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No. 81 Fall 2012

Special Reinventing Older Communities Issue

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
STUDIES & EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF THE
FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
OF PHILADELPHIA

INSIDE:
2—

Message from the
Community Affairs
Officer

3—

Keys to Success for
Small Industrial Cities

5—

Anchors Aweigh: Why
Do Anchor Institutions
Matter?

8—

Moments Captured
from the Conference
and Chester, PA,Tour

10 — The Creative
Economy Spurs
Economic
Development
13 — How Can Local
Governments Cope
with the Fiscal
Juggernaut?
15 — Urban Education:
Models That Work
19 — Tomorrow’s Leaders:
Attracting Young
Professionals

CASCADE
What Makes Cities Resilient?*
By Keith L. Rolland, Community Development Advisor
How older industrial cities can become
resilient cities was the focus of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s fifth
biennial Reinventing Older Communities
conference, which was attended by over
430 community development leaders
from nonprofits, banks, foundations,
government agencies, and businesses
from 24 states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, and Canada.
The conference, held May 9 to 11, 2012,
in Philadelphia, was co-sponsored by
the William Penn Foundation, the Penn
Institute for Urban Research, the Ford
Foundation, HUD’s Office of Policy
Development and Research, the Federal
Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, and the
Federal Reserve Banks of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Richmond,
and St. Louis.

Opening speakers probed why some cities,
rather than others, are resilient. Charles I.
Plosser, president and CEO of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said that
one definition of community resilience is
“the individual and collective capacity to
respond to adversity and change. It is a
community that takes intentional action to
enhance the personal and collective capacity of its citizens and institutions to respond to and influence the course of social
and economic change.”1
Plosser said that people are the ultimate
source of opportunity and growth and
asked, “How do we improve education
and equip them for a more knowledgebased economy? And how can we unleash
the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of all
our citizens?”2
...continued on page 17

Conference attendees heard from some
of the nation’s leading practitioners and
researchers in 24 plenary and concurrent
sessions and toured workforce development sites in Philadelphia’s Kensington
neighborhood, economic revitalization
projects in Chester, PA, and waterfront
development along the Delaware River.

Photo Credit: Jeff Stewart Photos

PUBLISHED BY THE

* The views expressed here are those of the author
and do not necessarily represent the views of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal
Reserve System.
1
See U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, available at http://www.samhsa.gov/dtac/
dbhis/dbhis_stress/resilience.htm.
2
See http://www.philadelphiafed.org/
publications/speeches/plosser/.

www.philadelphiafed.org

1

CASCADE

No. 81
Fall 2012

Cascade is published three times a year by
the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s
Community Development Studies and
Education Department and is available at
www.philadelphiafed.org. Material may be
reprinted or abstracted provided Cascade is
credited. The views expressed in Cascade are
not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve
Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve
System. Send comments to Keith L. Rolland at
215-574-6569 or keith.rolland@phil.frb.org. To
subscribe, go to http://www.philadelphiafed.org/
publications/.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
Kenyatta Burney
Senior Staff Assistant
215-574-6037
kenyatta.burney@phil.frb.org
Jeri Cohen-Bauman
Lead Administrative Assistant
215-574-6458
jeri.cohen-bauman@phil.frb.org
Andrew T. Hill, Ph.D.
Economic Education Advisor and Team Leader
215-574-4392
andrew.hill@phil.frb.org
Dan Hochberg
Community Development Senior Research
Assistant
215-574-3492
daniel.hochberg@phil.frb.org
Thomas Hylands
Community Development Research Analyst
215-574-6461
thomas.hylands@phil.frb.org
Amy B. Lempert
Community Development Advisor and
Outreach Coordinator
215-574-6570
amy.lempert@phil.frb.org
Erin Mierzwa
Manager, Administration and Research
215-574-6641
erin.mierzwa@phil.frb.org
Keith L. Rolland
Community Development Advisor
215-574-6569
keith.rolland@phil.frb.org
Theresa Y. Singleton, Ph.D.
Vice President and Community Affairs Officer
215-574-6482
theresa.singleton@phil.frb.org
Marvin M. Smith, Ph.D.
Community Development Economic Advisor
215-574-6393
marty.smith@phil.frb.org
Keith Wardrip
Community Development Research Specialist
215-574-3810
keith.wardrip@phil.frb.org
Todd Zartman
Economic Education Specialist
215-574-6457
todd.zartman@phil.frb.org

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

Message from the
Community Affairs Officer
A good conference enables us to hear
from experts on a range of topics,
increase our knowledge, and network
with old and new colleagues. A great
conference achieves these things and
inspires us to envision and plant the
seeds of new ways to address the challenges in our communities.

of arts and culture, successful urban
education models, and the fiscal crisis
confronting many local governments.
To get the full scope of the conference,
visit http://www.philadelphiafed.org/
community-development/events/ for
plenary and concurrent session recordings and presentations.

Our goal in hosting the 2012 Reinventing Older Communities conference
was to produce a great conference.
More than 430 community developers,
government and foundation leaders,
researchers, policymakers, bankers, planners, and others interested
in the future of cities joined us from
24 states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, and Canada. There was
a lot of enthusiasm and excitement at
the conference, and I think that the
conference theme of Building Resilient
Cities resonated with the participants.
For me, the term resiliency suggests
hopefulness and strength in the face of
struggle. I think that everyone at the
conference shared a desire to create
vibrant, economically viable cities.

We’ve used the time since the Reinventing conference to reflect on what
we’ve learned and identify opportunities for follow-up. In light of the
positive feedback received in regard
to the conference and the report “In
Philadelphia’s Shadow: Small Cities in
the Third Federal Reserve District,” we
will be building on the theme of building resilient cities with a focus on the
needs of smaller industrial cities in our
District. Our staff will be organizing
a series of meetings in 2012 and 2013,
including one on anchor institutions.

This issue of Cascade shares a few highlights from the conference, including
summaries from sessions on keys to
success for small industrial cities, ways
in which anchor institutions can revitalize neighborhoods and downtowns,
the economic development potential

As always, we are interested in hearing from you. We are especially interested in your suggestions about issues
and subjects that you would like us to
address at the next Reinventing conference in 2014. Please send your suggestions and comments to us at info.
communitydevelopment@phil.frb.org.

