Let's Save Michigan

July 07, 2010

Sometimes, “Seeing is Believing” is All That You Need.

Sometimes, “Seeing is believing” is all that you need.

The Grand Rapids Press recently published an in-depth article on how Grand Rapids was faring on talent retention. What was working, what wasn’t, who was staying and who was not.

For the most part, the article reiterated what the Let’s Save Michigan campaign stands for, but also revealed a challenge that may have an easier solution than most would expect: showing young people that several of our cities already have what they are looking for!

The article noted that 97 percent of the graduates of Grand Valley State University – a college with campuses in downtown Grand Rapids and Allendale - stay in Michigan to work or to attend graduate school. That number is far higher than colleges in the rest of the state, citing a Michigan Future Inc. survey of graduates that found about half flee Michigan within a year.

How does Grand Rapids get people to stay there or even move there? Simply visiting the city may be half the battle.

"It exceeds expectations of people from outside the region 100 percent of the time," says George Bosjnak, who earned a master's degree in public administration from GVSU in 2007 and is now a business development manager for The Right Place, a regional nonprofit economic development corporation. "We're a lot bigger city than we've made ourselves out to be. People are impressed by downtown and the vibrancy of it ... and by the types of companies with a global reach."  As part of his job, Bosnjak regularly brings out-of-state visitors and potential employers to visit the city.

What’s more, "bigger cities are not necessarily better,” sources in the article pointed out. Cities must also incorporate key ingredients to support young professionals, said Alan Bart, a recent Michigan State University graduate from the James Madison College of Public Affairs; last year, Bart helped lead a research seminar on retaining 18- to 30-year-olds. Aside from a great downtown bar scene,  young professionals look for strong networks to connect urbanites and put them in leadership roles, cooperation between universities and city leaders, and a support system for young entrepreneurs, the seminar concluded.

Even more evidence shows that having a job offer won’t keep a college grad in Michigan: one-third of college graduates who left the state "had a full-time job offer in Michigan," President of Michigan Future Lou Glazer said of a recent survey.

Enthusiasm is contagious

Hayley Roberts is the promotions fellow for the state's Cool Cities initiative. The program launched in 2003 and provided several Michigan cities with grant money for economic development projects, and is now focusing on providing human capital in Michigan’s “cool” cities in hopes to give young people a sense of place in Michigan. Cool Cities launched its internship program in the summer of 2009, putting college students and recent graduates to work in cool neighborhoods across the state. The interns aid with various projects ranging from building renovations to helping run Detroit’s Eastern Market to working in non-profits or government offices. Robert’s job is to facilitate engagement between interns and tell the Cool Cities story.

The internship program shows Michigan college students there is hope after graduation and a chance to make a real impact in the state, said Roberts, explaining that “a perceived economic tundra is rife with opportunities for initiative and enterprise.”

She should know, as a Michigan native herself that can relate to students who hope to flee after graduation to greener pastures.

 “My most pressing emotion after college was the desire for palm trees,” said Roberts who spent a brief stint working and living in Atlanta after graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in professional writing.

“I quickly realized Detroit's lackluster status was hiding its underdog strengths: in what other major city can you live in a renovated loft, right downtown with a river view, for under a thousand bucks —and go camping an hour away on the weekends? For young people, Michigan's landscape is the perfect blend of urban, suburban and crisp wilderness.”

Roberts believes that one remedy to a state suffering from brain drain is enthusiasm.  Interns are changing perceptions about Michigan on a micro-level when they feel there are making demonstrable improvements in their city in which they’re placed, she said.

Aside from making big changes in Michigan cities and small changes in perception (that is, sometimes one person at a time), Roberts is continuously looking for new ways to share successes of the program. On the horizon:  A blog featuring “cool stories” written by the programs’ interns and utilizing the location-based social networking game Foursquare to showcase internship sites.

The state certainly saw success with marketing its existing bounty with the Pure Michigan campaign, attracting new levels of tourists from out of state. Sometimes, “seeing is believing” is all that you need.