A promise rooted in education. "The Kalamazoo Promise" (to bankroll – indefinitely – the college tuition of thousands of Kalamazoo public school graduates )becomes an economic development draw.

A promise is a promise – until it is broken. And in the current era of broken job, pension and health-care benefit pledges, the word promise has lost tons of credibility.

But in down-on-its-luck Kalamazoo, what is known here as "The Promise" has the ring of certainty, spurring an extraordinary wave of hope among residents and tire-kicking interest from suddenly curious outsiders who know this city of 74,000 people only as someplace in Michigan with a goofy name.

Since an anonymous local donor promised last fall to bankroll – indefinitely – the college tuition of thousands of Kalamazoo public school graduates, life has changed here in ways that could not have been imagined six months ago.

Hundreds of new homes are slated to be built.

Out-of-state businesses are sniffing around Kalamazoo as a relocation site.

BY TIM JONES
Chicago Tribune

Full Story: http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/nation/14268490.htm