Keys to Success for Small Industrial Cities*
By Keith Wardrip, Community Development Research Specialist
Three panelists discussed successful strategies for putting small,
post-industrial American cities on
the road to revitalization, the central theme of the 2012 Reinventing
conference.
The panelists were:
•

•

•

Yolanda Kodrzycki, vice president and director of the New
England Public Policy Center
at the Federal Reserve Bank of
Boston, which is engaged in an
initiative to support revitalization in Springfield, MA.1 Her
research compares 25 mid-size
formerly industrial cities, primarily located in the Northeast
and Midwest.
Alan Mallach, senior fellow,
Center for Community Progress, and visiting scholar in the
Philadelphia Fed’s Community
Development Studies and Education Department. Mallach’s
recent report2 explores 13 small
formerly industrial cities that,
at their peak, were quite similar
but have had varying levels of
success following wide-scale
deindustrialization and suburbanization.
Hunter Morrison, former planning director in Cleveland and
program director for the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium, which is tasked
with developing a regional plan
for Northeast Ohio.3

Erika Poethig, acting assistant
secretary for HUD’s Office of Policy
Development and Research, moderated the session.
While the panelists would readily
admit that there is no one-size-fits-all
approach, their firsthand experiences and research have identified
a number of themes associated with
successful revitalization.
Ingredients for Success
All cities have assets. Some have
a riverfront ripe for development.
Others have an active and engaged
college or hospital with a civic
consciousness. Still others have a
durable housing stock and walkable
streets or serve as a regional or national tourist destination. However,
not all cities cultivate their assets
in ways that lead to revitalization,
and additional research is needed to
determine what leads to successful
revitalization in some cases but not
in others.
Panelists identified leadership and
long-range planning as two themes
that appear to be particularly critical to the success of revitalization
efforts. Leaders can come from any
sector, but they must form broadbased coalitions that include the
government, business, and nonprofit
sectors. Leadership and collaboration
are important in the development of
a long-range plan that guides a city’s
growth and provides a measure of

continuity in the face of changing
administrations, CEOs, and executive directors.
The importance of the region, rather
than the city, as the appropriate scale
for strategic planning and forging
partnerships also emerged in the
presentations. Developing a strategic
plan that includes partners throughout the region is considered critical.
Morrison’s organization is engaged
in this very process in Northeast
Ohio with the financial support of
a federal Sustainable Community
Regional Planning Grant.
The impact of a city’s economy —
both its size and makeup — on the
well-being of its residents was less
clear. Kodrzycki’s research on 25
formerly industrial cities concluded
that while all rely less on manufacturing than they once did, there is
no discernible relationship between
today’s reliance on manufacturing
and the likelihood of being resurgent. Similarly, Mallach’s research
suggests that there is little correlation between a city’s employment
base and the quality of life enjoyed
by its residents. Instead, the presenters emphasized the importance
of connecting a city’s labor force
to its broader regional job market.
Where necessary, workforce development and job training efforts can
help ensure that a city’s residents
can take advantage of local and
regional opportunities.

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal
Reserve System.
1
To learn more about Toward a More Prosperous Springfield, see http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/springfield/.
2
“In Philadelphia’s Shadow: Small Cities in the Third Federal Reserve District” is available at http://www.philadelphiafed.org/communitydevelopment/publications/special-reports/small-cities-in-third-federal-reserve-district.pdf.
3
Information on the consortium can be found at http://neoscc.org/.

3

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

Morrison and Kodrzycki also discussed the importance of forming
relationships with peer cities in order
to learn how others facing similar
obstacles to redevelopment have
worked together to overcome their
challenges. This cross-pollination of
best practices is a goal of the City to
City for Greater Springfield initiative,4 through which Springfield’s
leaders visit their counterparts in
resurgent cities.
Measuring Success
Success must be defined before municipal revitalization efforts are, or
are not, considered successful. Both
Kodrzycki and Mallach measured
success in relative terms by forming
“peer groups” of cities with similar
peak populations and histories of
manufacturing employment. By

standard metrics such as household
income or educational attainment,
few formerly industrial cities would
appear to be successful today when
measured against national averages
or cities with qualitatively different
pasts. However, by focusing on those
that have experienced the traumatic
disruption of deindustrialization and
in many cases significant population
loss, it is clear that some cities can be
considered to be “rebounding,” to
use Mallach’s term, or “resurgent,”
according to Kodrzycki’s research.
Successful revitalization can be measured among peer cities in a variety
of ways, but the panelists focused
primarily on the quality of life and
social well-being of city residents
as measured by household income,
poverty levels, and educational

The Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces are shown from the Lehigh
River prior to the SteelStacks renovations.

4

In closing, Kodrzycki noted that the
rising tide of even the most successful revitalization efforts may
not lift all boats. Separate initiatives
focusing specifically on low-income
households and neighborhoods may
be required to ensure that a city’s
renewal is complete and inclusive.
Keith Wardrip can be contacted at 215574-3810 or keith.wardrip@phil.frb.org.

Concertgoers gather for a show at the base of the Bethlehem Steel
blast furnaces in the heart of the new SteelStacks arts and cultural
center in Bethlehem, PA.

See the City to City for Greater Springfield blog at http://www.city2cityspringfield.org/.

4

attainment. As Mallach said, “It
doesn’t matter how many waterfront
attractions you have if 40 percent of
your population lives below the poverty line.” Kodrzycki also considered
whether the city’s population had
stabilized after decades of loss, while
Mallach emphasized healthy neighborhoods and housing markets as
well as economic activity.

Anchors Aweigh: Why Do Anchor Institutions Matter?*
By Prabal Chakrabarti, Vice President, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
In many cities, the expectation of
civic leadership from a few large corporations headquartered downtown
has ebbed. Instead, cities are looking
to nonprofit anchor institutions, such
as universities, hospitals, and museums, to support economic development and other goals. As Eugenie
Birch, co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research and one of
the panelists at a Reinventing Older
Communities session on anchor
institutions, put it, “Universities are
the factories of the 21st century.”
However, there are sometimes stark
juxtapositions between anchor
institutions and their surrounding
communities as well as in their capacities and functions. Many anchor
institutions are located in residential
neighborhoods of mixed income.
City colleges and public hospitals are
funded by the government to serve
low- to moderate-income residents.
Private institutions often serve
middle- and upper-income populations and may also provide targeted
support services to lower-income
groups. Both types of institutions
provide education and conduct research that serve the city broadly but
in different ways.
The three panelists offered these
observations on civic involvement by
anchor institutions:
•

An anchor institution can transform a neighborhood or downtown area through employment,
affordable housing, or real estate
investment.

