Picking Up The Torch...

Just last week I read an article in The Greenville News about how Greenville is "growing grayer." It seems like the baby boomers, who make up 10 percent more of the population now than they did in 2000, are the fastest growing segment of the Greenville population. Now, I don't think that this is a bad thing. I actually think that is a positive thing, but when matched with the fact that the 25-39 age group is 11 percent LESS than it was in 2000, I begin to worry.

I have been back in Greenville since 2000 and I have seen the streets, businesses and lifestyle become younger and younger on a daily basis. But how, if I see younger people around, can we be falling at such a rapid pace? We need the 25 - 39 year olds to take the torch that has been carried by the leaders of today. We need more of them to come and help lead Greenville to the future.

While reading this article, I started thinking about a blog I wrote a long time ago for another organization. Although I hate to recylcle old blog posts, I think this one may be necessary. Read and let me know what you think...

A week ago I was privileged enough to attend the University Center of Greenville’s Board of Visitors meeting where Carol Coletta was the keynote speaker. I heard Carol Colletta speak about 4 years ago as the keynote speaker for the unveiling of Vision 2025, a long term, community-wide vision for Greenville County. It just so happens that 4 years later, I am the program director for the non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to make sure that Vision 2025 continues to dream for our community, Greenville Forward.

First I will provide a brief explanation of who Carol Coletta is. She is currently the President and CEO of CEOs for Cities (http://www.ceosforcities.org/home/index.php), whose mission is to “act as an idea lab for cities.” They “discover the trends that will affect cities for better or worse, decipher what can be done to respond and develop new innovations to put to work in cities.” The organization produces various reports and findings on what trends are out there that affect cities and their growth. They also serve as “experts” in how creative communities can grow and prosper in the environment that exists today.

So, I went to the early morning meeting very intrigued by what I was about to hear. I know that Coletta has a storied interest in helping our cities grow through the attraction, engagement and retention of our young professionals. My work at Greenville Forward carries me to this ideal as well. With the ever changing face of our community, the need to engage our young people is crucial. Greenville has been blessed in the past with courageous leaders who have developed visions for our community to make sure that we are able to keep up with the future. Visions for Greenville date back over 100 years, providing us with many of the amenities we enjoy today.

Now is time for us to find those Greenvillians who are going to make sure that we continue on this path. We need to identify those young people who continually challenge themselves and those around them to move beyond the standard way of thinking and view our community from a broader sense. Who are going to be those future leaders that are going to take the reins on inclusion and diversity in our community? Who are those future leaders that are going to help ensure that our arts community is vibrant, strong and fully funded? Who are those future leaders that are going to grow our school system holistically so that every man, woman and child has the opportunity for strong, viable education from birth to death? Who are the future leaders that are going to help us make sure that everyone around us is cared for? Who is going to work with the current leaders to reach out to students at Furman, Clemson, Greenville Tech and The University Center to keep our talent here?

This is what Coletta talked about. But, as I listened to her speak, I did find one thing to be a bit negative about. As I looked around the room, I quickly noticed that I was the youngest person there by at least 10 years. I was pretty sure that I was the only person under the age of 35. There is a possibility that I was the only person under the age of 40, but I cannot confirm that, nor do I want to offend anyone that was there. This was a discussion that our young people needed to hear. We needed to understand that our communities need us to be engaged and thinking about the future. We need to understand that the young people in our community need to reach out to take the torch that is being passed from the leaders of today.

Coletta talked a lot about the need to grow our young population and how that relates to economic development. Yes, that word that we hear all the time now in Greenville. You hear it from businesses, you hear it from The Chamber, and you hear it from the CVB and others. How can we continue to grow Greenville? Well, communities that continue to grow and maintain substantial economic development have succeeded in four basic areas.

1. They are good at developing and retaining talent.
2. They excel in enabling connections through the community.
3. They embrace distinctiveness and uniqueness.
4. The foster innovation.

While we have a good handle on all of these areas, we are still not keep up with our peer cities, Coletta says. And, much of this can be wrapped around the idea of the first one. We need to do a better job at attracting, engaging and retaining our young talent. 16 out of the 50 major metro areas gained young professionals (25-34) in 2007. Hey, gaining yp’s is good, right? Well, not if you think that 34 of those same areas LOST their young professionals.

As a native to Greenville, I have seen a significant influx of young people to this area. When I left in 1995, with no intention of coming back, we certainly were not competing with Charleston, Charlotte, Atlanta and other cities for our young people. When I came back in 2001, I saw a change. I heard from young people that chose Greenville OVER Charleston. Chose Greenville OVER Atlanta or Charlotte. Why? Much of it centered around quality of life.

In our ever changing world, young people continue to change the rules. They do not look at moving to specific city or community for a job. The trend now is that they are looking at the community first and then looking for a job. Young people are doing their research on communities that fit their passions. They actively search for communities that embrace the following:

1. Clean
2. Tolerant
3. Safe
4. Green
5. Housing that they want that is affordable (this does not necessarily mean affordable housing)
6. Fits their needs

So, what can we do as a community to ensure that we are successful in attracting and retaining these young people? We can reference the list that Coletta gave us and work on those areas. Especially the one about enabling connections throughout the community. We can work with our local colleges and universities to establish programs for the students already in our community. We can work with the school district to engage our youth earlier. We can listen to our young people and work with them to implement their ideas. They are the ones who are going to lead us in the future anyway, right? And, one thing that we can do immediately? Fix our transit system. All communities that succeed in attracting young talent have successful, viable transit systems that are used by all citizens. That’s all I will say about that.

So, where do we go from here? We need to listen to Carol Coletta and her organization. Read the studies. Do the research. But, most of all, reach out to those young people that work for you. Those young people that you see at lunch. Those young people that are interning with your organization. Certainly serve as a mentor to someone young. But, help identify who those future leaders are. And, send me their names. Figure out ways to get them engaged. Find out what their passions are. Establish connections in getting them engaged.

I mean, I have a dream for Greenville. In 2020, I want to see 100’s of Greenvillians my age preparing to develop Vision 2050 for Greenville. Won’t that be nice?