Nick-arnett

The Millennial 2020 Evolution by Nick Arnett

 
I’ve had a few people ask me in recent weeks how I’m applying my research through the Twelve Cities Project to economic development efforts in Northeast Indiana. While there’s a myriad of examples I could give, I’ll give you an overview of one that I’m very passionate about: Millennial 2020.
 
As many of you know, I took a position with the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership (NEIRP) earlier this year to help them develop and carry out a program that would engage the “Millennial” (generally individuals between the ages of 15 to 29; however, we’ve narrowed it to 15 to 25 after a number of focus groups held with young people during the development of the program) population in Northeast Indiana in regional visioning efforts. The result is a program called Millennial 2020, a regional initiative we’re launching in January as an extension of Vision 2020 that will be stewarded by the NEIRP with the intent to civically engage young people in their communities and empower them to create a region that’s relevant and conducive to their lifestyles.
 
However, Millennial 2020 today is not at all what it was three months ago before I began my journeys.
 
If you could see the notes, diagrams, and flow charts I had scattered around my desk earlier this year illustrating how Millennial 2020 would roll out, you would think I was talking about something entirely different than what you’ll be hearing about in a few weeks. Myself and Erica Hahn, another member of our team who’s working on the program with me, had patched together a series of leadership development bodies and focus group-type events aimed at having young people in our region weigh in on Vision 2020. After my visit to Tennessee and studying projects going on in cities I intend to visit, however, all of that changed. I became very intrigued and impressed by a process known as placemaking, and began brainstorming ways to incorporate it into our plans. After my trip to Chattanooga and my recent visit to Paducah, I’ve been able to take concepts and ideas that were actively (and effectively) practiced in both cities and bring them back to our region by incorporating them into plans for Millennial 2020.
 
I’m sure many of you have heard me talk about the concept of placemaking and my theories about it (and if you have, you also know that I can ramble on about it for ages), but for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, I’ll give you a brief overview and a look at how we’re building it into our process. After my visit to Chattanooga and conversations in Paducah, I’ve altered the process to include two critical components based on my observations: a.) visioning and planning, and b.) implementation through enablers. The first portion of the process involves taking all individuals who interact with a given space (whether you’re talking about a city block, neighborhood, community, or entire region) and involving them in a visioning conversation to describe 1.) What the space needs to have for them to carry out their routine functions as normal, and 2.) What the space needs to have to allow them to expand on their personal and professional hopes, dreams, and aspirations in the future.
 
Once a wide array of community input has been gathered and formed into a “vision,” you enter phase two of the process – the implementation phase. This is where I derail a bit from conventional placemaking concepts and go off on my own theory. In today’s global competition for talent, relevancy is becoming a hot issue. Millennials are drawn to places that are opportunistic and allow them to shape or mold the place into something that’s conducive and relevant to their lives. They want everything in their lives to be meaningful and connected; they’re not afraid to walk away from a job or a place if they don’t feel as if it fits with their core passions and contributes to a meaningful life for them. But a stumbling block that many cities face is figuring out how to produce relevancy – and that, in itself, is the issue. You can’t manufacture relevancy; it has to come from within. In other words, the people who live, work, and play in a space have to create a space that’s relevant to their lives and have to be able to continually alter that space to keep it relevant. This can only be done through what I call “enabling elements” in the placemaking process. Enablers have the capacity – whether it’s resources, space, or funding – to enable someone to turn a vision into action.
 
I first starting studying the concept of “enablers” after conversations with CreateHere, Colab, and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga while in Tennessee. Whether it was intentional or not, they actively practiced this concept of “placemaking enablement” by equipping residents with what they needed to turn their dreams into reality. This has led to some incredible transformations in Chattanooga over the past thirty years, and they’re not alone – other cities are realizing the power held within enablement, and are beginning to see that their residents are their greatest pool of assets.
 
Back to Millennial 2020 – the program will roll out in a series of phases, with the first being a 10,000+ copy survey process throughout the ten counties the NEIRP serves. This will be the “visioning” portion of the process, asking Millennials to describe their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for Northeast Indiana (the “space”). Additionally, a critically important question will be included in the survey that asks the respondent to describe what they can do to help create the vision they just described. This was something I was very struck by on the Chattanooga STAND survey conducted a few years ago. It forces the respondent to have a reality check; yes, they might have some grandios ideas of what they’d like to see happen in our region, but they realize that they can’t make that happen alone. Instead, they’re forced to think about the important incremental steps that they can accomplish that will lead to the creation of a foundation to support their bigger aspirations.
 
