The City of DeKalb did not advance to the finals of the "America’s Best Communities" competition. That means they won't have a chance at the 3 million dollar first prize. But the chair of the team behind the effort says they will continue with their community revitalization efforts.
Frank Roberts says not making the finals was a disappointment. But he’s still proud of what the Proudly DeKalb team did, and of the town they represent.
“For us to make it to the top 15 in a national contest about community revitalization and economic development is a tremendous accomplishment. It speaks to the people in our community, and their willingness and desire to make DeKalb better,” he says.
And Roberts says not making it to the finals won’t stop his team’s efforts on behalf of the city.
“We really believe in the core principles of our revitalization plan. We believe there’s great opportunity for everybody in the city of DeKalb. We think all of these plans are very achievable. So we’re going to continue to move forward as quickly and as expeditiously as we can,” Roberts says.
DeKalb won’t go home empty-handed. Frontier Communications, one of the sponsors of the competition, gave $25,000 each to DeKalb and the other communities that did not advance. That’s on top of $50,000 the city received for getting this far.
Roberts says he and the others will take a brief rest, then get back to work with their plans to revitalize DeKalb.
