By David Sher
There’s a moment in life when you meet someone and you understand why you get out of bed every morning.
I had one of those moments recently when I ran into a man who told me he’d been reading ComebackTown for years. He was genuinely excited to meet me. But I was more excited to meet him — because he personified everything this column has been about since it was first published in 2012.
The Decision
His story began during the 2008 financial crisis. He and his wife grew up in rural Alabama and moved to Birmingham for a good job. Things were going well until the recession hit and he lost his job.
He searched desperately for work in Birmingham and the surrounding area. The opportunities simply weren’t there.
His only options were to stay and suffer, or leave and prosper.
He and his wife moved to Dallas, where he found a good job in the financial industry. What he thought would be a temporary move — just a few years to weather the storm — turned into twelve years away from home.
There was a cost. Both sets of parents were upset. He had multiple conversations with his parents and in-laws, trying to help them understand this wasn’t about abandoning Alabama or rejecting his roots. It was about survival and opportunity — about the simple economic reality that the jobs weren’t there for him in Birmingham.
The Bridge
Here’s where the story took an unexpected turn.
When he started reading ComebackTown, he found something he desperately needed: a way to explain his decision to his family. He began forwarding posts to his parents and in-laws — articles that laid out the economic realities he was facing, the structural challenges Birmingham confronted, and why leaving wasn’t a rejection of home but a necessary response to circumstances beyond his control.
The column became a bridge. It gave him language and evidence to help his loved ones understand. It turned a family conflict into a conversation grounded in facts and regional economics rather than emotions and perceived abandonment.
I don’t think I fully understood the impact of this work until that moment. Writing about regional economic development always felt important in an abstract sense. But hearing that these words had given someone the tools to preserve relationships while pursuing opportunity — that was something else entirely.
Back to Birmingham
After twelve years in Dallas, something shifted. He and his wife missed home and wanted to come back. It took time and patience, but eventually he found a good job in the financial industry here.
They made the move.
And they’re happy. Genuinely, deeply happy.
His family — the same parents who had been so upset about his departure — are now ecstatic that he and his wife have returned.
His journey illustrates a truth ComebackTown has tried to communicate since its inception: regional economic strength depends on job creation.
He didn’t leave Birmingham because he wanted to. He didn’t want to spend twelve years away from his family and community. He left because the regional economy couldn’t support him. When he finally had the chance to return, he took it immediately.
In Birmingham, the Job Has to Find You
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is now home to 24 Fortune 500 companies — Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Texas Instruments, Toyota, Frito-Lay, and Kimberly-Clark among them.
Birmingham has two: Regions Financial and Vulcan Materials.
My new friend explained that in Dallas, he had unlimited job opportunities.
He said in Dallas, you find the job.
In Birmingham, the job has to find you.
Focus Relentlessly on Job Creation
This man’s story is about understanding that thriving communities are built on economic opportunity. When people have good jobs in their hometowns, they stay. They raise families. They invest in their communities. They build lives.
Conversely, when the jobs disappear, people leave — and that’s not failure on their part.
It’s a failure of regional economic policy.
The solution isn’t complicated. We need to focus relentlessly on job creation. We need structures that enable regional cooperation without eliminating local control.
And we need to build an economy where people like this man don’t have to choose between their careers and their families — where they can build good lives in the place they love.
David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).
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