Creating Policies to Lure College Grads to Detroit

by
Lauren Silverman
Friday, November 20, 2009
Roosevelt Midwest v. 2.0 (Photo by Lauren Silverman)

Roosevelt Midwest v. 2.0 (Photo by Lauren Silverman)

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Early last Saturday morning, 85 young people in business clothes walked down an empty street toward the Michigan State University Detroit Center. They were there to come up with policy ideas to make Midwest cities like Detroit a place they’d want to live after they graduate.

Monika Johnson is 20 and the Midwest Coordinator for the Roosevelt Institute. It’s a student-run policy organization that put together a two-day event called Midwest Version 2.0.

Johnson says cities like Detroit have a lot of potential, but need some major upgrades.

“People want walkable communities, they want green communities, they want opportunities for recreation,” said Johnson. “They want a night life — that’s important for people our age. And a lot of those things just simply don’t exist in a lot of our urban areas in the Midwest, and that’s something we want to change.”

Before students came up with policy ideas to attract young talent to Detroit, they went outside and got a feel for the city. Twenty-one-year-old Valerie Bieberich is Co-President of Roosevelt’s Michigan Chapter. She took the group on a walking tour of downtown Detroit on Friday. It’s not exactly how most twenty-somethings would want to kill an afternoon. Most people were a bit disappointed (there was hardly anyone around), but Bieberich said a few of the visitors saw something special in the wide-open urban landscape.

“A lot of them sound kind of surprised, like, ‘I really love it. I didn’t know! I didn’t know it was here!’” Bieberich said.

Most of the young people at the conference were familiar with Detroit, aware of both the thriving live music scene and the boarded up buildings. Lizzy Lovinger is a senior at the University of Michigan. She knows Detroit is no Manhattan, but she’s willing to sacrifice public transportation and a grocery store around the corner to be a part of Detroit’s revolution.

“I do want to be one of the aforementioned urban pioneers,” laughs Lovinger. “It’s supposed to be these young people sort of unattached to families really coming on their own and deciding that they’re going to have a personal stake in an urban environment, and really set their roots down and say, ‘This is where I’m living, and it’s not a temporary thing.’”

“I would consider staying in Michigan if I had an opportunity to participate in Detroit’s revitalization.” -Monika Johnson

If aspiring urban pioneers such as Lovinger are going to convince other young people to come to Detroit, they’ll first have to find a way to create real improvements in areas such as public infrastructure and education.

So the conference presented guest speakers who talk about current revitalization efforts in Detroit. Bieberich made it clear the speakers were there to inspire and inform, not tell young people which policy proposals were best.

In one breakout session, students talked about how to keep talented young people from leaving. And during lunch, another group of students discussed their policy ideas to fight brain drain.

Steven Gilbert from the University of Wisconsin said, “One idea that I have about keeping college students in the Midwest is maybe offering more financial and scholarship money for graduate programs.”

Brennon Zivolowsky, also from Wisconsin, said, “I think a huge issue with brain drain is that we focus on things like tax incentives, how do we keep these people here with programs. But what it really comes down to is a 20-year-old student is looking for the job he wants. I think that’s probably the biggest factor.”

Bieberich and Johnson think if they can get more community involvement in planning Detroit’s renewal, it could be the next hot city. Johnson, who doesn’t even have family in Michigan, has already fallen in love with the Detroit.

“Detroit has so many great opportunities and potential for change,” Johnson said. “In fifty years, this could be a great city. It could rival Chicago. I would consider staying in Michigan if I had an opportunity to participate in Detroit’s revitalization.”

But when the conference was over, Johnson and other students didn’t stay in Detroit. They carpooled back to Ann Arbor. That’s where they threw a big party — something that never fails to attract young people.

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  • Ed
    Should generation Y stay in Michigan to help fuel the resurgence of the state? Or should they leave for greener pastures (and plentiful job opportunities)? The fact is that the young, educated work force that our state’s fine universities have been turning out has been fleeing the state for years. The top destination for young professional graduates of the University of Michigan is not Detroit, but Chicago. My own cousin, a U of M grad (her husband a U of M law grad) followed this course, as many of her friends did. Should this trend continue, it will certainly spell doom for the Detroit region and eventually the state as a whole. We need these young educated people to remain in the state. In order to do that however, we must first create incentive for them to stay. What is it that other cities like Chicago have that Detroit does not offer? The answer is more like what don’t those cities have. Lively, cultured communities, flourishing trendy neighborhoods with walkable shopping and entertainment districts, and a great public transportation system allowing them to move freely through it all are the most attractive features. But in order for any of this to exist in the first place, you need to give people a reason to live in the city: a job. It seems as though it is a cycle, the young people move out because there are no jobs, and because all the young educated people are gone, more jobs do not arise and the cycle continues. But perhaps the cycle is about to be broken. Even now, gentrification of Detroit neighborhoods once notorious for high crime rates and low real estate prices is going on. The people behind it all seem mostly to be a part of the new and emerging creative class. These young people are artfully minded, and have a strong sense of identity and dedication to where they live. They are opening up stores, buying a fixing up neglected old houses in historic neighborhoods, and making a conscious effort to bring prosperity back to the region. I for one believe these people are the key to restoring greatness to Michigan.
  • CJ
    Generation Y should stay in Michigan and help rebuild the state.
    Because leaving Michigan now is like deserting a dying parent. Most of us would never do that. We would stay and care for and nurture an ailing parent until they were well and back on their feet. Michigan needs this young and vibrant generation. They are full of new fresh ideas and if they apply themselves they can come up with solutions to rebuild the Michigan economy.
    I suggest generation Y expose themselves to the job market ‘s that are still thriving here in Michigan such as health care, service industry and the new and upcoming movie industry. If they concentrate on educating themselves to work in these industries, that can earn a successful living here.
    I left Michigan as a young person to move to California and was gone 17 years, only to find myself back here 9 years ago. Since moving back I have found that the Michigan way of life is more economical. My husband and I have finally bought a home, something we could not afford to do in California. So, I believe the generation y’ers should give Michigan a shot.
    CJ
  • Michael
    Should you forget an ailing patient? Yes. In the case of Michigan where the patient is sick because of their own doing, it is a different story. Older people in Michigan have been staying with business as usual and have not been looking to rebuild and rethink their way of life. Michigan didn't get to where it is over night it took many years to get to the point we are at now and who's fault is that? Not generation Y's fault. Why should Generation Y feel some obligation to clean up the mess that others left behind? In my opinion, you made your bed now lay in it.