•

•

Successful initiatives connect the
core mission of the anchor institution to the goals of the city and
make collaboration a hallmark.
Educational institutions can
improve a city’s future potential
through their core mission of
education.
Educational and health institutions face rising cost pressures,
while cities face their own pressures to raise revenues in an era
of fiscal crisis.

nal training programs. They start or
lead economic development clusters,
such as the Cleveland Clinic in medicine, MIT/Harvard in biotechnology,
and Stanford University in scientific
and technological innovations. Anchor institutions may play a catalytic
role to transform a city, create a 24/7
downtown area, nurture community
development corporations, or undertake a specific project. The figure
below shows the many ways in which
anchor institutions can have a positive impact in their communities.

Making a Big Impact
Anchor institutions comprise a
Teresa Lynch, senior vice president
particularly large job center in the
and director of research for the
Initiative for
a Competitive
Inner City
Figure
(ICIC), said
Anchor Institutions and Community Vitality:
that in some
Strategic Framework
cities anchor
institutions
employ 15
to 20 percent
CLUSTER ANCHOR
PURCHASER
of all workStimulate growth
Direct institutional
of related businesses
purchasing toward
ers, “corand institutions
local businesses
responding
to hundreds
REAL ESTATE
CORE SERVICE
DEVELOPER
of billions
PROVIDER
Use real estate
Tailor
core
products/
of dollars
development to
services to serve
COMMUNITY
anchor local
of purchasthe community
economic growth
VITALITY
ing power.”
Anchor
COMMUNITY
WORKFORCE
institutions
DEVELOPER
DEVELOPER
are the largest
Build local
Address local
community
workforce needs
real estate
capacity
EMPLOYER
developer in
Offer employment
opportunities to
many cities
local residents
and develop
the workforce
Source: ICIC
through inter-

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston, or the Federal Reserve System.

5

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

northeastern United States, as Birch
explained. Research universities and
medical centers together employ
294,000 people in the northeastern
states. Much of the economic activity is dependent upon revenue from
tuition, but government funding
also plays a role. Over $18 billion
in federal research grants go to the
northeastern corridor (out of $52 billion nationally).1
There are well-known examples of
university–community partnerships.
The University of Pennsylvania and
Temple University have revitalized
Philadelphia neighborhoods through
major real estate developments while
enabling faculty and students to
help meet community needs through
service and research projects.
David Angel, president of Clark
University, explained what can be
accomplished in a smaller city with
limited financial resources. Clark
University, which is located in the
inner city of Worcester, MA, has had
a singular impact as a small liberal
arts university. After debating in
the 1980s about ways to improve
town–gown relations, Clark instead
launched a partnership to help reinvigorate the community. Its flagship
effort seized on public education as
the means to do so.
Clark and the Worcester public
schools created University Park
Campus School,2 a new public
neighborhood high school for resi-

1
2

Students attend a class at the University Park Campus School, which was established by
Clark University and the Worcester public schools and serves grades 7–12 in the poorest
section of Worcester, MA. Over 95 percent of its graduates have attended college; nearly
all are first-generation college attendees.

dents in Clark’s ethnically diverse
but economically poor neighborhood. Some 82 percent of the students qualify for free or subsidized
lunch. Over the past five years, it
has been the highest-performing
urban high school in Massachusetts,
according to state test data, and performs in the top quartile of all high
schools statewide.
Clark University believed that public
education provided the biggest bang
for its buck and offered a bold prize:
Any student who is a resident of the
surrounding neighborhood and who
is admitted to the university receives
four years of free college tuition, room,
and board. This is a $200,000 award at

a private school like Clark, and nearly
50 students have taken advantage of it.
Students become acclimated to
college while “on campus” at high
school. Clark faculty and students
teach mini-seminars. Students have
access to college facilities, and in
their junior and senior years, they
can even take college classes. Their
sense of participation in a college
environment helps them see college
as a goal, and 98 percent of University Park students go on to a two- or
four-year college.
Getting this right can be a powerful
experience. At a Clark board meeting, a news segment was aired on

Calculated by Eugenie Birch using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, available at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/.
For more information, see http://www.clarku.edu/departments/education/upcs/program.cfm.

6

the school’s accomplishments. Angel
recalled, “The meeting was filled
with high-powered businessmen
and hedge fund investors and other
members of your typical board, and
at the end of the segment, some had
tears in their eyes.” More broadly,
the experience has changed how
Clark views itself and its mission as
a liberal arts school and has become
part of the university’s core mission
and marketing.
Connecting and Collaborating to
Accomplish a Core Mission
Having an impact doesn’t mean
going it alone. Although the high
school is Clark’s unique contribution, the university is also working
in the Worcester region with a group
of about 10 other colleges on issues
such as housing and economic development. This formal partnership
achieved significant results through
collaboration, and each institution
leads a different activity.3 Similar
formal partnership agreements exist in places such as the Longwood
medical area in Boston and University Circle in Cleveland. These
agreements can serve as a kind of
business-improvement district.
In addition, anchor institutions can
have an important impact by jointly
purchasing goods and services. A
collaborative joint-purchasing effort
in Detroit’s Midtown corridor encompasses the Henry Ford Health
System, the Detroit Medical Center,
and Wayne State University. A Na-

tional Anchor Institution Task Force is
designed to foster such partnerships.4
Cities must recognize that an anchor
institution has a core mission that
is not the same as the city’s mission;
therefore, cities must create opportunities in which the institution can use
its strengths. Universities that offer
programs in the areas of education,
planning, public health, medicine,
business, or engineering can contribute in ways linked to their research
and teaching efforts.
Economic development is not the core
mission of an anchor institution. A research university trains budding scientists or scholars. Teaching hospitals
treat their patients, train doctors, and
perform medical research. Anchor
institutions likewise must be engaged
in their core mission if they are to increase their community involvement.
Facing a Challenging Future
In the current economic climate, educational and health-care institutions
will have slower job growth, and
federal research grants will likely
be reduced. Meanwhile, cities need
revenues to balance budgets; however, much of their commercial real
estate is owned by nonprofit anchor
institutions that are exempt from
paying property taxes by state law
(although some make payments in
lieu of taxes, these amounts are often
ad hoc determinations).

