Our future is dependent on our children coming back and carrying on our legacy.

Sanda Washington left Gary after high school and spent years in Texas and Colorado before deciding to return home. Her daughter beat her back, buying a house two blocks from downtown.

She remembers a downtown where families could walk to JCPenney, the ice cream shop, the banks, all gone now. What she wants back isn't just the storefronts: “I want it to be safe. I want it to be that community, the safety of the community we had when we were kids." 

That kind of community can’t be built on accident. To Sanda, it takes people actually choosing to come home, the way her daughter did: "Our future is dependent on our children coming back and carrying on the legacy."