Young Nebraskans already love their hometowns

The siren song of the big city is quiet in greater Nebraska. Youth today overwhelmingly prefer the connections and comforts of smaller communities to the grind of major metropolises, according to Nebraska Community Foundation’s recent survey of over 1,300 high school students.

In January 2020, NCF began working with the University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs Research to co-create the Nebraska Youth Survey, with the purpose of examining young people’s perceptions and perspectives of their greater Nebraska hometowns. Students in the Axtell, McCook, Columbus, Diller, Shickley, A...