Cities may also be contending with
foreclosures and vacant properties,
both of which are an issue in Worcester. Therefore, cities must determine
if anchor institutions are growing
or hurting, and then they can align
expectations with what is feasible.
Conclusion
The speakers offered the following
suggestions for anchor institutions
that want to start initiatives in their
communities:
•

•

•

•

Make contracting rules transparent and adopt best practices.
Lynch found that one institution
improved local contracting from
4 percent to 15 percent by teaching local firms how to bid and
by doing a better job of soliciting
requests for proposals.
Locate some programs and
facilities downtown. For example,
universities can move theaters,
back-office operations, and urbanrelated programs downtown.
Talk to local community organizations about area needs and set
up a meeting with these organizations.
Examine your institution’s current efforts, talk to other institutions, and look for ways to work
together to avoid redundancy.
Anchor institutions don’t have
to be large or wealthy to have a
positive impact.

Pabral Chakrabarti can be contacted at
617-973-3959 or prabal.chakrabarti@
bos.frb.org.

3
For more information on the Worcester, MA, university partnership, see the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Community Development Discussion
Paper “University–Community Partnerships: 2006 Worcester Speaker Series,” 2006, available at http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/pcadp/2007/
pcadp0702.pdf.
4
For information, see http://penniur.upenn.edu/research.

7

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

Moments Captured from the Conference
and the Chester, PA, Tour

Jeremy Nowak, President, William
Penn Foundation, and Chairman, Board
of Directors, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia

Theresa Singleton, Vice President
and Community Affairs Officer,
Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia

Shaun Donovan, Secretary of
the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development

New ramp from the
Commodore Barry Bridge to
Chester, PA, including PPL Park,
home of the Philadelphia Union
professional soccer team

8

Pentecostal Square, a 70-unit
senior rental community in
Chester, PA, developed by
MBI Development, Inc. and
Pentecostal Square Community
Development Corporation

Charles Plosser, President and
CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia; at left is Jeremy
Nowak, President, William Penn
Foundation, and Chairman, Board of
Directors, Federal Reserve Bank of
Philadelphia

Left to right: Michael A. Nutter,
Mayor, Philadelphia, PA; J. Richard
Gray, Mayor, Lancaster, PA; and
Scott W. Lang, 37th Mayor, New
Bedford, MA

9

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

The Creative Economy Spurs Economic Development*
By Amy B. Lempert, Community Development Advisor and Outreach Coordinator
The past decade has seen an increased interest in employing the
arts as a community and economic
development strategy. But this is
not a new idea, Mark Stern, a social
policy professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, reminded participants
at a Reinventing conference session
on the arts and culture. This strategy dates back to the days of urban
renewal in the 1960s when older
industrial buildings and housing
were replaced with symphony halls
and cultural spaces. Today, however,
there is interest in “moving beyond
larger, more mainstream investment
in the arts to focus on more immediate, participatory strategies for
engaging a wider urban community
in the art world,” noted Stern, who
moderated the session.

•

•

Bill Renzulli, one of more than
70 artists who moved to Paducah, KY, in response to an
advertisement for the city’s
Artist Relocation Program, discussed how the artists helped
to revitalize that city’s blighted
but historic Lower Town neighborhood.
Catherine Creamer,** executive
director of ArtPrize, described
how a large art competition that
is available and accessible to the
public has been a successful vehicle for democratizing art and
engaging the public.

Think Big
Beside Ciampini’s desk in city hall
in Greensburg, PA, is a quote by
Chicago architect Daniel Burnham
(1846–1912): “Make no little plans
… think big.” This quote is one of
Ciampini’s mantras. Ciampini and
the city of Greensburg, a western
Pennsylvania town with about 15,000
residents, have won multiple awards
for comprehensive, far-reaching
“big” plans. Ciampini said that three
factors have been critical to Greensburg’s successful redevelopment: (1)
planning, (2) proactive thinking, and
(3) partnerships.

Collaboration among different sectors
can be the linchpin in effective revitalization efforts, and projects involving
the arts and culture seem to attract
collaborative efforts. In fact, the three
panelists each recognized the important role that collaboration played in
the success of their projects. They also
attributed the artists’ successful efforts in revitalizing their small towns
to the artists’ willingness to take risks:
•

Barbara Ciampini, planning director of the city of Greensburg,
PA, spoke about how her city,
the county seat of Westmoreland County, collaborated with
a university and others to attract
investment in Greensburg’s
downtown.

In 2009, Seton Hill University expanded its campus by establishing a performing arts center,
classrooms, and offices in downtown Greensburg, PA, catalyzing downtown development and
stimulating private investment.

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal
Reserve System.
** Creamer has since left ArtPrize to accept a position with another organization.

10

Take Risks
Risk-taking can occur on a personal
level. According to Renzulli, risktaking and a willingness to push
personal boundaries are some of the
immeasurable assets that are typical of artists, particularly those who
relocated to Paducah, KY. Other traits
include a “deep trust in intuition
and imagination and an openness
and willingness to pursue new ideas
and follow inspirations.” The city of
Paducah, which has a population of
25,000, is the hub of a 15-county region in western Kentucky and southern Illinois that has a total population
of over a quarter of a million people.
The first and foremost goal of Paducah’s Artist Relocation Program,
the brainchild of a local artist, is

Photo Credit: Liddia Stevens

“Focus on the assets you have” is another of Ciampini’s mantras. Greensburg had some relatively untapped
assets: Seton Hill University, which
sits on a bucolic hill above the center
of the city, and the Westmoreland
Cultural Trust, an advocate of the
arts that develops and enhances the
cultural life and economic wellbeing of the region. Together, the
city, county, and state, along with the
trust and other partners, were able
to provide the incentives necessary
for the university to build a new
performing arts center on a blighted
site in Greensburg’s downtown. A
$23 million investment in the construction of a theater and concert
hall, along with classrooms and offices, served as a catalyst for further
downtown development. Ciampini
pointed out that private investment
follows the arts. Between 1997 and
2010, more than $71 million was
invested in new restaurants, cultural
and entertainment facilities, and
both public and private improvements to the city’s infrastructure.

