackling the brain drain in communities across Georgia. Within the brain drain problem, there are actually two issues at hand—talent leaving and no talent coming in—but both can be solved with similar approaches. Several successful approaches are:

  • Consider rebranding your community, such as the initiative undertaken in Hawkinsville to create a new community-wide logo and slogan to attract businesses and citizens to “Come Home to Hawkinsville”.
  • Think about placemaking, giving your community a sense of place, by creating spaces that residents are proud of, such as squares and city parks. Also think about making the overall appearance of your community attractive like this multi-year process in Bainbridge.
  • Showcase the quality of life in your community. An excellent example is when Red Lake County, Minnesota directly reached out to Washington Post writer Christopher Ingraham in response to one of his articles. As a result of this outreach, he moved his family from the metro Washington DC area, to rural Minnesota.
  • Promote experiential learning in local careers. Show local students what careers are offered by giving them opportunities to work with local manufacturers such as the STEAM Summer Internship Program in Coffee County.
  • Create and build youth leadership programs. Programs like Youth Leadership Hall in Hall County will engage and inspire the next group of leaders in your community. This could lessen the desire for young leaders to move away after high school.
  • Here’s an idea—have the mayor and/or elected officials host a round table conversation with homegrown young leaders who have left the community. What will bring them back?
  • Engage your community’s young citizens in decisions about the community. Allow them to share their ideas for investment and progress. Give your youth a voice.
  • Reach out to neighboring communities to see if any partnerships or collaborations could help the entire region.

The approaches to how communities can combat the brain drain are limitless. Read more about the issue and creative ways that rural communities are it.