Forged in Flint
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Small business owners and entrepreneurs in Flint have decided to start building the future they want to see. And it’s working.
THE FLINT YOU KNOW
Flint became famous because people there figured out how to make things. First, it was finished lumber, and then, when the trees ran out, it was carriages, and then it was automobiles. Flint became Vehicle City, Detroit’s little brother that could compete with it in every way.
When GM started closing plants in Flint in the mid-1980s, unemployment skyrocketed. As crime and drug use went up, more people left town, draining the city’s tax base. And after years of missteps and questionable decisions by the local government, there was the water crisis. That put Flint back in the national consciousness again, but not for reasons it would have ever wanted.
THE FLINT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Flint is far from hopeless. It’s mounting a comeback because after decades of hoping for a silver bullet from a large corporation or the government, people here have decided to start making the future they want to see. And it’s working. Today, 81% of businesses in Flint have fewer than 10 employees. Sales at small businesses using Square in Flint have increased 250%.
The entrepreneurs could have left town for greener pastures but instead, they are making their own pastures a little greener. It’s not the easy route, but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
THE COMEBACK MAY NOT MAKE THE NEWS
And that’s okay with everyone in Flint. Because the folks like Oaklin (GoodBoy Clothing) and Erin (The Local Grocer) aren’t doing it for press. They’re doing it for their families. And their town.
For more stories, visit square.com/dreams.
Like many Michiganders, I got my first taste of what Flint was about with the "Flintstones" at MSU. A lot of kids like them would have just said, "Thank God I found a way out of this hell hole" and left - but they wore Flint as a badge of honor, and still do. A few years later, my business took me into Flint and I saw why. Despite more obstacles than anyone should have to face, I met people working to bring back their city, and not willing to give up. And for the first time, I realized that those young men who won a national championship were not just aberrations who rose above the town they grew up in - they were products of it. They were Flint, A truly great city, struggling to find itself again - and I believe in them.
My dad used to live in Flint and it was such an honor to be there. Great memories.
Amazing highlight of Flint. Also, I could watch the cut at 4:32 all day. So good.
Good to see revival fo sho.....I lived on Grand Traverse and 10th from 1966 to 1985....
I live right outside of flint and that is very very true
I haven't been able to stay in Flint but I swear I love flint and the residents so much no matter where I go there's no people like the people in Flint and only flint stones understand that
i left flint 7 years ago best choice of my life. there are far more good people than bad ones, but the local government is absolute garbage.
I left in 2001, love my city but it was the best decision for me also
So is a lot of the ppl in flint that’s why it’s a shit hole . Like every inner city
imagine not living in Flint and so you think your water is just fine so you don't buy a decent water filtration system .... I filter my drinking water just to be sure. God Bless the people of Flint.
This is so amazing! Fantastic!
I was born and raised in Flint, and left for college in 1976. So I was watching the slow slide downhill. I've visited twice for brief moments in 2016 and '18, but the places I used to go didn't look this vibrant.
I am very happy for y'all, and wish you the very best!
Own Your Heart is the song in the credits
Think about people always ❤️
Never heard of Flint since I'm not from America, but it seems like a great community!!
I am from Ohio and I like Flnt, Michigan
I'm from Ann Arbor, and I like you and Ohio for saying that
Awesome stories. God is so good. Spread the Love!!!
Holy Jumpin!! The name Joel Rash- he was in the "thanks" credits at 7:35 I went to school with him. Great guy. I haven't seen him in going on 40 years. Now, it could possibly be a different person of the same name. I just have a feeling it's not. He had the same artsy feel to him back then. I could totally see him doing something along these lines.
That's really encouraging! Has the water improved? If their health is affected, it will affect everything unfortunately.
Slowly but surely it has been improving
It has improved... With chemical treatment 🙄
Ok, good to see progress in Flint. But this is all fluff. Where is the WHY? My family is from Flint and still lives on McKinkey Road for over 50 years. This POV is very narrow in my mind. Hate to get political but that is where most of the destruction and ignorance came from. Democratic leaders ran Flint, Genesee County, and Michigan into the ground for almost 40 years. I am hopeful that these kids will understand that, and try to grow past old lines. If you were not in the UAW, or IEBW, etc... you had no juice in the community. I hope to never see those days return. Flintonians are strong, tough, smart, and loyal people. But if you forget how things got so bad, your sure to repeat history again. Wishing all Flint peoples love and hope in their rise.
Yu should hate to get political. It was not those people that caused GM to abandon Flint - it was GM's own stupidity, automation, and to a small degree - outsourcing. It was global economics bad decision making at GM, and the GOP doing everything they could to bust unions that destroyed Flint. To give you a simple example - in the eighties I worked for a company that worked with the auto industry, and there was something called "Statistical process quality control" - an American Idea that American business laughed at - but the Japanese jumped all over it. And I recall being taken on a plant tour by a client whose company made microswitches for automotive ignition systems. He told me they were producing a batch or 2 million for Toyota and Nissan, and they had to test at some seemingly insane quality level - like one bad switch in a million to be acceptable. I asked him what they did if they failed to hit those goals. He said, "No, problem - we sell them to GM, Chrysler, or Ford."
Flint's problem wasn't the politicians - it was the businessmen who had gotten fat and happy after almost 40 years of no foreign competition after WW II.
This is just Doc to show the attempt at the progress, how they are trying to forge forward, this was not intended to go into the "Politics"
I'm sure the folks in Flint, and most folks in this entire world, know all about the politics that go on/went on, and how horrible they were treated, which indeed was a horrible shame.
Good Doc
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yooo my dad iis the CFO of square
Tbh it's like a lot of cities in the UK, do think the politics are more corrupt in the US though.
Those lead pipes are 100 years old .. Democrats in control for 60 years or more ..
Lead pipes were not the problem. Switching water supplies and refusing to spend the small amount of money needed to add chemicals that would prevent the scale inside the pipes from dissolving and exposing the lead was.
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