Local Spotlight: A Shrinking County, A Growing Question

Mount Pleasant and Henry County’s population continues to decline. Families are leaving, small businesses are struggling to survive, and our young people are looking elsewhere for opportunity.

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of speaking with two government classes at Mount Pleasant High School. When I asked how many students planned to stay in Mount Pleasant after graduation, or return after college, only two raised their hands in one class, and none in the other. That’s 2 out of 40+ who do not plan to return to Mt. Pleasant.

That information should stop us all in our tracks.

We cannot rebuild a town by managing decline. We rebuild by investing in people, by creating opportunities that inspire our young residents to stay, by supporting small businesses so they can thrive, and by welcoming new families who want to make this place their home.

Every person who leaves Henry County takes with them a piece of its story. If we want to preserve the heart of this community, we must give people a reason to stay and new families a reason to come.

The good news? We still have the power to write the next chapter of our story, one built not on resignation, but on collaboration, innovation, and the courage to do things differently.

Leadership that listens can turn loss into growth and resignation into resilience. Together, we can create a Mount Pleasant that doesn’t just survive but thrives.

Kasey Conrad, Mt. Pleasant