News

Nestled in the southeastern corner of the state, Coffeyville, Kansas has a historic past, including the infamous Dalton gang foiled robbery, the turn of the 20th century Brown Mansion and the invention of the ICEE machine. Coffeyville has thrived and survived both good and bad times, and although historic, the citizens look towards the future with eager anticipation. The community is filled with good, friendly people who are always lending a hand to help their neighbors.

Coffeyville, like of its rural counterparts, has seen its share of struggles and dwindling population. For those in larger cities, it is easy to write off our community and so many others as dying, lacking innovation and resistance to social change. Federal policies often leave us behind, forgetting the importance of rural communities and the impact on our nation. So how can we ensure our communities are supported and valued? We need them to appreciate that almost one fifth of the population comes from rural areas. That we account for the largest percentage of land mass and therefore our country’s natural resources including energy, food, water and more.  I could recite countless other advantages our rural communities provide to our nation. However, before we preach to our legislators and urban counterparts, I think we have to first open our eyes to the unique strengths and opportunities awaiting us in Coffeyville . It has to start at home!

A recent article from the Kauffman foundation said it best. “"Rather than defining rural communities by the progress that is believed to have stopped, we can instead choose to define them by the progress they’ve made despite massive disinvestment and, perhaps, by the progress they could make if they had the support." Instead of laminating over the loss of population and what has went wrong, we must first celebrate the amazing achievements we have made in spite of the lack of support and the difficulties we have faced. I could list  pages of accomplishments and successes we should be celebrating. Here are just a few of the reasons I think Coffeyville is an amazing place to live and worth celebrating.
· Parks, recreation and activities to rival any city. Even with a limited population, we boast 11 different parks including fishing, multiple playgrounds, disc golf, camping rodeo grounds, swimming pool, tennis, basketball courts batting cages, skate park, walking paths and much more.  
· There is even a state of the art ‘destination’ park coming soon. Coffeyville Recreation Commission dates back to 1945 as one the first in the state. Not to mention it is one of the most active in the state with numbers rivaling large cities.
· Our educational institutes are among the best in the state. We boast the only universal 0-5 preschool in Kansas recognized by its innovation; offer one of only two age-to-age kindergarten classes hosted at Windsor Place Nursing; we offer a very diverse post secondary curriculum, not often seen in rural communities with  graduation rates that have increase by __% in the last 5 years; and our community college has consistently been ranked 2nd most affordable in the nation and #1 for graduation rates in Kansas.
· With more than 100 (and growing) rural hospitals closing across the nation, Coffeyville Regional Medical Center has not only stayed open but has grown over the years and expanded its facilities and technology to support our community. The hospital averages over 45,000 patients from the area on an annual basis and is the only hospital in our region to be accredited by The Joint Commission on healthcare - receiving their “Gold Seal of Quality.”
· We bring in visitors from all 50 states and several countries every year just to explore our unique Dalton Defenders & Coffeyville History Museum as well as the beautiful Brown Mansion. And many stay to enjoy the unique shops and historic downtown.
And those are just the tip of the iceberg. I think it’s time to appreciate the hard work happening in Coffeyville to keep our community from dying and hopefully at some point, even thriving. I see innovation and great changes happening all the time. We just need more people to join the fight and be a part of the change and heartfelt work happening.


Read this great article about the challenges AND opporunities facing rural America. How can Coffeyville showcase the grit and determination happening every day to create a better community?
https://www.kauffman.org/currents/rural-america-most-innovative-place-in-united-states/