Artist Liddia Stevens used rich colors to create this vibrant oil painting on canvas. The portrait,
titled “Topsy Turvy: Megan Is Amiss,” was featured in ArtPrize 2012.

to revitalize the blighted historic
residential neighborhood known as
Lower Town. The city advertises in
national artists’ journals for artists to
relocate to Paducah. The incentives
are the opportunity to buy a severely
deteriorated house for $1 and receive
a cash award of $2,500. Paducah
Bank provides loans to the artists
for 100 percent of the rehabilitation
costs, which are typically well above
the appraised value.
“When artists are around, good
things happen,” said Renzulli. “Artists get together, they get out and
about, sit on boards, and can envision what doesn’t exist and how to
make it.” According to studies produced for the city, the relocated artists invested an average of $345,000
in their properties, which were
typically redeveloped as first floor
studios and galleries with living
quarters on the upper floors. The city
estimates that its investment in the
purchase and stabilization of proper-

ties, infrastructure improvements,
and advertising leveraged $11 for
every dollar it invested. In addition,
the artists’ investments spurred new
businesses, construction jobs, tax
revenues, and a new tourism industry in Paducah.
Collaborate
ArtPrize is an international art
competition that “catalyzes creative
expression and risk-taking in Grand
Rapids, MI,” according to Creamer.
The competition netted nearly half
a million dollars and attracted more
than 322,000 visitors to the city over
a 19-day period in the fall of 2011,
the third year the event was held. A
study conducted for ArtPrize found
that the event generated $50.4 million in economic impact and created
200 jobs. “We like to think of ourselves as the Super Bowl of Grand
Rapids,” Creamer said. ArtPrize has
successfully used Internet technology to organize a grand civic project
that promotes civic engagement and
11

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

stimulating conversation in a city
that was not previously known for
its vibrancy. According to Creamer,
in a single day during the event last
year, 229,000 people discussed ArtPrize on Facebook.

The event generates collaboration
among the artists, the providers of the
venues, and the visitors, and the success depends on the city; public, private, and philanthropic organizations;
and corporate sponsors. According to
Creamer, ArtPrize has transformed

Grand Rapids, the region, and the
state of Michigan, and she is eager to
share her ideas with other communities that want to create opportunities
for civic engagement through art.
Summary
All three speakers noted that artists typically have an innate ability
to envision something that does not
exist and the constitution to take the
risks involved in making that vision
a reality. These strengths can make
artists a potent stimulus for economic
development.
Amy Lempert can be contacted at 215574-6570 or amy.lempert@phil.
frb.org.

Photo Credit: Robin Protz (www.robinlou.com)

Photo Credit: Kirkland Smith (www.KirklandSmith.com)

ArtPrize provides a very large catalyst in the form of a first place prize
of $200,000, and the rules of this
competition are very simple. According to Creamer, “Anyone can be an
artist, any space can be a venue, and
everyone has a voice.” The artists
can work in any medium, but they
can only participate by connecting
with a public venue that will show
their art. Bars, coffee shops, an auto
mechanic’s shop, or more traditional
venues, such as museums, churches,
and universities, can sign up to work

with and host artists. The event is
organized with an online platform
where artists and those with venues can connect, basically an online
matching service, and where people
can vote for their favorite exhibit.
Unlike conventional art exhibits, the
majority of the awards are determined by public votes. In order to
vote, a person must visit the festival
and obtain a number. The purpose of
the competition is to stimulate ideas,
debate, and action.

Artist Robin Protz used more than 40,000 golden buttons
and beads suspended on over 4,000 fluorocarbon lines to
create “The Dragon,” which is suspended from an 18-foot
× 12-foot × 8-foot frame. The kinetic sculpture was an
ArtPrize 2012 entry.
12

Artist Kirkland Smith used everyday household items to create this carefully
crafted image of Marilyn Monroe. Smith’s assemblage of post-consumer
materials, titled “Marilyn,” was an ArtPrize 2012 entry.

How Can Local Governments Cope with the Fiscal Juggernaut?*
By Keith L. Rolland, Community Development Advisor
A professor who has followed the
fiscal crisis, a manager of a bankrupt
city, and a former mayor shared
insights with a Reinventing Older
Communities audience on how cities
can best cope with financial problems that have worsened during the
recession. Their overall recommendations were to:
•
•
•
•

set realistic expectations;
build trust with unions, businesses, and the public;
create balanced multiyear budgets; and
look for opportunities to make
needed reforms.

Operate with Balanced Budgets
Robert Inman, professor of finance
at the University of Pennsylvania
and author of Making Cities Work:
Prospects and Policies for Urban
America, pointed out that some cities
manage to do well in recessionary
times. These cities tend to have a
diversified private-sector economy,
an educated and flexible workforce,
and a rainy day cash fund with at
least 5 percent of city expenditures.
They also have the ability to reduce
or contract-out staff and services and
to refuse demands for services that
don’t benefit all residents of the city.
Inman recommended that in difficult
fiscal times cities ought to:

•

•

•

•

•

tax businesses and homeowners
where they are located, rather
than impose nonresident sales
and wage taxes.
provide high-quality services
and pay for value, not votes, basing wage increases on productivity gains rather than on an
expectation of political support.
“run balanced budgets, not
deficits.” Watchdogs such as the
Pennsylvania Intergovernmental
Cooperation Authority (PICA)
provide valuable oversight of
city finances.1,2
give businesses and homeowners choices, such as business and
neighborhood improvement
districts and school vouchers.
provide services for low-income
residents, but finance these
services at the regional, state, or
federal levels.

hired as the city manager to lead
Vallejo, CA, after it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008, recalled
that Vallejo’s expenditures exceeded
revenues by more than $11 million in
the three-year period prior to bankruptcy (see the figure). According to
Batchelor, Vallejo’s labor contracts
were marked by costly minimum
staffing levels, unsustainable defined
benefit pensions, and lifetime retiree
medical coverage.
Following bankruptcy, Vallejo laid
off 47 percent of the staff in the city’s
police department and 42 percent of
the staff in the fire department and
eliminated all discretionary programs in the city, including funding
for the library, a recreational district,
and a wide range of communitybased organizations.

From 2008 to 2011, state and local
governments’ expenditures exceeded
revenues by a cumulative deficit
of $334 billion, said Inman.3 During these years, the states and cities
underfunded pension liabilities and
relied excessively on investment
returns. These returns, Inman said,
dropped from $532 billion in 2007 to
$26 billion in 2010.

In this difficult situation, Batchelor
said the city met with the public
employee unions and tried to keep a
professional tone “in an environment
of credibility and integrity.” As the
city manager, he worked to create “a
new culture” in the city employee
workforce, met with and trained all
city employees, and communicated
regularly with employees on city
decisions.