Once collected, responses will be compiled and reported back to the Millennials later this summer during an event that will bring in young people from our entire ten county region to one location. In the weeks following the release of the survey data during that event, Millennials and their visions will be matched up with or directed to “enablers” who have the capacity to help make that vision happen, or can assist in the incremental steps needed leading up to it. At this point, the placemaking process will transition into the implementation phase where residents are working directly with enablers to turn the vision into action and implementation.
 
In theory, if this model works correctly – a future visioning process of this type would never be necessary, because it would become a constant work in progress. That may sound a bit radical at first, but if you think about it, the change and transformation will be ongoing; the “enablement” phase never really ends. Residents will constantly be engaged in a cycle of creating a space that’s relevant to their lives and able to adapt to generational transitions, lifestyle changes, or major population shifts. Of course, that would be if everything works out perfectly – so you could say that’s more of a pie-in-the-sky hope for me.
 
Nevertheless, it’s an exciting time for young people living in Northeast Indiana. As I stated before, young talent today is drawn to places they feel have an enhanced quality of opportunity – places where they feel they can make a difference and be part of the process of bettering their community. Beginning in January, Millennials in Northeast Indiana will live in one of the most opportunistic places in the midwest. I can’t hardly wait to see what they create.
 
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Interested in supporting the Twelve Cities Project? You can donate online by clicking here. Read more about the project’s progress here.
 

Enablers: The True Economic Engine by Nick Arnett

 
I had a great conversation the other day regarding the importance of place in terms of economic activity. While getting lunch with an old friend, they asked me in a doubtful tone, “can placemaking really spur economic growth, or is it just another feel-good idea?”
 
Economic development professionals, urban planners, architects, and individuals from related fields across the globe are beginning to realize the important role place plays in the economic development and growth of a location – be it a neighborhood, city, or an entire region. Placemaking marks a new era in the way we approach the growth and development of a city, and a new way in which we view the role “community” plays in the global competition for talent.
 
I typically break placemaking down into two categories:
 
Placemaking – The broader of the two; refers to the development, implementation, design, and management of a space largely guided by individuals who interact with the space on a routine basis. Project for Public Spaces (PPS) gives a great summary:
 

(Placemaking) involves looking at, listening to, and asking questions of the people who live, work and play in a particular space, to discover their needs and aspirations. This information is then used to create a common vision for that place. The vision can evolve quickly into an implementation strategy, beginning with small-scale, do-able improvements that can immediately bring benefits to public spaces and the people who use them.”

 
Placemaking hinges on two major process: the formation of a vision based on collection of input from individuals who interact with the space regarding their needs, dreams, and aspirations for it, and the transformation of that vision into action. When people who have a vested interest in a space are given the opportunity to shape its future, you’re essentially insuring that the given space is relevant to the lives of the people who utilize it.
 
The action phase of it can take a number of different paths, depending on who’s guiding the conversation. For example, if a developer opens dialogue among individuals effected by a space to create a vision for a development in that area, the action phase of it will be carried out by the developer once the visioning process is complete. However, a powerful and more sustainable transformation can occur when you implement some sort of “enabling feature” into the place you’re looking at.
 
A perfect illustration of this can be found in Chattanooga, Tennessee. During my recent visit there, I came across a fascinating duo that I’ve mentioned a number of times on this blog – CreateHere and CoLab. Nestled into a storefront on Main Street in the historic Southside neighborhood of Chattanooga, these two forward-thinking groups were incubators of innovation, inspiration, and creation – they helped lead the charge in the Main Street transformation. Whether it was planned intentionally or not, something was clear during my visit there: these two were responsible for much of the change that has occurred in the Southside neighborhood over the past five years. Businesses that lifted off through CoLab’s plethora of resources filled in store fronts throughout a five to ten block radius, and traces of CreateHere’s programs were found all throughout the neighborhood – everything from artistic elements made possible by MakeWork and Arts Move to signage for festivals celebrating the historic heritage and bright future Main Street has.
 
Though I’m not sure of the date, it’s obvious that dialogue opened up sometime within the last decade regarding the future of Main Street among people with a vested interest in the poverty and crime-stricken area of town. Ideas were shared, dreams were published, and a vision was born. The needs, aspirations, and dreams for Main Street were brought under one umbrella that gave it a guiding force – that vision compiled by people who had a passion for Main Street helped orchestrate the action that took place there. Yet the vision set for it wasn’t the only force at work; having “enablers” that believed in Main Street like CreateHere, CoLab, and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga allowed the Southside community to not only reimagine itself, but also recreate itself. Hopes and dreams were processed through the enablers, and the output was the actual implementation of a vision set by lovers of Main Street.
 
