East Lansing is crawling with young, enterprising individuals looking for new opportunities and Lansing is the perfect outlet for their energy.  This is not to say that local adults aren’t already inspired to take on new initiatives and innovate the way Lansing looks from a fresh perspective because many are, and do. However, it is undeniable that recent graduates and undergraduates are eager to do something significant with their newly gained education and aspirations. They want to work, get a job, fill their resume and get involved with something they are passionate about.

Also, many MSU students are new to the Lansing community and the way its infrastructure operates. Therefore, they are more likely to feel comfortable changing it or to spot places it could be tweaked and/or strengthened. Even more than that, many individuals are looking for experience in communication, personal relations, design, or whatever their passion might be. Thousands of young individuals with great creative capacity and an interest in gaining experience exist on and around MSU’s campus and they are an invaluable resource for Lansing. Whether its paid or unpaid work, students are looking to learn, work, and create. Why not put this resource to use to better Lansing?

As a junior at MSU I have been inspired and impressed by the diverse collection of ways the university and its students enrich the Lansing community and vice versa.

Perhaps the most obvious impact MSU has on the Lansing community directly correlates with that fact that Michigan State is a large institution with a student population totaling more than 46,000. It attracts and provides venues for events, speakers, musicians and shows that probably would not venture to the Lansing area otherwise.

The Wharton Center, MSU’s largest venue, brings in Broadway shows other major cities including Chicago, don’t get. These events bring in local residents, out-of-towners, students, faculty and staff and showcase stores and restaurants in Lansing and East Lansing, enhancing its cultural landscape. Beyond that, students offer a whole range of on campus plays, comedy and musical acts that add to Lansing and East Lansing’s entertainment scene.

Additionally, the sporting events at MSU add a spark to the spirit, sense of community, and thriving business culture to the region that’s irreplaceable.

However, it is important to realize that MSU enriches Lansing in a much deeper way than through sports and entertainment. MSU integrates career and civic engagement within the community, facilitating many volunteer opportunities for students within Lansing and abroad. There are many programs at MSU supporting and encouraging positive and enriching interaction between Lansing and East Lansing.

Most students at MSU participate in efforts to engage in the community outside campus and gain field experience through a course, internship, or volunteer work. This fosters possibilities for a symbiotic relationship between local businesses and organizations and students. In return businesses give students access to innovative ideas, mentorship and creativity.

Beyond the professional realms such as government internships, thousands of MSU students have contributed to community building projects in Lansing. For example, last semester I was a student mentor at a local non-profit art studio, REACH. Through that experience I got out of the campus bubble and actually talked to an impacted Lansing children that I would have never experienced without MSU’s effort to increase civic engagement. There are many MSU students who tutor local elementary and high school students, help out in classrooms, engage in workshops and after school activities with local youth, and aid with community initiatives like community gardens and farmer’s markets. Many of these outstanding efforts are featured on outreach.msu.edu.

Despite the dynamic qualities of both East Lansing and Lansing, and the community engagement that students already take part in, there is still a clear disconnect between the two cities. It would be incredibly beneficial for both communities for this gap to grow smaller. The vast amount of collaborative possibilities existing between East Lansing and Lansing has barely been tapped.

The book also goes on to explain how some of the richest most influential people in human history like Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan and John D. Rockefeller, among others, all happened to have been born in the same decade, the 1830s. This was due to the fact that by the time of the industrial revolution in the 1860s, they were all at the perfect age to take advantage of the opportunities and resources available to them. Like railroads, factories, oil and the increase in American wealth.

While reading Outliers, I began thinking about how this might apply to me. What advantages do I have? Was I an outlier? And then it hit me. I was born in Michigan, and I was born in the 1980s. Allow me to explain. Michigan, and most notably the city of Detroit, is hurting. Hurting badly. The state needs young, courageous and creative people to step in and make a change, and it needs to happen now. Those of us who were born in the 1980s are, today, between the ages of 21 and 30. We are at the perfect age make a difference. We are educated, and we are old enough to have had a taste of real world experience without being too deep into our career. The state of Michigan and the city of Detroit present a lot of challenges, but they also present a lot of opportunities. Those of us who were born in the 1980s are at the perfect age to face those challenges and take advantage of the opportunities available to us. If we had been born any earlier we would be too old to take advantage. On the same token, had we been born any later we would be too young.