Credibility and Integrity
Phil Batchelor, a consultant who was

Batchelor explained that bankruptcy is “no easy answer” and is

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal
Reserve System.
1
PICA has approved 19 financial plans for Philadelphia, including a plan for fiscal years 2011–2015. See http://www.picapa.org/.
2
Inman said that he is working with Federal Reserve researchers on applying the PICA experience to develop a model for financial oversight of state
and local governments.
3
The data source is the National Income and Product Accounts, Table 3.3, as revised on July 27, 2012. This measure of the state and local deficit includes
federal grants-in-aid as revenue to state and local governments.

13

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

Vallejo’s Expenditures in the Three Years Prior to Bankrupcy
$90
Expenditures
$86.68

$88
$86

Expenditures
$87.34

Expenditures
$84.32

MILLIONS

$84
$82
$80
$78
$76

Revenues
$81.11

Revenues
$82.51

Revenues
$83.63

Revenues
$73.30

$74
$72

Expenditures
$71.92

$70
FY 04/05

FY 05/06

FY 06/07

FY 07/08

Source: City of Vallejo

a “last-ditch alternative.” Entering into bankruptcy didn’t relieve Vallejo from its obligations
to balance its budget, settle with
claimants, reduce unfunded liabilities, and get its financial house
in order.4 Bankruptcy-related legal
fees were significant, totaling $12.5
million, he pointed out. According
to Batchelor, many other cities are
positioned to meet the same fate
as Vallejo if they do not get their
financial houses in order.
It may be difficult for cities to make
reforms even in the face of fiscal
problems. Although bankruptcy is
generally to be avoided, it can be a
political tool to advance reform, Inman pointed out.

Build Trust
Anthony Williams, who served as
mayor of Washington, D.C., from
1999 to 2007, said that in difficult
financial circumstances, it’s imperative that a mayor build trust with
businesses, unions, and the public.
Currently a senior strategic advisor
and independent consultant with
McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP,
Williams said that the best thing a
mayor can do is set realistic expectations for the city. The best mayors
are good public managers and are
respected, he added.
Williams advocated that cities maintain multiyear, transparent balanced
budgets and said that a city’s chief
financial officer ought to be an inde-

pendent person who can carry the
burden of making tough decisions.
If an unpopular decision such as
layoffs must be made, do it quickly,
he recommended.
Cities can find opportunity in crisis,
Williams said, and they can become
a laboratory of experimentation and
restructuring as they address financial problems. In a later discussion,
Inman reiterated the importance of
a climate of trust among the city,
unions, and other sectors. “The real
tough problems are solved by trust,
not contracts,” he said.
Keith L. Rolland can be contacted at
215-574-6569 or keith.rolland@phil.frb.
org.

Vallejo’s bankruptcy plan provided for significant reductions in interest rates, maturity dates extended by 10 years, no interest accruals for four years,
no payments for three years, and general fund savings that created a pool for unsecured general creditors, according to Batchelor.

4

14

Urban Education: Models That Work*
By Marvin M. Smith, Ph.D., Community Development Economic Advisor
A good education is a prerequisite
for many employment opportunities today. In a weak economy when
relatively few new jobs become
available, the need for educational
preparation becomes even more paramount. In low-income communities
where the quality of many schools is
dubious, the employment prospects
of the attendees are grim. There is
an ongoing debate about how to improve schools in these communities
in order to enhance education levels
and improve job readiness. While
the merits of charter schools and the
role of vocational–technical schools
are being debated, there are some
school models that have achieved
some success. Three such models
were discussed in presentations at
the Reinventing Older Communities
conference.
Why Some Schools Are Effective
Will Dobbie, Ph.D. candidate in
public policy at Harvard University,
focused on “getting beneath the veil
of effective schools” by drawing on
evidence from charter schools in
New York City. His discussion was
based on a joint study with Roland
Fryer, Jr., professor of economics at
Harvard University.1 Dobbie pointed
to three factors that motivated them
to focus on charter schools in their
study. First, when they looked at
national math and reading test
scores in traditional public schools
as well as similar data from 17 cities

and one county (Jefferson County,
Kentucky), they found substantial
differences between blacks and
whites (see the figure). Second, in
none of the cities studied did a high
percentage of blacks score at grade
level. Third, they considered the
typical solutions, such as decreasing
class size, increasing the number of
teachers with advanced degrees, and
increasing spending per student, that
were thought to resolve the problem.
Dobbie observed that the use of all
these measures has increased dramatically over the past 20 years with
little significant improvement in test
scores. Thus, the notion of changes
in human and monetary resources as
the answer has not worked.
Dobbie noted that while charter
schools in general perform no better
than traditional public schools, there
are some charter schools that are
performing exceptionally well. He
pointed out that these high-achieving
schools are closing the black/white
achievement gap in three to four
years. The task was to explore what
factors contributed to their success.
Dobbie and his colleague collected
data from 35 charter schools in New
York City through interviews with
principals, teachers, and students as
well as lesson plans and classroom
video recordings. They designed
a statistical approach to estimate
experimentally the correlation of
the value added by various inputs

with the school’s effectiveness. They
observed that when charter schools
used traditional inputs, they did
worse than other schools.2 Next, they
used some variables suggested from
years of qualitative research: teacher
feedback; data-driven instruction;3
tutoring; instructional time; and high
expectations (schools’ educational
priorities).4 Dobbie and Fryer found
these variables to be instrumental in
explaining the effectiveness of the
charter schools. After further testing,
they arrived at five inputs suggested
by previous researchers that are highly correlated with a school’s success:
more teacher feedback; data-driven
instruction; students spending more
time in school; small group tutoring;
and culture and expectations.
As a next step, Fryer tested these
inputs experimentally in 20 lowachieving traditional schools in
Houston, TX. After one year, the results in test score gains in the experimental schools are much larger than
in average charter schools and in line
with the top charter schools.
Vocational–Technical Schools
Massachusetts has a vocational–technical high school model that is proving to be quite successful. Alison
Fraser, curriculum and instructional
resource development specialist at
Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational–Technical High School,
offered some background on the

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal
Reserve System.
1
Will Dobbie and Roland Fryer, Jr., “Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City,” NBER Working Paper 17632, December 2011, available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w17632.
2
Traditional inputs include class size, per pupil expenditures, and teachers with advanced degrees.
3
This involves using test results of whether students learned the objective of a lesson to determine whether to repeat the lesson or move on to another
lesson.
4
These variables are explained in Dobbie and Fryer’s working paper.

