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Written by: FOCUS St. Louis Tuesday, March 15, 2011 2:04 PM
At FOCUS, we are well aware of the “diaspora” of young, talented professionals in our region. We were recently asked about our work zeroing in on young professionals in our community—the goal of our Connect With… initiative is to do just that. And we’re only getting started.
6 comment(s) so far...
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay You make a lot of great points about the STL's benefits for young professionals, and Connect With sounds like an excellent program.
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay
You make a lot of great points about the STL's benefits for young professionals, and Connect With sounds like an excellent program.
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay In every city, a couple of hundred since 1990, young professionals ride along as leaders build new downtown performing arts centers or restore the historic. These are civic, cultural and economic journeys of inspiration and economic reward. Denver Center for Performing Arts brought back downtown Denver. Restorations of the Hippodrome in Baltimore, The California in San Jose and Boston Opera House catalyzed exciting urban rebirths. In Fall of 2009, people came from 887 cities to Dallas as they opened Winspear Opera House and the Wyly Theater, or AT and T Center for Performing Arts.Right now Kansas City is counting down to Sept 16-18 opening of Kauffman Center. Young, old, and in between are coming along. Young professionals have their own Kauffman Center face book-Encore. They are holding their own events. This is how you retain young professionals and grow their organizations. It all comes together on a magnificent Sept. weekend. Here you have been 'pushed' toward sports and casinos and something at midtown. In 1998, I pointed Metropolis toward Kiel Opera House one of the top five theater concert halls in the Country. Metropolis said NO. Is there still a Metropolis? Young St. Louisans have been denied a singular experience and a real reason to be proud of your Downtown.Peabody saw it. Have they invited you as the Kauffmans have? Checketts sees it, has he invited you? Slay sees. Has he invited you? So, go crash the party. And make it big, or wait for Ballpark Village and Arch 2015.
In every city, a couple of hundred since 1990, young professionals ride along as leaders build new downtown performing arts centers or restore the historic. These are civic, cultural and economic journeys of inspiration and economic reward. Denver Center for Performing Arts brought back downtown Denver. Restorations of the Hippodrome in Baltimore, The California in San Jose and Boston Opera House catalyzed exciting urban rebirths. In Fall of 2009, people came from 887 cities to Dallas as they opened Winspear Opera House and the Wyly Theater, or AT and T Center for Performing Arts.Right now Kansas City is counting down to Sept 16-18 opening of Kauffman Center. Young, old, and in between are coming along. Young professionals have their own Kauffman Center face book-Encore. They are holding their own events. This is how you retain young professionals and grow their organizations. It all comes together on a magnificent Sept. weekend. Here you have been 'pushed' toward sports and casinos and something at midtown. In 1998, I pointed Metropolis toward Kiel Opera House one of the top five theater concert halls in the Country. Metropolis said NO. Is there still a Metropolis? Young St. Louisans have been denied a singular experience and a real reason to be proud of your Downtown.Peabody saw it. Have they invited you as the Kauffmans have? Checketts sees it, has he invited you? Slay sees. Has he invited you? So, go crash the party. And make it big, or wait for Ballpark Village and Arch 2015.
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay Have you considered that perhaps Missouri's "red state" atmosphere (even in the "blue-er regions of the city and county) might drive young people away? What about local attitudes about gays, for instance? Why live here when the prevailing cultural norms are (in general) more conservative than Chicago, or Boston, or even Research Triangle Park? Even Kansas City is perceived as more liberal, more progressive, more arts- and culture-friendly than St. Louis.
Have you considered that perhaps Missouri's "red state" atmosphere (even in the "blue-er regions of the city and county) might drive young people away? What about local attitudes about gays, for instance? Why live here when the prevailing cultural norms are (in general) more conservative than Chicago, or Boston, or even Research Triangle Park? Even Kansas City is perceived as more liberal, more progressive, more arts- and culture-friendly than St. Louis.
Anchoring the Boomerang Migrants Ask not why they leave, but why they don't return.
Anchoring the Boomerang Migrants
Ask not why they leave, but why they don't return.