I don’t mean to suggest that people born in any other decade cannot contribute. You’re never too old, or too young to impact your community. I imagine, however, that most people who were born in the 1980s, especially the early and middle part of the decade have relatively low expenses, and low responsibility because we don’t have families of our own to provide for yet. We are also just now in the early stages of our career. This means we can afford to take a risk on a city and a state that needs us most in the hopes of great economic return. The transformation of this state and city needs to happen, and it needs to happen now. Those of us who were born in the 1980s are, right now, at the perfect age to make a difference and also benefit from it the most.

We are outliers.

Rob McIntosh is a 2007 graduate of Michigan State University who is originally from Livonia. Since graduating he has lived in New York City, working for publications such as GQ and Esquire. Rob is currently working on starting a Detroit based clothing company.

I am so frustrated with the comments on this blog that make blanket negative claims that there are little opportunities here in Michigan.  Many people have this perception of Michigan and even more specifically of Lansing, that is clogged with a generic negativity. I will even admit that before I plugged myself into this whole vibrant and innovative scene, I thought only “losers” who couldn’t find a job in Chicago or elsewhere, stayed here. Now, I know I couldn’t have been further from the truth. Both young and old students, professionals and entrepreneurs here in Lansing work endlessly to create green cities, collaborative co-working spaces and a vibrant nightlife. So, before you even start with “there’s no opportunities nor a fun nightlife in Lansing (or Michigan),” come hang out with me and my friends for a day, we’ll change your mind.

One of the most basic components for a successful entrepreneur is to have a network to share and develop ideas with. At 6 PM, every Friday for the past year, a group of 5-20 active, passionate students have met at a local bar, Harpers, to discuss their business ideas, or student organization initiatives, or their mentors, or their needs for these future plans. The group is called Gumball Club, but don’t ask why, the first rule of Gumball Club is: you do not talk about Gumball Club. The individuals come from across all disciplines, ranging from computer programmers to public policy students with businesses from a social media consulting company to a bartending school and are frequently collaborating on different projects.  The atmosphere of these conversations is casual but zinging with intensity and excitement.

A second component is an extensive mentor network. The internship coordinator at MSU, Paul Jaques, has created a mentorship program for entrepreneurs at MSU. The mentors range from successful software company owners to environmental activists. The mentors provide advice to us young adults to guide us through the confusing business development process and place us in contact with an even greater network of entrepreneurial individuals. Getting plugged into this network is critical for students to realize how many impressive people and ample resources there are in Lansing for them to make all their big plans happen.

Third, idea contests (with money!) are all over the place. One that I’ve worked on is the Next Bright Idea contest, put on by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership. The ten finalists will make a 3 minute idea pitch and based on creativity, authenticity and presentation style, the five judges will select a winner. The winner receives $5,000 dollars and a slew of other resources. Another cool concept, is Eve of Ignition, a student spin-off of the world re-known Ignite. While student pitches do not follow the typical O’Reilly format, they have five minutes to convince the judges that they should win the prize money to develop it! The winner from the event on March 3^rd, will have a chance to present at Ignite Lansing on March 5^th. In Lansing here it can be so easy for active students, who are ready to take a chance, to get funding for their awesome ideas.

Fourth, cheap (but cool!) co-working business space is on its way for students.  Students will now have a formal hub for all their efforts in The Hatch. Students will pay approximately $75/month and receive office space, mailing address, access to printer/fax and conference rooms, as well as a slew of networking events and other resources, like business plan help and financial, legal and technical services.

