Dana Grassmid loved the mountains of Colorado in seven years living near Denver, but even their heights didn’t measure up to Lake Michigan and the outdoor spaces West Michigan has to offer.

So, when her and husband Adam’s first child was young, they moved back to Ottawa County.

Sure, the primary reason was family.

“But part of it is the water. That was not something that was easily accessed in Colorado,” said Dana Grassmid, an architect with Lucid Architecture in Zeeland. “We missed the lake and all the opportunities that the water here provides. We always said we loved the mountains, but nothing replaces Lake Michigan for us.”

Those kinds of words bring a smile to Ottawa County-area business leaders and recruiters: Ottawa’s investment in parks and green spaces is a big differentiator in recruiting business and young professional talent to West Michigan

“Tackle talent challenges” is a core focus for Lakeshore Advantage, the regional economic development agency. Its survey found that 55 percent of area business report barriers to growth, and, of those, 49 percent said the most significant barrier is finding enough employee talent, reported Emily Staley, the agency’s vice president of marketing and communications.

“Can I keep talent here? Will my engineers want to live here and raise their family here? Can we recruit young professionals here, and how do we do that?” are the questions businesses ask.

(Read the full article here.)

“Lake Michigan is our huge differentiator, but really the access that every community in our area has to a great Ottawa County or local park system is very attractive to young professionals,” said, Emily Staley, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Lakeshore Advantage.

The area’s commitment to stewarding natural resources, such as the efforts of the Ottawa County Parks Foundation, is another attractor for young professionals, Staley noted. “For the younger generation and young professionals, these issues of our environment and where we live and how we are stewards of the resources we have, are very important.”