Business View Civil & Municipal | July 2022

101 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 more skilled workers. PSU’s technical programs have a 100 percent placement rate, which makes their students ideal candidates for jobs across the country. In the past, getting those students to stay in the area has been another challenge, but recently, new graduates are starting to see the appeal of the small town. “Students basically pick and choose where they want to go when they graduate,” Byers says. “We are trying to convince them to stay here and we’ve had some success with that. When you dangle big money and a large city in front of them, it’s hard to keep them here, but we are having some luck in that regard.” The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas has been a big draw to keep students in the area. Their new medical education building is under construction and is scheduled to open in August. It will include affordable medical, dental and behavioral health services, as well as a birthing unit, and medical residency program. “The residency program is very exciting for our community, and really unique,” Holmes says. “We are a small community of 20,000 and we will now have the capabilities of birthing a child within our city limits and have them never leave and become a doctor.” The city is hoping that the residency program will encourage new doctors to stay in Pittsburg long term. “It really matters because statistics show that doctors tend to settle within 100 miles of where they do their residency,” Byers explains. “So that means they are going to stay in the region and that’s a big deal, particularly in rural areas.” Plenty of businesses are finding themselves attracted to the area, as well. Construction recently broke ground on a new 240,000 square- foot FedEx distribution facility within the city limits. “They expect to be operational in October and they are already constructing it now,” Byers says. “It’s happening dramatically fast. They want to be up and running for the holiday season.” P I TTSBURG, KANSAS