    I moved out to California years ago and have no intention of moving back. I agree that buying a house out here is about impossible but I don't have a wife or kids and I don't see what is so great about buying a 30 year obligation that is really not that great of an investment. If I want to move somewhere else I just close my lease and pack up and move. A know a lot of younger people who would rather spend their weekends with friends having fun over redoing the bathroom.
  • Chris
    I do admire the effort of these folks. As a recent college graduate I would be willing to work anywhere if the right opportunity presented itself. Let me just say there are a lot of things wrong with Detroit. I would like to blame local government the most. The number 1 solution is Good Paying, Desirable, Entry-level Jobs for College Grads.

    My little rant with the Biggest Problems with Detroit:
    High Taxes / Strong probability to Unionize / To much local government / High Crime
    and Finally the topic that nobody wants to talk about in fear of being called a racist... Race
    There is about 800K people that live in Detroit. 8.3% White // 82.7% Black // Hispanic 6.4% // 1% Asian. No company wants to be confronted with the pressured to have employment quotas to match this community background. It defeats the purpose of freedom, entrepreneurship and free thinking. If the government is telling you what to do and how you should do it and how much money you should keep because it knows best. That is Detroit is in this economic death pit... Government
  • Megan
    As a Michigan native who moved to NYC and England after college... and then moved back to Grand Rapids this summer after 9 years away, I find this series very interesting. However, I've heard very little mention of any part of Michigan outside of Ann Arbor and Detroit. We exist over here and are, in fact, doing better and seem to be happier than the other side of the state. (I think?)

    I realize that Ms. Silverman is in Ann Arbor and obviously has more access (and more time... are you really studying and doing this project simultaneously?!) for her local area. I also don't know what percentage of Michiganders live in the Detroit metro area vs Grand Rapids/K-zoo/Muskegon/Holland/Benton Harbor/Lansing... but surely we should be part of the conversation, too. I'd be interested to hear if the stories hold true everywhere in Michigan, not just the East side.

    All in all, I've enjoyed the series. Thanks for your hard work and for running it!
  • silverla
    Hi Megan,

    Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I am actually going to make the trek to Grand Rapids over my thanksgiving break (next weekend) and hope to do a whole bunch of interviews there (I also hope to eat some good pumpkin pie, so if you have any suggestions please let me know!)

    Please feel free to e-mail me at silverla@umich.edu to let me know more about what you think is going on for gen y in Grand Rapids, and if you would be interested in chatting.

    Thanks!
  • Megan
    Thanks for your response, Lauren. I've been a bit busy at work and just got a chance to check back.

    I hope you had a good time in Grand Rapids. I find it has changed a lot- and almost entirely for the good- since I left. I'm excited about possibly moving to a neighborhood that reminds me of my home in England and, yes, even NYC.... only with affordable houses rather than overpriced 300sf apts.

    Hope you got some good stuff!
  • I'd also like to add that this was one of our main reasons for building the Guest Essays section of the website. Think of it as an open publishing space for people all over the state (and beyond) to contribute their views on the topic. You can find more info here: http://generationymichigan.org/guest-essay-subm...
  • Michael
    This sounds like a great marketing pitch at young people to stay in Michigan, namely the Detroit area, but it does not really spell out the real implications of a urban renewal. I do honestly believe that the effort is noble and I think it is the most important thing it can do to rebuild the town and rebuild Michigan.

    What is missing the sheer amount of time and effort that it is going to take. It needs more than a couple young people with a can do spirit and some spare time to accomplish this. Do these people understand that Detroit has over 80,000 abandon buildings? Do people understand that Detroit has been decaying and has been neglected for nearly 40 years? Do people understand that the economy of Detroit has one of the highest unemployments for cities in this country?

    Where are the leaders of Detroit as well as the elected officials in Michigan to work to accomplish this effort. If they are not willing to invest the massive amounts of time and effort into the project then how can they expect young people to really get behind the effort as well.

    What Monika and others did after the conference is exactly what I would do also, in fact when I graduated I left the state to a nicer city, a city that welcomes younger professionals instead of maintaining an attitude of complacency. Just because you have a city doesn't mean that people have any obligation to stay there. Step your game up Michigan or this problem is going to continue!
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