You’ll hear it time and time again: Natchez-Adams County has no young adults. That’s not quite true. The area does lag slightly behind the state and national averages when it comes to the percentage of adults ages 25 to 34 in its population.

According to the most recent census numbers, 10.6 percent of Adams County residents are within that age range, compared to 13.4 percent in Mississippi as a whole and 14.2 percent nationwide.

But as this week’s series on young adults in the Miss-Lou has shown, there are still a number of young people who choose to move to, or move back to, Natchez and remain optimistic about its future.

Take Chris and Liz Schweitzer, for example. The Schweitzers, who moved from Kentucky to run the Natchez Historic Inn, are thinking outside the box to plan events at their business to draw in more young people.

&uot;I really feel something’s going to happen special in the next five years,&uot; Rick Ryan, who moved here from Houston, said in Monday’s article. &uot;I can’t pinpoint it, but it’s coming.&uot;

Family doctors Rick Jeansonne and Tuan Pham moved here from New Orleans straight out of medical school to, as Jeansonne said in Tuesday’s article, &uot;make a name for ourselves.&uot;

Several others described the Miss-Lou as a good area in which to raise a family or pursue careers as professionals.

At the same time, we as Natchez residents and leaders need to search for new ways to improve the quality of life of this area. And our leaders must continue to pursue any and all economic development leads to the utmost to attract the jobs that will eventually attract even more young people back to the Miss-Lou.

For even though the area has a wide variety of age groups that all contribute greatly, young adults inject the &uot;new blood&uot; &045;&045; and new thinking &045;&045; our community needs to move forward.