I understand all of these things don’t spell PERFECTION for everyone. I also understand, many students do not even know about all these great resources. Increasing visibility of all these is necessary for a true and lasting perception change. However, before individuals start making the monotonous claim that there’s little prospect in Michigan, I hope they take the time to become informed on what is really out there for them.  My life is booming with innovative ideas, entrepreneurial resources, incredible mentors and impressive friends in Lansing; yours could be too.

Kelly Steffen is a senior at Michigan State University, majoring in International Relations and Economics. She has recently formed her own company called Spotlight Campus Consulting, LLC, which works to connect economic developers, community organizers, businesses and media groups to Gen Y in the Lansing region.

This is Kelly’s second guest essay on Generation Y Michigan. You can read her first essay here.

Fortunately, a team of researchers at Michigan State University is working to fight this. A Michigan State University project called Community Ties aims to forge new social ties among youth, local entrepreneurs and other professionals through online social networking and community development activities. Community Ties is currently available for students and professionals in Grand Traverse, Marquette, Oscoda and Otsego Counties through the Community Ties website, communityties.us. The project was developed by the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and is maintained by a grant from the USDA. The project has several main goals: sparking interactions, expanding career awareness, preventing bright flight, igniting inspiration and tying the community together.

Downtown Gaylord

Spark interactions

One goal of the project is to spark interactions between youth and professional role models, business peers with each other, students with each other, budding entrepreneurs with experienced business professionals. Conversations between these groups are facilitated on the Community Ties website as well as in person through forums that were held in each community in the spring of 2009.

Expand career awareness

There are many viable careers in rural communities that are invisible – jobs done behind closed doors and computer screens, that many of us are not aware exist. MSU faculty has been teaching classes at Traverse City West Senior High, Fairview High School, Gaylord High School and Ishpeming High School where students learn basic technology how-to as well as web design skills. Many of the students have learned about telecommuting and have been introduced to people in their community who telecommute to jobs across the country.

Prevent bright flight

Far too often, our best and brightest youth leave our community because they feel that opportunity awaits them elsewhere. If we strengthen Community Ties by placing local opportunities and invisible jobs in the spotlight, youth will realize “there’s no place like home.” The classes and activities held by Community Ties in their target regions has done just this. Many young people have realized that it is possible to leave home to attend college then return and have a prosperous career.

To help expand career awareness and prevent bright flight, Community Ties is sponsoring multiple interns throughout northern Michigan. Essentially, Community Ties plays match.com for careers. Students submitted why they would be a great intern and businesses submitted why they would be a great place to intern. Then Community Ties paired the matches made in heaven. Now there are students getting to paid in their dream careers that they didn’t always realize were available to them in their rural community. One student is with the forest service and another with a photographer which another still pursues their dream of being in the film industry.

Ignite Inspiration

Sometimes adults may feel like they are all alone in their profession or business, but the community is filled with local experts and others telecommuting. Connecting with other professional peers can help ignite inspiration and innovation to everyday problems. Through the Community Ties website, adults have been able to met and connect with others like them in the community. By sharing resources, both physical and intellectual, the entire community wins.

Tie the community together

Going beyond just sparking interactions, the more involved a person is with their community (online and offline) the more they will feel tied to their community. Developing and strengthening these connections helps expand career awareness, prevent bright fight, and ignite inspiration to make the community stronger and more tied than ever than it has ever been in the dream of Community Ties. Hopefully, the program will become state wide and be able to help more than just four counties. It’s not just the rural youth that need to be tied to the community, it’s all of Michigan. The professionals, the trade workers, the entrepreneurs, the students, the youth, the young adults, those ready to retire and those just about to begin their careers. There is a place in Michigan for everyone – now we just need to help them find it.

More information on Momentum is here.

You can subscribe to West Side Stories on Michigan Radio’s Podcasts page.

Contact Dustin Dwyer at dtdwyer@umich.edu. You can also find this story at michiganradio.org.