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay The latest generation, "The Millennials," also known as the "Digital Natives" because they've never known a world without digital communication technology, are focused in a way that the previous two waves of young people were not, and there's some hope for St. Louis in that. This is a generation that very much once to But we're going to need to find a way to loosen the purse strings and give them a chance to fly. St. Louis is never going to be hip or edgy in the way a Denver or Portland is. But we do have a disproportionate number of really smart people here because of our universities, health care institutions, and corporations with technological foci If we can get over our dependence on "old money" (that's how it got old... the families that have it don't spend it) and encourage and invest in young smart people, we have a chance to turn this around. We've got to stop telling young people in effect, "You can't do that here." Because if we don't they will continue to leave, only possibly returning years later because this is "a great place to raise kids." To borrow a line from the movie "Risky Business, "Every once in a while you've got to say "What the ****. If you can't say it, you can't do it." About 20 years ago I spent an evening hanging out with a guy named John Hickenlooper in Denver. When we finished the program that we were putting on, he suggested that we go to his brew pub, the Wynkoop. Hickenlooper was part of the redevelopment revolution around the new baseball stadium in LoDo (lower downtown) Denver. Once inside the pub that night, Hickenlooper somehow got into a trash talking contest with a guy in the pub over who had the flashiest boxer shorts. I swear that Hickenlooper went into the men's room, came out with boxers in his hand and swapped shorts with the guy. He impressed me that night as being really bright, totally fearless... and a little bit nuts. Years later that same John Hickenlooper got a bunch of suburban mayors into the Wynkoop for beers and -- when he had them tanked up enough -- convinced them to back the construction of light rail throughout the Denver metroplex. He was mayor of Denver at the time. Today Hickenlooper's governor of Colorado. Point is, Denver was willing to put it's money behind John Hickenlooper. St. Louis has its own examples of similar successes, notably Joe Edwards. But if we had put a fraction of the money into backing young people with ideas that our area gave over the last 20 years in tax incentives to build shopping centers with no tenants for people who were buying stuff by taking loans on their homes, we'd be ahead of the game. We have the smart young people. Let's put our money where our mouth is. If we want them, then let's back them.
The latest generation, "The Millennials," also known as the "Digital Natives" because they've never known a world without digital communication technology, are focused in a way that the previous two waves of young people were not, and there's some hope for St. Louis in that. This is a generation that very much once to But we're going to need to find a way to loosen the purse strings and give them a chance to fly. St. Louis is never going to be hip or edgy in the way a Denver or Portland is. But we do have a disproportionate number of really smart people here because of our universities, health care institutions, and corporations with technological foci If we can get over our dependence on "old money" (that's how it got old... the families that have it don't spend it) and encourage and invest in young smart people, we have a chance to turn this around. We've got to stop telling young people in effect, "You can't do that here." Because if we don't they will continue to leave, only possibly returning years later because this is "a great place to raise kids." To borrow a line from the movie "Risky Business, "Every once in a while you've got to say "What the ****. If you can't say it, you can't do it." About 20 years ago I spent an evening hanging out with a guy named John Hickenlooper in Denver. When we finished the program that we were putting on, he suggested that we go to his brew pub, the Wynkoop. Hickenlooper was part of the redevelopment revolution around the new baseball stadium in LoDo (lower downtown) Denver. Once inside the pub that night, Hickenlooper somehow got into a trash talking contest with a guy in the pub over who had the flashiest boxer shorts. I swear that Hickenlooper went into the men's room, came out with boxers in his hand and swapped shorts with the guy. He impressed me that night as being really bright, totally fearless... and a little bit nuts. Years later that same John Hickenlooper got a bunch of suburban mayors into the Wynkoop for beers and -- when he had them tanked up enough -- convinced them to back the construction of light rail throughout the Denver metroplex. He was mayor of Denver at the time. Today Hickenlooper's governor of Colorado. Point is, Denver was willing to put it's money behind John Hickenlooper. St. Louis has its own examples of similar successes, notably Joe Edwards. But if we had put a fraction of the money into backing young people with ideas that our area gave over the last 20 years in tax incentives to build shopping centers with no tenants for people who were buying stuff by taking loans on their homes, we'd be ahead of the game. We have the smart young people. Let's put our money where our mouth is. If we want them, then let's back them.
Re: Mark Fogal—The St. Louis young adults' "diaspora"...and how to give them a reason to stay I realize this post is a little older, but I have to comment on Stefanie's phenomenal point: "Have you considered that perhaps Missouri's "red state" atmosphere (even in the "blue-er regions of the city and county) might drive young people away? What about local attitudes about gays, for instance? Why live here when the prevailing cultural norms are (in general) more conservative than Chicago, or Boston, or even Research Triangle Park? Even Kansas City is perceived as more liberal, more progressive, more arts- and culture-friendly than St. Louis."This is a phenomenal point. Although the recession may currently be hindering young professionals' ability to pick up and move across the country, when the economy rebounds, and access to mobility increases, what's to keep young professionals living in what seems to rapidly be becoming a fully locked-in red state? St. Louis leadership needs to be working NOW to cultivate and engage young professionals as part of the solution to these problems.
I realize this post is a little older, but I have to comment on Stefanie's phenomenal point: "Have you considered that perhaps Missouri's "red state" atmosphere (even in the "blue-er regions of the city and county) might drive young people away? What about local attitudes about gays, for instance? Why live here when the prevailing cultural norms are (in general) more conservative than Chicago, or Boston, or even Research Triangle Park? Even Kansas City is perceived as more liberal, more progressive, more arts- and culture-friendly than St. Louis."This is a phenomenal point. Although the recession may currently be hindering young professionals' ability to pick up and move across the country, when the economy rebounds, and access to mobility increases, what's to keep young professionals living in what seems to rapidly be becoming a fully locked-in red state? St. Louis leadership needs to be working NOW to cultivate and engage young professionals as part of the solution to these problems.