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Scott Murphy

Dayton Mayor’s 2017 Award Winners

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The Mayor’s Award honors outstanding individuals, neighborhood groups and organizations/businesses making a positive impact on the Dayton community through various activities. Back in July the Mayor put a call out for nominees, who must be located within the Dayton city limits.

AWARD WINNERS FOR 2017

Family Friendly:
 An organization that supports employees through family-friendly policies. Honoree – Porter Wright.

Community Service:
 An individual or organization performing extraordinary service to the community. Honoree – Scott Murphy.  

Giving Back to Neighborhoods:
 An individual or neighborhood group supporting and inspiring their neighborhood. Honoree – Nicole Carver-Wishart. 

 

Education Champion: 
An individual or organization working to provide a brighter future for our children. Honoree – Pat Meadows.  

Workforce Pipeline:
An individual or organization promoting skill or trade development in students. Honoree – The Victory Project. 

 

A three-member committee (a community member, a business representative and a City official) selects one winner in each category. Winners are recognized at a Dayton City Commission meeting and featured in a special video production.

Bike Share to Roll Into Dayton Spring 2015

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Community leaders gathered at Second Street Public Market today DSCF0919to announce the required $1 million in capital funding has been secured to launch a bike share program in Greater Downtown Dayton in 2015.  Earlier this month, Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) approved 2014 funding from the Federal Highway Administration Surface Transportation Program to cover capital costs for 22 bike share stations.  Mayor Nan Whaley announced that the City of Dayton has committed to providing $250,000 which includes a needed local match to secure the capital funds and partial operating support to launch the program.

bikeshareDayton’s bike share, which will launch in spring 2015, will feature 22 strategically located stations, all within an approximate two mile radius of downtown Dayton. Each station will contain six to ten bikes, totaling more than 200 bikes. Stations will be placed within 1/4 mile of one another so it users will not have to walk more than 5 minutes to find an available bike. All bikes are securely locked, require a membership or credit card to access and will allow for GPS tracking. Customers – who range from one-day users to annual subscribers – are able to take unlimited trips on the bikes. Trips may be up to 30-45 minutes in length and may go to any other station or back to the original location.

Brian Martin, Executive Director of MVRPC shared, “The role of alternative transportation modes—such as bike share—in enriching their communities is extremely important, and our own bike share program will enable Dayton to keep pace with similar cities who already enjoy the benefits of bike share.”

The Downtown Dayton Partnership has seen evidence that that bike share programs bolster urban vibrancy, are a major factor in downtown livability, and maximize the connectivity of existing public transit infrastructure. Dr. Michael Ervin, DDP Co-Chair said, “Advancing Dayton’s cycling culture is an important strategy in the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan.”  But it’s not just the Downtown Dayton Partnership who want to see this happen. Ervin continues, “Organizational partnerships have been crucial to the establishment of a viable strategy for Dayton’s bike share program, and they are a testament to the community’s enthusiasm for this initiative.”

The organizations that have stepped up to implement the bike share program include Greater Dayton RTA, Bike Miami Valley and MVRPC. Bike Miami Valley be securing staff over the next year to oversee customer management, sponsorship outreach, customer memberships, organizational partnerships, and marketing and promotions with plans to hire an Executive Director in late summer or early fall. Once the program is launched, RTA will maintain the bike share equipment and balance the distribution of bikes across the station network.  MVRPC identified the capital funding source and will provide additional support, including office space for bike share staff. Combined, these partnerships will lower the annual bike share operational costs by more than $135,000 each year.  Immediate next steps will be to issue an RFP (a required step since bike share will be run by a public agency) to select an equipment vendor and develop the program branding and name.

Mark Donaghy, Executive Director of Greater Dayton RTA sees bike share as a “last mile connector” and a long-anticipated asset DSCF0938in better serving RTA patrons and promoting bus ridership. Users can ride the bus into downtown and pick up a bike to get to their exact destination with fewer transfers and more convenience; bike share adds to a system of transportation options within the downtown area. Donaghy says, “We look forward to seeing this important community asset grow.”

Andy Williamson, with Bike Miami Valley shared, “Bike Miami Valley is excited that Dayton will join the collection of more than 25 cities across the U.S. with bike share transportation systems.”

Although bike share is growing in popularity across the nation, Dayton is the second city to announce that they’ve completed the process of securing the needed capital funds. An appropriate fit since Dayton was designated in 2010 as a bronze level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists (with the goal to reach platinum level by 2020). Cincinnati is currently fundraising with hopes to launch Cincy Bike Share in the near future, and both Cleveland and University of Toledo are in research/planning modes with hopes to create their own bike share program.

But is Dayton ready? Scott Murphy with Bike Miami Valley says yes. Murphy explained, “We set out about a year and a half ago to study the feasibility of bike sharing in the Dayton region by benchmarking our community against others of similar size who have done bike sharing successfully. We looked at factors that correlate to actual bike share usage in other cities; things like population density, job density, where young people are clustered in our community.  What we found surprised us; not only does Dayton measure-up to these communities, we actually outpace other bike share cities of similar size for key bike share design factors.  The community is ready to do this.”

