What a difference a few years makes for a state. In my mind, the beginning of the perception change started in August of 2006 when Joel Kotkin wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial about Bismarck-Mandan and North Dakota. That same year, the Bismarck Tribune was a headline story in the WSJ. From there, the media on North Dakota really took off. From TIME to Business Week to Outdoor life, to Forbes to broadcast media, Bismarck-Mandan and North Dakota are receiving positive attention from the national media.

Last week, CNN was in town to do a story on how North Dakota is utilizing its stimulus funds. And, here’s a twist to the national news. They are looking to find out more about why the Burleigh County Commission SENT BACK $9 million in stimulus funds. (Because we did not need it, maybe?) They are very intrigued with the idea that elected officials would actually turn down money. (And, still have a chance of getting re-elected.) They interviewed Commissioner Jim Peluso, made a trip to the Antelope Valley Power Plant and interviewed Governor Hoeven. We are awaiting word on the air date.

What’s the result of all this media? One, there is definitely an increased positive perception of our community and our state. For a long time, we didn’t have any image regionally or nationally. I don’t have any formal studies to back up my theory about the improved image. What I can tell you is that Chamber Execs and all my Public Relations friends from around the nation now ask about what is happening in North Dakota and why are we being successful.

Second, we are seeing more people than ever express interest in moving to North Dakota. When I first arrived in 2003, we maybe sent 5 or 6 relocation packets a month. For the last year, we have sent 30 to 35 packets a month. Not to mention that the hits on Bismarck-Mandan.com have skyrocketed to over 35,000 unique visits per month.

Third, look around your neighborhood. I’m betting you are seeing new faces from places outside North Dakota. We are one of the last places in America where home values remain stable, we have jobs available and it is possible to live at least some part of the American dream.

As we grow, one of the challenges is to what I call, “maintain the integrity of the community”. That is, we like to live here because it is safe, we know our neighbors, have good schools and short commute times. As you neighborhood changes, get out, welcome those new neighbors into the fold and help maintain our great quality of life.

The above is a guest blog by Kelvin Hullet, Bismarck-Mandan Chamber President on his perspective about North Dakota’s shifting national image.

Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History and is currently on tour for his book THE NEXT HUNDRED MILLION: America in 2050.

Joel serves as a Senior Consultant with Praxis Strategy Group a partner with the Flint Group

THE NEXT HUNDRED MILLION: America in 2050
By Joel Kotkin

Release date: February 4, 2010. Published by The Penguin Press

Read more about The Next Hundred Million

In stark contrast to the rest of the world’s advanced nations, the United States is growing at a record rate and, according to census projections, will be home to four hundred million Americans by 2050. This projected rise in population is the strongest indicator of our long-term economic strength, Joel Kotkin believes, and will make us more diverse and more competitive than any nation on earth.

Drawing on prodigious research, firsthand reportage, and historical analysis, The Next Hundred Million reveals how this unprecedented growth will take physical shape and change the face of America. The majority of additional hundred million Americans will find their homes in suburbia, though the suburbs of tomorrow will not resemble the Levittowns of the 1950s or the sprawling exurbs of the late twentieth century. The suburbs of the twenty-first century will be less reliant on major cities for jobs and other amenities and, as a result, more energy efficient. Suburbs will also be the melting pots of the future as more and more immigrants opt for dispersed living over crowded inner cities and the majority in the United States becomes nonwhite by 2050.

The Next Hundred Million provides a vivid snapshot of America in 2050 by focusing not on power brokers, policy disputes, or abstract trends, but rather on the evolution of the more intimate units of American society—families, towns, neighborhoods, industries. It is upon the success or failure of these communities, Kotkin argues, that the American future rests.

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Joel Kotkin is executive editor of NewGeography.com and is a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. He is author of The City: A Global History and is finishing a book on the American future.

Joel serves as a Senior Consultant with Praxis Strategy Group a partner with the Flint Group