Attracting the 'creative class'

By Pat Mulloy and Lynn Wangerin
Special to The Courier-Journal

In a recent Atlantic Monthly article, Richard Florida, the pundit who coined the term "creative class" to describe a young generation of technologically savvy, lifestyle progressive workers and entrepreneurs who become economic drivers in the communities in which they settle, offers new evidence that the migration to "superstar cities" is accelerating.

Florida's work in tracking these trends is closely followed by economic growth experts and our own Greater Louisville, Inc., which hosted him here.

In short, Florida argues that "superstar cities" will be the primary winners in the future because of these new "creative" residents. The question for cities like ours, which Florida does not include in the "superstar cities" list, is how to secure our share of the future economic pie as we compete in a "world is flat" economy. We believe the answer rests largely on grass-roots efforts to address this trend.

In Louisville, two programs are doing just that. Bulldogs in the Bluegrass and Teach Kentucky are tandem efforts to attract highly motivated, well-educated young people. Bulldogs in the Bluegrass, sponsored by Yale alumni, recently completed its eighth summer. It has introduced 262 Yale students from 43 states and 11 foreign countries to the benefits of life in Louisville through a 10-week summer internship.

The participants have worked for a total of 120 nonprofit agencies and for profit entities in those eight years. Happily, of the 190 Bulldogs who have graduated, 22, including three from this summer, have settled in Louisville after graduation. In what Florida would regard as surprising news, however, none of them had previous Kentucky ties or reasons to be here beyond their conviction, born of their summer experience, that this is a great place to seek their own opportunities.

Teach Kentucky, sponsored by a consortium of alumni associations, attracts recent college graduates to teach in local public schools. In its initial five years, Teach Kentucky has brought 32 teachers (eight new ones this year) from over 20 highly selective national colleges and universities. These teachers score in the top quartile on their content specific Praxis exam, exceeding the requirements of "highly-qualified" teachers as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act.

Virtually all of them serve in middle schools, the majority teaching in hard to fill math and science positions. This concentration means that Teach Kentucky teachers instruct roughly 15 percent of Jefferson County Public School's middle school population in 11 Title One schools.

It is also of note that Teach Kentucky has an 86 percent retention rate, significantly better than the national average. While this is a formidable undertaking by local alumni, it is not a duplication of other teacher recruitment efforts, but an expansion of the geographic scope of our community's reach.

One can also argue that these 54 new residents bring significant "intellectual capital" to our community as we try to create a knowledge-based economy. Collectively, they invested $6 million in the cost of their own undergraduate degrees and thus Louisville benefits from their importation of this "human capital." Yet far more important to the sponsors who provide the majority of the private funding for the programs is how these individuals are enthusiastically adding their talents and energy to their work and civic involvements.

Bulldogs in the Bluegrass and Teach Kentucky were originally founded by Rowan Claypool, a Yale alumnus who responded to the challenge of addressing the "brain drain," but are supported by over 150 volunteers who serve as mentors and facilitator of the programs' activities.

Likewise, Teach Kentucky is aligned with critical strategic partners in the Jefferson and Shelby County schools and the University of Louisville where teachers earn their masters degree and certification. Graciously, Metro Government and Greater Louisville, Inc. have also been tremendous allies in these efforts.

We want to thank all those who have shared their time, money and talents to create two successful programs that propel us toward "superstar city" status. Florida may see a national migration pattern to superstar cities, but we see success on the ground in Louisville. It is precisely these sort of innovative, grass roots efforts that will make Louisville a superstar city.

Pat Mulloy is president of Teach Kentucky, and Lynn Wangerin is president of Yale in Kentucky.