The idea is there, the plan is set, the money is confirmed: the reality of bike share roll out for Dayton in spring of 2015.

My Summit Story: Number Crunching for a Cause

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In preparation for the Young Creatives Summit on Friday, April 15 from 3-6 PM, this is the final feature in a series of “My Summit Story” segments  highlighting the diverse, talented and creative people that choose to be a part of updayton and the Young Creatives Summit. Visit the Web page to register or learn more.

In 2008, with 6 other catalysts from DaytonCREATE, Scott Murphy started updayton to better attract that elusive and desirable recent college graduate demographic to the region.  To meet this need, these volunteers focused on putting control of the situation in the hands of the people who are uniquely qualified to say what young creatives want. Who knows best what convinces a college graduate to relocate to the Miami Valley? Probably the recent college grads who decided to stick around. So updayton was created to give that control to young professionals (through the Summit and subsequent projects) and to be a communication pipeline between the young creatives and local leadership.

An important part of the updayton mission has always been the data. As an engineer at Wright-Patterson AFB, Scott tracks, records and reads the numbers that demonstrate project success or failure. You can see his attention to detail and his focus on results in every annual report that updayton publishes. You may walk away from the Summit having had a great experience after sharing some ideas and meeting some new people, but the work is just beginning for Scott. In addition to providing that qualitative experience to Summit participants who want to network with each other and learn something about the region, Scott wants to show how updayton is moving the needle for young professional engagement in the region.

The ideas expressed at past updayton events are gathered and shared. Rolls and rolls of white paper with concerns, ideas, projects and solutions have been poured over and translated to usable data to share with people who care about the needs of the young creatives. Government leaders, businesses and nonprofits are among the types of local organizations that have reached out to updayton to ask about your needs. The Suumit isn’t just about your experience that day and if you sign up for a project – the Summit is about adding YOUR VOICE and YOUR IDEAS to the conversation. Scott’s an engineer – he’ll do the work pulling it all together, but he needs your input.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1DTqTjvssk’]

Kelly-Fields is New Updayton Executive Director

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Kelly-Fields Joins Updayton Team

Last week, the advocacy organization dedicated to the attraction and retention of young talent, Updayton, announced the hiring Yvette Kelly-Fields as Executive Director.  This is a big step for the (previously) all-volunteer initiative that grew out of DaytonCREATE and hosts the annual Young Creatives Summit.  (Yvette is also a contributing writer here on DaytonMostMetro.com)

Updayton is grateful for support from numerous businesses and organizations that place high value on young talent retention.  This new position of an Executive Director was made possible by the Southwest Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE).

I used this opportunity to speak to Scott Murphy (one of the original DaytonCREATE catalysts who formed Updayton) and Kelly-Fields.  These Q&As give us a little insight to the group as well as some fun facts from the woman who will be stepping in to help lead the charge.

First – a little background from Scott Murphy:

Murphy Works as Steering Committee Chair

What inspired the creation of Updayton?

There was a model that was presented to us during the DaytonCREATE launch that highlighted a group in Syracuse that had worked to get young people engaged in their city and give them a greater voice in things that were happening in the Syracuse area.  Over the past several years they’ve hosted an annual Summit to do that.  We liked their model, but we really liked the attitude they took with the community: “young people are important, we care about our community too, so you better listen to us.”  But more so, we saw the talent potential here, the economic opportunity that local universities offer, and we saw that too many folks were leaving the region coming out of college.  We were missing an opportunity to grow economically.  That more than anything spurred the development of updayton.

Are the needs of these young creatives really different than the needs of anyone else?

First of all, we focus on a younger demographic because looking at census data from communities across the country, it’s young people that are making the decisions about moving.  In their 20s people are more likely to make a major move than any other time in their life – they don’t have roots yet; so we have to be working harder to keep them here.  However, to answer your question, to a certain extent, of course needs change with age.  Someone who already has a graduate degree isn’t as likely to be looking for opportunities to continue their education.  Similarly, a good school system is probably going to be much more important to someone who has a child.  That said, certain things are going to be important to everyone regardless of age: a vibrant city, strong communities, good job opportunities and a city that is welcoming of diversity.

How are you different from the other young professional organizations in the region?

Well, we’re not a young professional organization.  We don’t have membership.  Additionally, what we do is very project based.  We look for ways to get young people engaged in the region through implementing initiatives that will help address their needs.  We also continuously solicit feedback – through surveys, through focus groups, through the annual Summit – to make sure that we understand what things are really important to this young, talented demographic and then advocate for those things to local leadership.

What activities have you done to foster that connection between young people and the region?