That’s why the truly motivated of our generation are looking outside the classroom, getting experience either in a workplace, or just throwing themselves into life with gusto, trying things out, making mistakes, and learning by doing. Whether they are getting a good job, starting a business, running a blog, volunteering, or just writing an article, they are working their way outside the classroom.

That is a good thing. Michigan should be welcoming the explorations of students, and giving them a helping hand, or a word of advice. For the most part, I feel that the communities are doing a good job of this. All I can do is speak of my personal experience, which has been stellar in East Lansing. I could not imagine being more welcomed and supported as an enterprising, curious student than I have been in East Lansing. The mere fact that I am writing this column and having it published is evidence of this. You are reading these very words because I am supported wholeheartedly by the community I live and work in. Most importantly, I’m not the only one; much of my generation has a similar viewpoint.

I think this is because we are a capable, ambitious, and eager generation. We are not content to have our papers graded; we want to get published, get our word out, and see tangible results of our efforts. We want to learn by giving the world a push, and seeing which dominoes fall, which doors open.

There is simply more value in the empirical side of education. As most Gen-Y students would tell you, we learn more in a day at work, than we do in a week or longer in a classroom. Whatever the outlet is, you can bet that any truly driven Gen-Yer has something that they do outside of their education, some source of experience, which is where they really gain the skills that will make them successful in their future endeavors.

The question is why are our Universities not encouraging that connection? All of the reaching is being done on the part of the community, or the students themselves. From what I see, the Universities are doing nothing to facilitate cooperation and sharing of students’ time and talent with the surrounding areas. They simply assume that students will find their way, and will fit in their real education in the spare time between their formal educations. This is the speed bump, the factor that complicates the ambitious college student’s life.

It has been predicted that we may have dozens of different positions throughout our working lives. Though we all specialize to one degree or another, the most valuable skill we can have is basic, simple, and yet deceivingly difficult to teach.

The only word I can use to describe it is fluidity. We need to understand many different aspects of all of the tasks that we may be asked to accomplish. We need to be able to learn how to do a job, do it, and then move on to another. We need to acquire skills on the go, quickly and effectively. We need to understand the big picture, see how we fit in, understand how all the parts around us are moving, and use our experience to judge how we individually contribute best to the situation. We need to learn this, and quickly. We need an education system that accommodates this need.

This fluidity is not something that can be acquired in a classroom, this comes from experience, from participating in numerous roles, being actively involved in projects with others. With all of the technological capability, and all the opportunities for change, and all the initiative of students, why are communities not encouraging students to participate, beckoning to them, welcoming their youthful vigor, fresh point of view and boundless creativity? Instead students are buried in papers and worksheets, halls full of intellectual horsepower replicate the same meaningless work, instead of having real opportunities to stretch their potential, make community connections, and do meaningful work with observable, tangible results.

On the other side, why should the community have to beckon? Why is the university not opening its doors, shoving students out into the community, validating their experiences with credit, recognition, or applause? They selfishly hoard students’ time, creating obstacles to the students trying to become truly “well-rounded”, rather than encouraging and incentivizing students’ broadening experiences.

Solutions, short of a revamp of our entire curriculum and the assumptions our educational system is banked on, are simple. On the student’s side, realize that life does not begin and end in the classroom, and that at the end of the day, that grade really is not all that important. Realize that you can likely learn far more by foraging out into the world, talking to people, taking on work, and dealing with real situations and challenges. On the community side, continue to extend the gracious and patient hospitality that you have been. Encourage and share with students, offer them the gift of the experience you worked so hard to earn, introduce them to others, sew them into the web of this community, show them how much we have to offer, I guarantee the “retention rate” will increase. Be vocal about your inclusion of students into your community, and inspire others to do so as well. Don’t treat them like intrusive tourists in your town, but visiting relatives, who, if they like what they see might just move in themselves. This is the truth behind “talent invigoration”.

Community-student connections will be valuable to Michigan, as we struggle to keep our recent grads around, earning and spending money in our state, if not our local economy. What could be better for this than students who have been building up friends and contacts in the local business scene for the past four years? These are the real principles of “talent retention” or, if you’ve been reading earlier posts “talent invigoration”. We need to give students reasons to stay in Michigan, not just opportunities. Job creation is not enough. We need to enable and inspire our students, give them a proving ground, not just a classroom.

Eric Jorgenson is currently a junior at Michigan State University, double-majoring in Economics and Business, with specializations in Entrepreneurship and Connected Learning. He is an intern at East Lansing’s Technology Innovation Center, and the upcoming student business incubator, The Hatch. He also owns his own company supplying bamboo T-shirts, GoBoo Clothing.

But Michigan is also known for the nation’s highest unemployment rate, frigid winters, the worst franchise in NFL history, and a crime rate that gives Detroit and Flint the distinction of being two of the most dangerous cities in America.

The Michigan State Flag

Which begs the question; is there any reason why young people should pledge allegiance to the Wolverine state?

As a recent college graduate, I anticipated entering the Michigan workforce after graduation. And I did.

Sadly though, it was a 20-hour a week job at Jimmy John’s. Not exactly what you hope for after taking out $25,000 in student loans.

Although the result of my education didn’t end up in a full-time position, the perspective I gained while enrolled at Aquinas College showed me that real education is not always learned in a classroom, but rather through experiences.

As a Saint, I welcomed incoming freshmen as an orientation leader, wrote for the school newspaper, served on the student senate, held several internships, and even lived in Chicago for a semester. Like anyone who experienced similar endeavors, I thought I would be a shoe-in for a job after graduation.

But I soon realized that the same old routine was getting repetitive. The job opportunities that arose were unrelated to my interests (eventually I would get turned down from over 10 employers), and the growing feeling that the real world was passing me by — out there, somewhere else — all aided in my increasing willingness to move on.

Although many of my college friends came to Grand Rapids from Lansing, Muskegon, and suburban Detroit, I was a lifelong Rapidian and was looking for any way out.

After several unsuccessful months of job hunting, I decided to apply to graduate school. I always enjoyed class and would describe myself as an academic. But I knew it wasn’t going to be in Michigan. The degree I wanted to obtain just wasn’t offered. So I looked elsewhere.

My pursuits led me to schools that ranged from California to Illinois. I was accepted to several but ultimately decided on Loyola University Chicago.

Although educational issues aided in my decision to depart from Michigan, anecdotal evidence suggests that twentysomethings are leaving for other reasons. Most notably, unemployment.

Responding to the shifts in attitude among young people, the state of Michigan started producing “Pure Michigan” commercials with the help of native sons Tim Allen and Jeff Daniels. The commercials are intended to boast what is “magical, unspoiled, timeless and true about the state.” The results have, surprisingly, shown an increase in tourism and a heightened interest, among young people, to stay in Michigan.

Reciprocity, it seems, is the tool which many politicians, business owners, and community organizers are marketing to young people in order to get them to stay. But, again, do we actually owe anything to the state in which we reside?

Perhaps an appropriate example would be to examine the choices made by the aforementioned spokespersons.

Tim Allen pursued his dreams of being an actor and comedian by leaving Michigan, as did Jeff Daniels. Granted they have since returned and done much good for the state. But it stands to reason that those who have talent and aspirations of a career that isn’t attainable in Michigan should look elsewhere.

Of course leaving for a short period of time isn’t a bad thing. The real problem, for Michigan, lies in its inability to draw is constituents back. Policy makers need to hold court over how to entice these people to invest in their home state; one way they can do that is through the promotion of non profits.

As stated in the first paragraph, one of the most distinguishable traits Michigan has is its generosity.

According to the Council of Michigan Foundations, Michigan has 2,521 nonprofit foundations with assets totaling $23.6 billion. While total giving is around $1.4 billion. Ranking Michigan 6th and 8th nationally in total assets and giving, respectively.

