Destin, Florida

great place to live and bring up kids.” Aside from fishing and tourism, Destin has a thriving small business community, which includes many well-loved seafood restaurants and charter fishing companies. As Mayor, promoting small business has been a major focus for Jarvis. He notes, “If you don’t have small business as part of your community, the community will soon dry up and not be vibrant. I have three sons, and when they first graduated from high school and went off to college and graduated back in the early 2000s, most of the kids that grew up here would have to find jobs somewhere else. There wasn’t enough opportunity for them to come and establish their own business here. But that’s changed in the last 18 years because of our entrepreneurial spirit.” Much of that growth of entrepreneurial spirit in Destin can be credited to technology, a vibrant economy (due in part to being the home of one of the largest air force bases in the country, Eglin Air Force Base), and a new focus on education. Destin High School, which just opened its doors this year, is a tuition-free public charter school available to all residents. The school offers some non-traditional programming that is catered to the activities and interests of the city’s population. As Jarvis reports, “A retired charter fishing captain has started a professional fisherman’s class. It’s an elective that starts with the nuts and bolts of tying the knot and baiting the hook and goes all the way to setting up business plans for a professional fishing operation.” The school is also in the process of setting up a similar program for the service industry, with a primary focus on culinary education thanks to the area’s wealth of seafood. Workforce development has been at the top of the list for the city in recent months. They have worked with One Okaloosa, the area’s economic development council, to help ensure they are