Pana, Illinois used to be known for its flowers . It was called the City of Roses , and at one point there were over 100 greenhouses there. Things have changed over the decades, though. In the city of 5,500 - about a third of people live below the poverty level. The town that was a mecca style for florists and had a bustling down-town has gone through the changes many small towns in the Midwest have seen - businesses have closed and drug-use has escalated.
There's an effort underway meant to help provide support for the youth of Pana, and potentially make them want to stay. It's a non-profit put together by a group called the Rose City Underground which got its start as an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement - which protested against what it called capitalist and corporate greed.
Rose City Underground opened a community center called “The Refuge.” I spoke with a couple people who helped found it - Joshua Bailey, and Tim Jophlin - who begins the interview talking about the goal of the center:
