Getting Involved

A week from Saturday on April 18, the updayton group born from last year’s DaytonCREATE initiative will be holding their 2009 Young Creatives Summit – a chance for the Dayton Region’s 20 & 30-somethings to voice their ideas and opinions about this place in which they live.  You can be sure that city and regional leaders will be on hand as their absence would certainly be noticed by this young demographic that uses today’s social networking tools to spread their news and messages to the masses at lightening speed.  And I’m very sure that the summit participants won’t be interested in just talking about things – they will expect action.  Because unlike previous generations, this young generation is extremely mobile and will not stay in a city or region that does not provide what they’re looking for.  It isn’t just jobs, because today’s young generation is more likely to choose a city they want to live in for its lifestyle, social and entertainment offerings… and THEN they find a job.

Registration for the summit is $15 ($5 for students) – and the many discounts and special offers you will get at local businesses will more than pay for that amount, especially if you take the 20% offer at several Oregon District restaurants that evening.  And yes, what summit would be complete without a pub crawl afterward – yes, they have that too!  Honestly, this is worth the price just for the discounts alone even if you get nothing else from it.

The summit will include multiple break-out sessions where participants will discuss ideas for making Dayton more attractive for young people.  The topics have been determined by the surveys the group has been collecting all year and the Perspectives & Pints events held over the past few months:

Creative for hire: Where are the jobs that I can thrive in? In our recent survey of young creatives, you told us job opportunities are the most important factor in choosing a place to live. Unfortunately, this is also where the Dayton region performed worst. Share your experience in the region’s job market, how easy it is to find opportunities to thrive and grow, and your ideas about what leaders can do to foster your career.

Entrepreneurs wanted: What do YOU need to strike it out on your own? Dayton is full of creativity. Creatives are innovators, highly value their individuality and are often more willing to take risks. Risks like starting a business. Have you ever thought about starting one? Maybe you have, but like many young creatives you are not sure where to start. Tell us what the region can do to make the process easier for you so we can live up to the Dayton region’s legacy of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Dayton scene: Creating an active nightlife with a strong cultural focus. At our February Perspectives & Pints you told us you need variety when you go out – not just in the places you go (concerts, art galleries, theatres, lecture halls, cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs), but also in the people you see. We also heard that Dayton’s nightlife is segregated into pockets, not enough is happening, and when things are happening — you have trouble finding out about them. Share with us your ideas of what we can do to make the region’s nightlife more varied and vibrant for young creatives.

A sense of community: Healthy, happening & affordable neighborhoods. At our Perspectives & Pints last December young creatives told us that they want to live near a wide array of amenities and vibrant community spaces. We also heard that while many young creatives are interested in living in our urban areas, housing there is unaffordable and the region’s gateways and pathways into downtown are lined with vacant, unwelcoming buildings. You’ve told us what is frustrating you – now we need your creative ideas on how we can work with community leaders to fix it. Making a difference:

Getting involved with our community: A new wave of volunteerism, civic pride, and social consciousness is sweeping the country. Would you like to become involved locally, but don’t know where to start? Maybe you’re already engaged, but frustrated about your opportunities to influence change. Dayton is facing challenging times that call for new ideas and action. Help to strengthen the voice and movement of young creatives in our region by participating in community and civic organizations that will set the course for the future of the region.

Family-friendly: What are you looking for in a school system? In our survey of young creatives, over 75% of respondents said quality schools are very important when choosing a place to live. When rating the Miami Valley for the same factor, over 65% said the region’s school systems are average or below. Help us understand where the region’s schools are falling short, and let’s lead the region to devise solutions for this critical issue.

If you’re young (or young at heart) and you want to have a voice in shaping the future of Dayton and the region, do plan to attend.  The larger the crowd, the more likely local leaders and politicians will listen and act.  And yes, I will be there to report on what happens.  See y’all there!