15

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

The Achievement Gap: 2009 National Center for Education Statistics — Reading*

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80
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l 60 a
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ee City
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go
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el
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lad
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*Some groups are excluded from the graph if there are too few students of that type in a city.

tenets of the model, its value to the
business community, and its potential as a prototype to aid schools in
turning around the performance of
underserved student populations.
Fraser noted that Massachusetts
was a pioneer in providing publicly
funded industrial education. The
educational effort later evolved with
the creation of 26 regional vocational–technical high schools and three
regional agricultural schools. Fraser
pointed out that a key component of
the vocational education approach is
its school-based management: Each
school has its own school committee,
superintendent, budget, curricula,
and instructional policies (within
state guidelines).
Due to the popularity of regional
vocational schools, they have long
waiting lists. The waiting lists necessitated the establishment of entrance
criteria, which include the following:
the successful completion of math
and English in the most recent grade;
a limited number of unexcused
absences; an acceptable discipline
record; and recommendations and/or
interviews. Fraser stressed that these
16

schools, like other state schools,
expect students to graduate with
career or college-ready skills. The
regional vocational schools offer a
variety of programs such as graphic
communications, cosmetology, carpentry, culinary arts, electronics, and
automotive technology.
Fraser revealed that vocational
schools are now placing greater
emphasis on integrating academics with the craft being taught. She
mentioned that this was motivated
by the statewide comprehensive assessment testing. Initially, there was
an objection to vocational school
students being required to compete
with regular students on statewide
tests. However, once committed to
the challenge, vocational–technical
students continue to outperform the
statewide average in both math and
English. The faculties at vocational
schools have embraced this integration, since some knowledge of both
subjects is required for most trade
careers. For example, trade manuals are typically written at up to the
grade 14 reading level, and while
math is relied on in robotics and sci-

ence, it is also used in mixing dyes
in cosmetology. Fraser also reported
that the vocational–technical schools
are faring quite well vis-à-vis the
state average in terms of dropout rates and graduation rates of
special needs students. Moreover,
according to Fraser, the business
community sings the praises of
the vocational–technical graduates
as generally more job-ready than
graduates from other state schools.
Given the special organizational
and instructional approach in vocational–technical schools, Fraser,
among others, recommends that
these schools be used as models for
turning around the performance of
underserved student populations
and low-performing schools.
Mastery Charter Schools
Scott Gordon, CEO of the Mastery
Charter Schools in Philadelphia,
discussed the approach used by
Mastery. Mastery is a nonprofit
network of charter schools that currently operates 10 schools in Philadelphia. Mastery is recognized by
the U.S. Department of Education as
a national leader in “school turn-

Hispanic

arounds” — taking low-performing
schools and transforming them
into high-performing ones. Gordon
pointed out that there are around
20,000 kindergarteners in the Philadelphia school system in 2012, but
only about 2,000 will graduate from
college — a failure rate of 90 percent.
He further noted that 17-year-old minority youths are reading at the same
levels as white 13 year olds. Thus, we
are producing a generation of young
people who are not prepared to participate successfully in the economy.
Mastery’s turnaround approach
involves working with the lowest
performing schools and keeping
the same students, catchment areas
(and enrollment rules), special
education students and programs,
and buildings. However, the only
things that Mastery changes are the

teachers and management. Gordon
reported that the results in three
middle schools over three years
was a 40- to 50-point gain in math
and reading proficiency, with the
Mastery students performing above
the state average. He indicated that
noticeable gains were achieved in
three elementary schools in one
year. Gordon stressed that a key to
turnaround success is providing a
safe environment. Mastery demonstrated this by drastically decreasing violence in its schools while
reducing the student dropout rate.
He further noted that the percent of
Mastery graduates who go directly
to college and the percent who
graduate from college in six years
exceed the comparable percents in
both Philadelphia and the nation.

What Makes Cities Resilient?
He also noted that “government
regulations on small and emerging
companies can have a stifling effect
on economic growth and, despite
our best intentions, the law of
unintended consequences can loom
large in any effort to direct or control
economic activity.”
Plosser explained that the Philadelphia Fed’s Research Department has
begun a research project to measure
urban resilience. He said, “Resilience is based on the response of local economic activity to an economic
shock — whether it be a temporary
shock (related to the business cycle
or some other temporary factor) or a
persistent shock (related to long-run
trends in technology, productivity,
or preferences).

Gordon discussed several features
underlying Mastery’s success. They
include developing a culture of
education that values students and
doesn’t treat them as widgets; establishing goals with accompanying
curricula and measuring students’
progress; relying on data-driven
instruction; and investing in teachers and rewarding them with pay for
performance.
Summary
The task of educating students in lowincome communities and preparing
them for the world of work remains a
challenge for educators. Fortunately,
the three educational approaches discussed above provide some insight as
to how this might be accomplished.
Marvin Smith can be contacted at 215574-6393 or marty.smith@phil.frb.org.

...continued from page 1

“Our researchers are examining two
working definitions of resilience that
are grounded in economic theory.
According to the first measure, an
area is considered more resilient to
the extent that it experiences milder
fluctuations in employment over
the business cycle. According to the
second measure, resilient areas are
those that experience faster employment growth than could be expected
based on national growth rates given
their industrial structure. The aim
of the research project is to combine
these two measures into an index
that we will then be able to track
over time.”
Plosser said that the project, thus far,
looks “promising” and that the next
step “is to examine how the indexes

change over time and see whether
there are certain metropolitan area
characteristics that are correlated
with resilience.”
Jeremy Nowak, president of the
William Penn Foundation and chairman of the board of directors of the
Philadelphia Fed, said that resilience
in its Latin roots means to jump
back or snap back to a prior state of
being. He invited the audience to
think about people and communities
through a “resilience lens” that looks
for strengths, rather than a liability or
pathology lens that is self-limiting.
Drawing on the research literature
in psychology and ecology, Nowak
found that resilience has themes of
internal capacity, enabling social
17

REINVENTING OLDER COMMUNITIES: BUILDING RESILIENT CITIES

connections, diversification, selforganization, and disruptive change.
An urban policy or development
practice that followed these themes
would build on authentic strength,
allow for social connections across
barriers, and invest in ways that
favor diversification and self-organization, he said.
In another plenary address, HUD
Secretary Shaun Donovan said that
some smaller cities have emerged as
resilient communities by diversifying
their economies, coordinating their
approach to workforce development,
leveraging private-sector investment,
and engaging new partners and
anchor institutions.
The lessons learned about cities during the past century, Donovan said,
are one size doesn’t fit all; good part-

diverse communities, including
Chester, PA. A team of federal officials work full-time on-site to help
these cities navigate existing federal
programs and build local government capacity.
Donovan observed:
•

•

Poverty grew almost five times
faster in the nation’s suburbs
than in cities during the past
decade, and there are 1.5 million more poor people living in
suburbs than in cities;
“When it comes to the way cities
manage transportation, building
and land use, it isn’t always federal barriers that get in the way,
but often that every community
in a region has a different set of
rules and codes.”

