The future of Wilmington is bright. There are many ways to think about quality of life. Those of you who see my blogs regularly know I am particularly interested in broad indicators of social capital. Do we trust each other? Do we engage with each other? Do we participate in public life?

Which is why we should all be terribly pleased to see new rankings which put Wilmington as a leading city of the future, based on five categories: economic potential, business friendliness, human capital and lifestyle, cost effectiveness and connectivity.

he fDi Magazine report ranks Wilmington Number One on these categories among all “micro” cities.  Not only number one overall, but number one in Economic Potential, and number one in Connectivity.

Chris Buccini of the Buccini/Pollin group summarized the findings of the report succinctly. “Wilmington has an incredible wind at its back right now and national publications are starting to recognize this promise.”

It’s easy to focus on what’s not working well in Wilmington right now. Too many people face a realistic danger of crime. Too many young people face a future with too little hope, and too little opportunity to escape generational poverty. Too many are unemployed, with too few skills.

But truly, there is real opportunity. I spoke the other day with a 24 year old who just came to the city to work for a large national corporation. I asked what he liked. His response: “my first week on this job, I was staying at a hotel downtown, and spent the evenings walking around. All I could think to myself was, ‘wow, what incredible opportunity. This place could become an amazing magnet for young people.”

This study endorses that idea. Kudos to Wilmington. Let’s keep working on it.

For more on efforts in this area, check out the Wilmington Leaders Alliance website.