That’s what Meredith Hector thought about people here when she first visited two years ago.
“It was ‘Roll up your sleeves, get things done,’ ” said the Knight Foundation’s Bradenton program director in Miami. “Very, very friendly.”
Deeply attached to the community, too, she might have added.
All those traits helped make Bradenton No. 1 in a Gallup study, “Soul of the Community,” to determine whether the worst economic crisis in decades was a factor in attracting or retaining residents in 26 U.S. communities.
Great schools, affordable health care and safe streets all help create strong communities. But is there something deeper that draws people to a city – that makes them want to put down roots and build a life?