Following
Donovan’s
remarks,
Bethlehem,
The lessons learned about cities during
PA, Mayor
the past century, Shaun Donovan
John Callahan; Tamar
said, are one size doesn’t fit all; good
Shapiro, separtners recognize opportunities as well
nior director
as problems; and no city can succeed
of the German Marwithout strong local leadership and
shall Fund;
institutional capacity.
and Susan
Wachter,
co-director
of the Penn
ners recognize opportunities as well
Institute for Urban Research, exas problems; and no city can succeed
plored how cities are using planning
without strong local leadership and
and strategic investment policies to
institutional capacity.
ensure their resilience over time.
Last year, the Obama administration started a Strong Cities Strong
Communities pilot program to bring
together 14 federal agencies in six

18

Edward L. Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University, said
that cities tend to reverse decline by
adopting one of four main strategies:

make physical capital improvements;
provide tax incentives; attract and
train talented workers; or shrink the
physical footprint and reduce the
costs of city services.
The core basics of successful cities are good schooling, safe streets,
and quick commutes, Glaeser said.
He added that human capital is the
bedrock of a city’s success and that
“education is close to urban destiny.”
Other plenary sessions were on the
changing role of philanthropy, with
the presidents and CEOs of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, and the William
Penn Foundation, and the perspectives of Philadelphia Mayor Michael
A. Nutter; Lancaster, PA, Mayor J.
Richard Gray; and former New Bedford, MA, Mayor Scott W. Lang.
“In Philadelphia’s Shadow: Small
Cities in the Third Federal Reserve
District,” a special report released at
the conference, describes the history
and trajectory of 13 small formerly
industrial cities in the District. It was
written by Alan Mallach, a visiting
scholar at the Philadelphia Fed.
A book on major conference themes,
to be published in 2013, is being coedited by Susan Wachter, co-director
of the Penn Institute for Urban
Research, and Kimberly Zeuli, vice
president and community development officer at the Federal Reserve
Bank of Richmond.
Audio and video recordings of
plenary sessions, audio recordings
of concurrent sessions, and some
speakers’ presentations are available
at http://www.philadelphiafed.org/
community-development/events/.

Tomorrow’s Leaders: Attracting Young Professionals*
Jeremiah Boyle, Managing Director of Economic Development, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
When searching for the silver bullet
for economic development, cities
have traditionally engaged in the
“fad” of attracting young professionals. Gilles Duranton, professor
of economics at the University of
Toronto, expressed his skepticism
regarding the enthusiasm generated
by cities, especially those in decline,
to attract young talent as a prescription for their economic woes. He told
a Reinventing audience that “big
infrastructure,” downtown revitalization, industrial “cluster” development, and the attraction of young
talent all represent a succession of
economic development “fads.”
Urban decline is very difficult to overcome because cities that have more
educated populations tend to become
more educated, while cities that have
less educated populations tend to
become relatively less educated. The
persistence of urban decline makes
older industrial cities much more vulnerable to negative economic shocks.
The underlying philosophy of talent
attraction policies seems to be that
if a city can attract talented people,
jobs will follow and multiply. “That’s
not an easy proposition,” Duranton
said. “In the data, there is a correlation between higher human capital and growth.” The direction of
causality is not clear. “When a city
is doing well, more people show up,
and those who show up tend to be
younger and more educated.”
The panel noted that attracting
young talent is only one of many
drivers of urban growth. Duranton

emphasized that successful cities
combine talent attraction with strategies that build on a city’s strengths,
such as roads, weather and amenities, entrepreneurship, and existing
sectors or clusters.
Allison Lamey, director of community development in Lowell, MA,
described attraction and retention
of young professionals as a catalyst
for her city’s redevelopment efforts.
Lowell took a deliberate approach to
the question, How do we get young
people to want to stay in or relocate
to Lowell? She said that the answer
is to make Lowell a “lifetime city”
and added, “Lowell should be a place
where people can live in all stages of
their lives and at a variety of income
levels — not focusing on just ‘young
professionals,’ but also keeping in
mind that eventually they are going to
be older professionals and retirees.”
The lifetime city approach was
incorporated into Lowell’s 2003
comprehensive master plan and the
There’s a Lot to Like About Lowell
marketing campaign. Lamey emphasized that community engagement
and network building were critical to
Lowell’s revitalization. “Be authentic,” she said. “Capitalize on what
makes your community unique, and
know what you’re not.”
Abby Wilson, co-founder of the
Great Lakes Urban Exchange
(GLUE), reiterated the need for
authenticity in how cities approach
young professionals. “I’m less
interested in conversations about
attraction and retention and more

interested in conversations about
providing opportunities for people
in this elusive demographic to meaningfully connect with the communities where they live,” she said.
GLUE is a network of young leaders
who share an interest in revitalizing
“rust belt” cities in the Great Lakes
region. Its guiding principles include
urbanism, regionalism, storytelling,
and network building. “The key to
building the kind of demographic
diversity that all these cities want,”
Wilson concluded, “is to focus on
places and their deliberate efforts to
change. The way people talk about
young professionals is really mostly
about their disposable income.
These conversations need to be more
explicitly about diversity of thought,
experience, and perspective.”
Duranton offered some “not very
glamorous” alternative policies. He
said these policies might include
federal policies that help residents
who cannot relocate, efforts to
attract “unglamorous” assembly
plants and call centers (as opposed
to high-tech, bio-tech, and pharmaceuticals), or perhaps figuring out
how to manage decline.
The panelists generally agreed that
attracting young talent is a necessary
and valuable part of a much more
complex understanding of how to reinvent older communities and build
more resilient cities.
Jeremiah Boyle can be reached at 312322-6023 or jeremiah.p.boyle@chi.frb.
org.

* The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal
Reserve Bank of Chicago, or the Federal Reserve System.

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