As told by our Marketing Director, Cameron Wolf.

As a lifetime east-sider, I was completely unaware of the scaled 'big-city' that Grand Rapids was. Literally, I had no idea.

I grew up in Flint. Flint before the water crisis wasn't much different than what it is now, aside from a couple of beautifully renovated buildings downtown over the past 6 or 7 years. Being from the economically stricken city lowered my standards to a point where I thought Grand Rapids and Flint were probably 'about even' in terms of population and size. Fundamentally, this is wrong in so many ways, yet, I wasn't the only one of my peers to feel similarly. Now, before you assume that my peers and I are a bunch of bafoons (we could be, still learning), take a second to consider where we are coming from. Being an atypical east sider, I had roughly 5 geographical regions in Michigan that I consistently visited and heard of. In most circumstances, "Up North" and the UP were two different ones for whatever reason. After that, it was Detroit, Lansing, and for me, Flint. That's it. That was my world for the most part. It took until about 3-4 years ago to find the hidden beauty of Grand Rapids. The reason? I literally saw it is as Flint's counterpart. I had no idea what to think about a city as "similar as Flint" had to offer. Boy, was I wrong. At the very base of the issue at hand, comparing a city who very frequently ranks in the top 10 of America's most violent cities shouldn't be up for comparison with a city that doesn't crack the top 100, right? Even then, crime should not be, and is not, a fair factor for comparison.

Before anyone takes this as a bash at Flint as well, I think it's worth noting that I gave as much as I could to the community in the form of a clothing line that donated it's profits to flintkids.org. You can learn more of that here if you want.

The problem itself lies within the mindset and interpretation of a city that's 'all the way' on the other side of the state. It's amazing how many different excuses people come up with as to why they wouldn't consider a life out here:

Some consistent obstacles I come across while trying to recruit my peers to come live and/or visit GR:

"I've never been to Grand Rapids before"

This is the line that seems to trend amongst my peers. I think a lot of it has to do with the overall lack of diversity of the high school I attended. This is a high school with a community that features a mindset and lifestyle that the world does not exist outside of their own backyard, so it's easy to see how and why these people are missing out on one of Michigan's greatest treasures (complete bias).

"I don't want to live in a big city"

Again with the world being no bigger than your backyard thing! Grand Rapids seems to be thriving under the title of a 'little, big city'. Grand Rapids and it's surrounding suburbs recently reached a population of a little over one million residents. For a big city, it's rather quaint. If you don't want to live in the city, feel free to explore areas surrounding like Kentwood, Wyoming, East Grand Rapids, Rockford, or any of the other areas I missed. There is something for everyone here, all within a 30-minute drive to an awesome, booming economic center.

"It's too far away"

From what exactly? In my completely biased opinion, Michigan itself is out of the way of every major transportation hub. We live in a peninsula! Our nearest major hub is Chicago, and being in Grand Rapids is 100 miles and 2 hours closer than the typical east side commute. On an even smaller sphere, we're only 30 minutes away from Lake Michigan, which is practically a vacation destination point in itself. Can't forget Traverse City, either, which is only 2 hours from here.

Okay, so what's great about GR?

As a young professional starting a career, relocating to Grand Rapids from Flint was more beneficial than attending college. In early 2017, I had 5 years of college under my belt with no prospective job offers on the horizon. Feeling hopeless and lost, I began the process of looking at amassing more college debt in the form of an MBA of sorts. During that time of recollection and searching, I was selling cell phones and decided to look into an offer I had to relocate across the state to do the same thing. In my head, I wrote off any possibility of continuing my career as a wireless sales rep, but just a few weeks later, I was in Grand Rapids working at a cell phone store making considerably more than I was back home. Without delving into that too deeply, it goes to speak volumes for the state of the economy that we are in here. So with that being said, the greatest strength and drawing point of Grand Rapids is, you guessed it: it's economy.

With a great economy, comes great perks. Some of these perks include:

20 breweries and counting (Beer City, USA)
High-Level Professional Sports Teams
Over 400 establishments in the area to grab a bite
The average worker averages $9,000 more a year than in Flint. Flint Salary vs. Grand Rapids Salary
Only 3.5% of us are unemployed, that's lower than the national unemployment.
Working off of the last point, quite simply put: There are jobs for everyone.
The housing market is insane. It was just named the 5th hottest in America too. For millennials that are used to renting, this is a great place to buy.

Consider this a high-level plea, friends/family/people I don't know. I'd love to sit down and talk with anyone who reads this as an opportunity to pitch this wonderful city. I also know some great realtors that would like to help you find your new opportunity.