There are 11 universities and colleges in Atlanta proper, including Historically Black College and Universities Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, the Morehouse School of Medicine, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College, and some 57 colleges and universities in the metro Atlanta area, including Kennesaw State University, according to universityguru.com. All of those institutions graduate talented individuals in various career fields. Some remain in Atlanta, adding to the city’s diverse workforce and thus to its population, while others leave to live elsewhere. 

The question of how to keep the city’s talented graduates while also continuing to attract people by the hundreds of thousands every year was part of the question being explored during the “Atlanta as America” panel at the 10th annual Hope Global Forums.

Day two of the three-day event had an afternoon discussion on defining new strategies for success in Atlanta that included Atlanta Mayor and Georgia Tech alum Andre Dickens, Spelman College President Dr. Helene Gayle, and Atlanta Hawks Principal Owner and governor of the Board of Directors Tony Ressler. The conversation was moderated by Bloomberg Originals chief correspondent Jason Kelly, an Atlanta native. 

“This southern city punches above its weight class. We continue to do that because of inclusivity,” said Dickens when asked by Kelly about why Atlanta continues to thrive in so many different professional fields. The three panelists and the host approached the conversation from the standpoint that Atlanta has come a long way to become, in some cases, the most business-friendly state in the country, but still must make sure to spread the wealth equally.

“Investing in people. At the end of the day it’s critical to invest in people,” said Gayle, who lived and worked in Atlanta several times before returning to lead Spelman College. “Every time I came back to Atlanta to work it was a different…