Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope and baCK to CK Marketing Coordinator Caress Lee Carpenter during the baCK to CK flag raising, December 2, 2016 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)Chatham-Kent Mayor Randy Hope and baCK to CK Marketing Coordinator Caress Lee Carpenter during the baCK to CK flag raising, December 2, 2016 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
Chatham

CK Seeing Youth Coming "baCK"

It feels like every month, another Chatham-Kent native returns home to do something special.

That's the impression Municipal Attraction and Promotion Marketing Coordinator Caress Lee Carpenter gets, and what her team is trying to show with their annual baCK to CK campaign.

Carpenter says they're efforts start early, even before young people choose to leave Chatham-Kent for school.

"We work with the high school students, we do tree planting in the spring where they can come back and see that their roots are always in Chatham-Kent," says Carpenter. "We do a bunch of events and effort throughout the year to make this an ongoing thing, and we're seeing more and more people coming back."

Carpenter adds young Chatham-Kent natives are just one target demographic in their attraction efforts.

"We have three focus groups: active retirees, skilled immigrants and young professionals. So while this is a huge third of who we're trying to focus, we still have recruitment efforts out there for skilled immigrants and newcomers too," says Carpenter.

This month's baCK to CK events include a "Business After Hours" networking event at Club Lentinas on December 21, and a sponsored free skate at Chatham Memorial Arena on December 23.

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