He wants to get other
members of his generation involved and he plans on using social media — in
addition to his unique form of personal persuasion — to get their input and get
them interested.
And they’re not the only
ones he’s targeting.
“As I go to school board
meetings, and borough council meetings, and other organizations in town, I
think about the pieces of a puzzle, and everyone is focused on their own
piece,” Wilkerson said.
“And when I go to
community meetings, or events, I always see the same people and really, if
we’re going to move forward as a town, we need everybody,” he said.
And that’s who he has
invited to a special community meeting on the evening of Monday, Aug. 1 at 7
p.m.
To be held at
Connections on High, 238 E. High St., Wilkerson said he hopes the meeting will
begin a town-wide conversation on the challenges Pottstown faces — “we have
social divisions, our tax base is struggling, we need economic development, we
can only move forward together and we need to get the youth in here to be part
of that since it will be theirs soon enough,” said Wilkerson.
“We understand what
today holds for our community, but I am concerned with what tomorrow will look
like for us and the best way to predict the future of tomorrow is to go out and
write that future ourselves,” Wilkerson said in a statement announcing the
meeting.
“Abraham Lincoln said
the best way to predict your future is to create it,” Wilkerson told The
Mercury.
The format of the
meeting will be “open,” with some experts and leaders to get the conversation
started “so we can get some community consensus and get an action plan,” he
said.
“I am inviting elected
officials, community leaders, clergy members and members of my generation to
come together to start in this journey with me and help put a beat back into
the heart of Pottstown,” Wilkerson wrote.
Not content to merely
“invite” the town, Wilkerson, who got on the ballot on a write-in campaign
going door-to-door, said he plans to cajole the town, face to face if
necessary.
“Flyers are being
printed, I will be on social media” and he once again even plans to knock on
some doors.
“I think you can’t wait
for people to come to you, sometimes you have to go to the people,” he said.