A few different ways.  Through our periodic email blasts, through our various social media outlets, we try to make our demographic aware of the many things that are going on in the region.  It can be a little difficult to find stuff at times, even for folks who know a lot about the region… but it’s there and you just have to look a little harder – so we try to make it easier.  Second, just through the action plan process – through implementing initiatives based around topics that young people care about, you’re going to learn more about assets and amenities in the region.  Personally, I know that’s been the case with me – getting involved with updayton, I’m much more aware of things that are here than I was when I started a few years ago.  Finally, if young, creative people see their input is being heard and valued by local leaders, then young people are going to appreciate the Dayton region that much more.

What do you hope to achieve by hiring an Executive Director?

We want to grow the organization – that’s why we hired an Executive Director, and we think Yvette is going to do a great job.  We want to get involved in more things and have an impact in more areas of the region.  There are decisions that are being made every day here in the community that impact issues that young people care about, and we want to play a greater role in influencing those decisions.  We want to do more in implementing the recommendations we’ve made for the community over the past couple years – specifically, promoting acceptance of diversity, connecting job seekers to employers, growing urban vibrancy, and strengthening our neighborhoods.  We think having an Executive Director is going to enable us to do that.

Kelly-Fields to Work with Steering Committee in 2011 Summit Planning

And now to learn a little more about the vision of Kelly-Fields as the new Executive Director:

Why did you want to a part of Updayton?

For the last few years, I have had serious concerns about where the next generation of leaders was going to come from for the Dayton area. …  (Updayton) already provides the platform and opportunity for young professionals to become meaningfully involved in solving problems in the community. (Young people) are learning how take an idea from concept to realization. They are gaining invaluable skills that they can build upon to tackle many of the problems facing this city. I believe those are the individuals who will be running this region in the near future and I wanted to be a part of that dynamic.

What do you think you can offer as an Executive Director?

Over the last twelve years, I have had the good fortune of working for a number of stellar nonprofits and with some great nonprofit leaders. As a result, I have a gained a great deal of experience in fund raising, project and volunteer management, community and public relations and relationship building.

My goal is to bring all of those skill sets to the table to move Updayton towards the vision the steering committee has established. This includes increasing community partnerships, raising the visibility of the organization in the community and securing cash and noncash resources to support Updayton projects.

What do you see as the biggest obstacle for the region in attracting and retaining young talent?

The biggest obstacle is being able to show and demonstrate to young talent that they can build a full and satisfying life for themselves and their future families in Dayton. When they look at Dayton, do they see access to employment with upward mobility or the viable option of entrepreneurism? Do they see sufficient, affordable choices to live? What about opportunities to socialize in diverse settings in varied parts of the community? Is there ample opportunity for civic and community engagement?

I have found that in this community, and I believe that the key for young talent finding it is through exposure to what Dayton has to offer through work by initiatives and organizations like Updayton.

What do you look forward to most as you start this new position?

The thing that immediately impressed me about Updayton is the tremendous community support it has. Everyone I talk to thinks is a great organization. I look forward to expanding its visibility and reach into the community.

And now for a little insight on Kelly-Fields as a Daytonian.

What’s your favorite place to go or thing to do in Dayton?

My family and I love going to the festivals. Last year we went to the Greek Festival, the City Folk Festival, the Black Cultural Festival, Oktoberfest and to the Chocolate Festival. We also enjoy Urban Nights. We always go to Wright Dunbar for ribs by Smokin Joe.  These events are always so much fun for my family.

What’s the best advice your parents gave you?

The best advice I got was to treat everybody right. You never know who you are going to need for help. It is important to maintain good relations with as many people as possible so when I need assistance with something I do not have to pause when I pick up the phone to call them or stop short of saying hello when out in public.  Conversely, if someone who has not treated me so well, I still maintain friendly relations.  I have found this advice has served me well.

Favorite restaurant or hidden gem?

I have several but my true favorite is Evan’s Café on North Main Street. I am addicted to the Baked Potato Soup, the Mandarin Orange Salad and the Jamaican Chicken Salad. When I cannot go there, I make a beeline to Coco’s. I love the grilled cheese sandwich with Tomato Bisque topped off with the Crème Brule.

Who inspires you?

It may sound corny, but my mom and dad inspire me. They told me that whatever I set my mind to I could achieve it. So far, it has worked.

What phrase do you hear coming out of your mouth too often?

I once went to an event, where after a very unusual performance, the emcee said, “That’s something different.”  Whenever I come across a person or a situation that I cannot describe, I say, “Well, that was something different.”

Learn more and get involved with UpDayton:
Web site: http://updayton.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/updayton?ref=ts
Take the Updayton Survey: http://updayton.com/survey/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/updayton
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/updayton/

Disclaimer: I am involved on the updayton steering committee as the communication chair.  Also, the current version of DaytonMostMetro.com was created in part by a volunteer group formed from the first Updayton Young Creatives Summit in April 2009.