Impressive, for a state that, in 2007, had a per capital real GDP that was 14 percent below the national average.

But nonprofit organizations can’t be the only solution.

Historically, Michigan has been recognized as a manufacturing state. With furniture, automobiles, and manufacturing being its bread and butter. But the collapse of GM and Ford, along with the rest of the rust belt, has only advanced the disappearance of jobs.

It is my contention that, culturally, Michigan – especially the Midwest – is at least a year behind the rest of the country. Somewhere over the past 20 years, Michiganders grew complacent with their lifestyles, while other states chose to adapt.

Perhaps it’s generational.

But perhaps it isn’t.

The entrepreneurial spirit that Dan Redford advocates for in his article The Great Job Myth is exactly what Michigan is lacking. We need to reinvigorate the Michigan economy by applying different, not the same, principles than the older generation.

Examples of such principles have popped up over the past several months.

Wind energy, GM’s electric vehicle, and Grand Rapid’s Medical Mile are only a few of the investments where Michiganders are seeing positive, economic, results.

But, like other states, problems like rising tuition fees, increasing costs of living, and affordable health care also need to be addressed. These are the issues our legislators need to fix in order to retain not only young people, but the aging population as well.

When and if that happens, I’ll be back.

Michigan, you can count on me.

Stephen Kokx is a 2009 graduate of Aquinas College, where he studied Accounting and Sustainable Business. He is currently enrolled at Loyola University Chicago and will graduate with a M.A. in Social Justice and Community Development in 2011. Stephen regularly updates his blog and contributes freelance work to various Internet-based news magazines. Follow Stephen on Twitter.

That’s according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.

John Bracey is executive director of Michigan’s arts agency, the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. He says he knows the state is going through a tough time right now and that everyone is feeling a great deal of pain, “but it seems like the arts and culture sector have felt more than their share.”

Bracey also says the cuts put Michigan at a disadvantage.

“When you’re trying to attract and retain your young workers, when you’re trying to attract new business into the state, the arts and culture sector in your state means a great deal to the quality of life,” he says.

Michigan’s arts funding dropped from around $7 million last year to $2 million this year.

That’s compared to a high of nearly $26 million in 2001.

Contact Jennifer Guerra at guerraj@umich.edu. You can also find this story at michiganradio.org.

by Rina Miller
Ann Arbor, MI — For the fourth consecutive year, many people who called Michigan home have called it quits.

Greg Harper is with the U.S. Census Bureau.

He says about 33,000 people left Michigan in the past year.

“We don’t really know exactly why the population went down between 2008 and 2009,” Harper says. “Obviously economy could be a factor, but there’s — we don’t really have the analysis to pinpoint it to a specific cause.”

Michigan does have the highest unemployment rate in the nation.

Only two other states, Maine and Rhode Island, also lost population.

The Census Bureau says Texas gained more people than any other state, followed by California, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

This story was originally aired on Michigan Radio on 12/13/09. View it on michiganradio.org.

Over the past year we haven’t heard much good news about the state of Michigan. For the most part the state is facing extremely tough times, and the news we hear reflects that. Michigan has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, foreclosures continue, the auto industry is struggling, and many residents have lost confidence in our state government. But how do we get past all the bad news and create a future?

To start a new year, Michigan Radio will take a look at how we can make things better in our state. We’re launching a series of interviews called “Three Things.” Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley will be asking artists, politicians, business owners, teachers, and people from all walks of life to give us their three ideas for things each of us can do to revive our state.

The series kicks off on January 4 with an interview with Governor Granholm. That first week we’ll also hear from Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, actor and musician Jeff Daniels, Rich Studley from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, and ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos. Then each Monday in the coming months we’ll present more ideas for improving the state from other well known Michigan citizens — but also from you. We’ll be asking for your ideas at michiganradio.org/threethings and inviting people who submit interesting ideas to talk to Christina about their “Three Things.”

Learn more about this series and share your suggestions at threethings.michiganradio.org.