I grew up in Rawlins. My dad was a coal miner who knew firsthand what boom-bust cycles actually cost – not in economic terms, but in what they do to a family, a neighborhood, a town. I watched what happened to the town when the boom ended.
It wasn't just the jobs that left. It was the people. Families I knew. Teachers, coaches, neighbors. The town didn't collapse – Rawlins is tougher than that – but it got quieter. I knew kids who never came back. I think about them still.
My four kids are now developing their own relationships with Wyoming. Statistically, at least two of them will leave, as two out of three Wyoming kids do. I hope they defy the odds.
That's why this job is personal to me.
This summer, we're doing something that seems simple but is harder in practice: we’re really listening – to business owners, community leaders, ranchers, developers, young professionals, and residents across the state.
What I'm hearing is sobering and clarifying. Sobering because the gaps are real. Clarifying because the people who could close those gaps are already in the room – they just need someone willing to listen.
People love Wyoming. That hasn't changed.
What's changed is their ability to wait for the state to make the decisions that would let them stay here – or come back. A young woman from Cheyenne told me she spent 15 years searching for a job in Wyoming that could bring her home; nothing came close to what she was earning in Colorado.
She eventually came back anyway and took a significant pay cut to do it.
Not everyone can make that trade.
A developer told me he's been fighting the same local permitting barriers for six years. A community leader said we should be doing more to keep young workers in the trades. A woman in rural Wyoming asked why her community sees almost none of the economic development funding.
These aren't complaints. They're a diagnosis.
What strikes me in every conversation isn't the frustration; it's the loyalty. These are people who have every reason to write Wyoming off, and they haven't. They showed up. They're still betting on this state. That's the Wyoming we're here to serve.
The Business Council is built to face these challenges by identifying specific barriers, clearing infrastructure gaps that block private investment, and making sure Wyoming's economic development resources reach the communities with a vision for their future.
Programs like Assessment to Action (A2A), which builds local leadership capacity, and Building Resilient Communities (BRC), which funds the infrastructure that makes private investment possible, are the tools. The results are concrete.
From Greybull to Shoshoni to Platte County, A2A teams continue to work their community's primary barrier more than a year later – and produce results. A $40 million infrastructure investment in Sheridan leveraged $48 million in private match and is still driving growth.
In Douglas and Wright, infrastructure grants approved this year will unlock housing for the teachers and skilled workers those communities can't retain without it.
The tools exist. What has to catch up is the willingness – at every level – to use them.
Wyoming has what it needs to get this right. The return on investment is documented. The community testimony is real. What I can't always control is whether the urgency people feel – the urgency I hear in every interaction – is matched by the people with the authority to act.
Our listening sessions aren't a formality. They're the chance to say what Wyoming actually needs out loud – to someone who can carry it back to the legislature this August. If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Find us. Bring the thing you’ve been wanting to say to someone who will speak truth to power and work on real solutions.
One thing we’ve heard is that the WBC needs a clearer vision and mission for Wyoming. We’ve drafted them and we're asking you to tell us where we got it right – and where we missed. The right answer belongs to Wyoming, not to a boardroom in Cheyenne.
Share your feedback at wbc.pub/wbcmission26 – three minutes, anonymous, it matters. Or connect directly with our board and team across the state.
Wyoming is not broke. It is not out of options. The question is whether we intend to build a future worth staying for – and if we'll decide in time.
I grew up watching what happens when a community waits too long. I don't intend to watch it happen again.
Let's get to work.
Josh Dorrell is the CEO of the Wyoming Business Council.