The second, more specified form of placemaking is known as creative placemaking. This form of placemaking involves the creation of spaces that stimulate creativity and collaboration; in turn, they spur economic growth where implemented. In a study for the National Endowment for the Arts, Ann Markusen defines the term below:
 

Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired.

 
Sounds great, but what kind of consequences can be seen from practicing this in terms of economic growth? Does it really spur economic activity within a community, city, or region? Does it really “improve local business viability?”
 
At one point, I was among the skeptics – until I was able to see data supporting the case for creative placemaking as a tool for economic development. The study I referenced above illustrates this argument elegantly, and gives supporting evidence to back it up. One of the most important factors that this practice brings to the table is the incubation of innovation. In other words, these “creative elements” provide a creative, collaborative space where “two half-good ideas can come together.” A video Craig Crook showed me a few months back, entitled Where Good Ideas Come From, describes this process to a perfect tune.
 
During a radio interview on “Place Matters” with Dr. Katherine Loflin a few weeks ago, I described a local example of creative placemaking in Fort Wayne by way of utilizing already “socially-charged” infrastructure: our trails system. While conducting a study with students from the University of Saint Francis, Fort Wayne Trails executive director Lori Keys discovered that people are nearly eight times more likely to greet you with a smile on the trails than they are on the streets of downtown Fort Wayne. Lori went on to tell me how Fort Wayne Trails uses public art & sculpture to encourage social interaction on the trails and stimulate creative conversation.
 
Though placemaking and creative placemaking are two very different terms with different meanings, the two go hand-in-hand. Creating spaces that are relevant to the lives of the people who interact with them is more critical now than it ever has been in the past given that Millennials (individuals between the ages of 12 and 30) choose a place first and a job second when looking for a place to locate to. Creating a space that is relevant to them and giving them the means to keep it relevant is critically important to attracting and retaining talent. Creative placemaking insures that the dialogue about the space continues, a city’s creative potential is expanded, and its innovative capacity is enhanced.
 
The emotional connection between people and where they live is a critical factor to keep in mind when attracting talent. Enabling a community to keep their space relevant to their lives is the only sure way of developing a community that can be competitive on a global scale regarding the development, retainment, and attraction of talent.
 
To read more about Nick’s 12 Cities 12 Months project, visit his website here.
 

The Chattanooga Transformation

Millennial 2020 coordinator Nick Arnett details his travels to his first city stop on his 12 city journey: Chattanooga, Tennessee.

I recently made my first Twelve Cities Project visit. I was Chattanooga-bound in sunny, beautiful 70-degree weather with the magnificent Smoky Mountains looming over my head. As I entered the Tennessee River valley and crossed into the Chattanooga area, it was easy to see why so many people have fallen in love with the beauty of this region.

But I wasn’t convinced that the aesthetic appeal of the place was the reason young talent has flocked there in droves over the past decade. I was determined to dig deeper.

My first morning there, I took a 5am walk (yes, 5AM) around the city’s center. There was a great sense of density and connectivity – everything, no matter what the distance, seemed to be within walking distance. The streets had a beautiful appeal to them, the sidewalks were comfortable to walk on, and there was an appropriate ratio of built environment to greenspace. Yes, they were little details – but they were little details that mattered.

I spent the majority of that morning with an awesome group of enthusiastic residents called CreateHere. Founded in 2007, they were determined to make a difference in both Chattanooga and the nonprofit realm from the start. Upon conception, they have a “supernova” date in mind – on December 31, 2011, they would cease to exist. They dubbed it their supernova date with the idea that a supernova either creates a black hole or shining stars. Based on what I observed during my visit, the latter is definitely true of this group.

In my own words, I’d describe them as an incubator for social innovation. I spent the morning (and a good deal of the week) learning about some of the awesome programs that had evolved out of CreateHere’s enthusiasm and passion for economic revival in Chattanooga. MakeWork, an artist grant program, seeks to change public perception of what art is to include new and emerging forms of artistic expression – new media, documentary production, to name a few. Click here to view a clip of my conversation with Kate Creason, the MakeWork Administrator. For a full list of programs that have been developed out of CreateHere, click here – and prepare to be blown away by seeing the explosive results of mixing arts, culture, economic development, and community attachment.

It was fantastic to see the energy, passion, and enthusiasm this group of young people had for Chattanooga – but I knew that wasn’t the whole story. I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Three decades ago, Chattanooga had be named the “dirtiest city” in the county and had hit rock bottom about as hard as it could. How did they rebound? How did they begin to establish themselves as – what I’m calling – the Silicon Valley of the south? How did they go from a “nearly dead city” to having such a vibrant and diversified economy, with such a high percentage of growth among young talent?

