Staying in Grand Rapids
(Photo by Dustin Dwyer)
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Grand Rapids does a better job than other Michigan cities keeping some young people in the state after they graduate.
Data for the Grand Valley State University class of 2008 shows that 94 percent of graduates that are working have jobs in Michigan.
Lauren Silverman went to Grand Rapids to talk with some young people who decided to stay in the city after they graduated.
I stopped by Selma Tucker’s house — an old two story house with a porch and creaky hard wood floors. When Tucker took me up to his room, something in his closet caught my eye.
“Oh my god, and what is that in your closet? I’m looking at the photo montage thing,” I say to Tucker.
“Yeah, Sarah made this for a couple of years ago because I’m such a Michigan fan,” says Tucker.
“Why don’t you describe it for me?”
“So she took some foam board and she cut out almost an exact replica of Michigan. She’s got the pinky up here and Traverse City and Torch Lake. It’s really, really cool,” says Tucker.
Tucker grew up in Buchanan, which is a small, mostly Evangelical town of 5,000 people. Like most of his friends, after high school he left for Grand Rapids. He studied at Grand Valley State University and, after graduation last year, got a job with the city.
“To be honest with you, Grand Rapids has taken a lot of those same young people that grew up in my hometown, and quite a few of them are here in Grand Rapids. There’s a whole slew of us that are here from that community. So it’s still a magnet. It’s drawing people and they end up staying too, I think,” says Tucker.
Young people sticking around isn’t an accident. It’s by design.
George Bosnjak is 28 and works for an economic development group in Grand Rapids. It’s called “The Right Place.” He says while the population of young people in other cities in Michigan is shrinking, Grand Rapids is having a growth spurt.
“Actually the last two years have been the busiest years we’ve had here at The Right Place — and the most successful by the numbers, even despite the economic times,” says Bosnjak. “So far this year we’ve closed 14 projects, with just over 4,000 jobs created or retained in a variety of industries — from Global Forex Trading, which is an online currency training company, to Farmers Foremost Insurance. Last year Priceline moved into town.”
Bosnjak says companies are attracted to Grand Rapids because they know there’s a whole bunch of students about to graduate that will be looking for jobs. And as more companies open in Grand Rapids, those graduates can find jobs and often decide to stick around.
Young people stay in Grand Rapids for the jobs, but it’s also for the community.
“Grand Valley really does push their students to get out into the community and work hard, ” says Tucker. “You know, my internship was here in Grand Rapids, and at that point it’s easy to stay. You’ve already built the road, they’ve already sort of mowed it down for you. You might as well just keep riding it.”
All of the young people I met in Grand Rapids told me about their internships. They said their internships really tied them to their community — and made it harder to leave.
George Bosnjak says local organizations are picking up on how important it is to reach out to Grand Rapids’ younger demographic.
“I think what’s unique is that almost all of our local organizations has done their best to outreach to a younger demographic,” says Bosnjak. “For instance, Van Andel Institute has a junior board, where they’re just targeting people under thirty five where to say, ‘How can we get you involved? How can you feel like you are part of the community?’ The museum has an advisory committee of young people, saying, ‘What would be interesting for you?’ I mean where else can you say, ‘I think you need to have a Di Vinci,’ or ‘I think you should have an exhibit on the history of cell phones.’ And you can get that done here.”
Local organizations’ outreach efforts are paying off. It’s no longer just businesses and government trying to get young people to feel involved in the community. There’s a whole pro-Grand Rapids grassroots movement led by young people. They’re starting their own social media groups to show off the city they love, and recruit newbies.
Young people started a Flickr group that only takes pictures of Grand Rapids. And there’s a LinkedIn group full of young people that only posts positive news about the city. Most recently, two guys in their twenties started a Facebook group called “Michigan by Choice.”
It’s true that Grand Rapids has some resources not all cities in Michigan have. But at the core of what the city’s doing is showing young people that they care about them. That’s a philosophy other cities in Michigan looking to fight brain might want to use.
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