A conversation with J. Ed Marston of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce shed a little more light on this. Jed told me about where Chattanooga is today in regards to it’s recent deployment of the country’s fastest internet, and its journey to establish itself as a technology hub on a national and global scale. Additionally, Jed spoke a bit about the steps it took to begin the process – the importance of creating a regional vision that everyone bought into and used as guiding principles for whatever they did. This helped insure that everyone’s agendas were aligned and all worked towards a common goal in a collaborative fashion.

I was now scratching the surface, but I knew I wasn’t digging down to the roots yet. I still hadn’t found the spark that lit the torch for Chattanooga’s transformation.

A conversation with Pete Cooper of the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga cleared that up.

As I asked Pete about Chattanooga’s story – where they had come from and what led to it – he emphasized one point: passion. It all started with a group of residents who were determined to see Chattanooga change for the better three decades ago, and they started to do so by taking on the enormous task of attempting to change residents’ perceptions of the city. Though they had made the unpopular decision to be fish swimming upstream, they knew that if Chattanooga’s residents loved the place that they lived – if they were attached to their community – they would be more inclined and willing to invest their time, energy, and talent into enhancing its overall desirability.

This point really hit home with me. On my way to Chattanooga, many had told me you can’t make a comparison between them and Fort Wayne. I beg to differ. Many cited the mountains and beautiful Tennessee River as reasons Chattanooga has seen explosive growth over the past few decades. However, many in Chattanooga pointed out the beauty of our cornfields, forests, and natural assets in Northeast Indiana as ways to attract people.

What it all comes down to is a simple, yet entirely complex shift that needs to occur in the mindset of our resident population. Many of us are deeply attached to Northeast Indiana and couldn’t see ourselves calling any other location home; that’s fantastic! Let’s build upon that. Too many times we focus on what we don’t have instead of what we could be. A vision is only as effective as the willingness of residents to turn it into action. Let’s create the Northeast Indiana we want to be.

Next up: Paducah, Kentucky.

To follow Nick’s travels, visit www.12cities12months.com.

Millennial 2020: 12 Cities in 12 Months

 
Fort Wayne native and 2011 South Side High School graduate Nick Arnett will be spending the next 12 months visiting 12 American cities in search of answers to the question: What creates a creative community?

 
The Twelve Cities Twelve Months Project is being carried out as part of the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s new Millennial 2020 program. Arnett, the Millenial 2020 Coordinator, will begin his travels in September 2011 and plans to document his visits on video. Upon completion of the project in August 2012, the experiences will be compiled into a documentary, which will be used as part of the Millennial 2020 program to inspire Millennials to “think big” about what they can do in their own communities.

 
The Millenial 2020 program is an extension of Vision 2020, an initiative spearheaded by the Regional Partnership, that will work to bridge the gap between Millennials and other generations by providing them with opportunities to get engaged in their communities as well as in regional visioning projects. The Twelve Cities Twelve Months Project is the first activity of the Millennial 2020 program and provides an exciting opportunity to bring real world examples and innovative practices back to Northeast Indiana.

 
Arnett has worked for the Fort Wayne Downtown Improvement District since age 15, where he developed a passion for community and economic development. While his involvement in Fort Wayne has allowed him to develop perspective on what makes a great place to live, Arnett wants to take the next year to explore what other cities across the country are doing to grow their creative cultures and attract talented, creative individuals, which in turn spurs entrepreneurship and adds to local quality of life.

 
“The brain-drain scenario is a battle we’ve been fighting for a long time now,” said Arnett. “It’s time to take a look at where these ‘creative minds’ are congregating, what attracts them to a community, and what entices them to stay.”

 
The recent Soul of the Community study conducted by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation indicated three key factors in creating attachment to a community: social offerings, openness and aesthetics. Arnett will study these factors in both thriving and declining cities, a diverse list that stretches from Paducah, Kentucky, to Portland, Oregon. Arnett will also study the city’s economic and community development systems and how they are used to attract and retain Millennials.

 
“Vision 2020 is about making Northeast Indiana a dynamic, innovative and prosperous region for our Millennials and the generations that follow,” said Katy Silliman, Vision 2020 Director. “It is time we start engaging Millennials in shaping that future. Nick Arnett is the perfect candidate to lead that charge, and the Twelve Cities Twelve Months Project is the perfect way to kick off the Millennial 2020 program.”

 
The entire project will cost a little more than $17,000 to complete. Contributions towards the project will be accepted by the Northeast Indiana Fund.

 
More information is available by visiting www.12cities12months.com. You can also follow him along the journey by going to the website listed above and clicking on the “Blog” tab.