DaytonCREATE

Creating Regional Excitement, Action, Talent and Enthusiasm

A few weeks into the Creative Region Initiative and my fellow catalysts and I are busy getting organized and growing our teams (busy enough that I’ve been a bit quiet on this blog lately!).  Our communication team has really been impressive right out of the gate… They have recruited an online pro (hi Brooke!) who has been busy creating a new website for the group: www.DaytonCREATE.org

This new site is the place to keep up with each team’s progress updates.  And don’t worry, we’ll continue to do stories about the initiative here on DMM from time to time and our new DMM Forum will continue to serve as the official communication forum for both catalysts and non-catalysts alike.  You are ALL welcome to sign up there and get involved with the conversations.  And if you are interested in getting involved with one of the team initiatives then contact the appropriate person (more info at the DaytonCreate.org site).

Btw – I am on the Dayton Creative Incubator team and we are currently researching arts incubators.  As many of you know, Dayton has one helluva arts scene.  An arts incubator would provide our independent artists with affordable (free?) space and services in a true community setting.  And with the exciting things happening in the newly formed Oregon Arts District, now is the time to  capitalize on our region’s strong arts community by helping them grow.

The following is the first DaytonCREATE press release – check it out and then go check out the new website.  And of course your comments are welcome here on DMM.  What do you think?

[Read more…] about Creative Catalysts have a name and website: DaytonCREATE.org!

I just learned this past Friday that I have been selected to be one of thirty community catalysts that will be working on the Creative Region Initiative for the next year.  Of course, I will be writing about my "creative class adventures" here on MostMetro.com, and we will be using the new DMM Forum to help communicate ideas from both within the group as well as everybody else that would like to share ideas for improving our economy and making our city and region a more vibrant place.

I encourage ALL of you to join our forum and share your ideas.  Don’t just be a spectator – get involved.  Because that is the whole point of this project – to get as many people as possible involved in deciding what Dayton’s future will be.  The thirty catalysts are only the beginning – this effort will need the help of many more people.  If you’ve ever heard of crowdsourcing – this is it.  Stay tuned, because you’ll read about the different projects that come out of this initiative HERE FIRST.

And if you are late getting here and have no idea what this is about, click here.

UPDATE (2/18/2008): I was just informed that not everybody that was selected has been notified yet, so if you applied and haven’t heard back, they may still be working on contacting you.  And if you aren’t ultimately selected to be a catalyst, you can STILL GET INVOLVED.

Yes, it is official – the funds have been raised and Dr. Richard Florida’s Creative Class Group will be coming to Dayton to work with thirty community catalysts who will be selected over the next few weeks. 

Leaders sought to be catalysts in region’s creative class initiative
Dayton Daily News
January 20, 2007

The money is raised, the consultant is hired and Richard Florida
himself will be here in March to train Daytonians on how to build and
sustain "creative class" growth here in the Miami Valley.

The Creative Region Initiative, the moniker given to the local
effort begun a year ago by the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher
Education and a task force of 20 community groups, kicks off today with
a call for 30 volunteers to be trained by Florida’s consulting company,
the Creative Class Group.

It is obvious that this effort will continue to have skeptics, especially in a town that seems to have never met a consultant it wouldn’t throw a bunch of money to for a study that says what everybody already knows or whose advice ultimately isn’t followed (the recent $100k study by KMK Consulting comes to mind).  But unlike those past consulting efforts, I believe this one is different.  Instead of outsiders that come into town, poll a few people, write some fancy report , collect their paycheck and then leave town – this effort is managed and implemented by us.  Us as in we who live in this community and are likely already working towards making our community better.  Florida’s Creative Class Group simply lays out the road map; it is up to those of us who become community catalysts to do the real work.  And by doing that real work ourselves, we stand a much better chance at developing a successful and sustainable plan for growing our city and region – and especially our urban core… because after all, it is the urban core that the creative class typically gravitates to.

This of course is how I understand it; since I have not yet been a part of this whole process I really can’t speak with authority on how it works.  I invite those of you who have been involved since the beginning to comment here and give any additional details that you may have.  And look for MostMetro.com to play a role in this Creative Region Initiative in the near future…

Additional Links:

Creative Class on MostMetro.com (with NPR/Richard Florida interview)
More Creative Class on MostMetro.com
SOCHE Website
Creative Class Group
Richard Florida’s Blog on Dayton
Daytonology’s Creative Class in Dayton Analysis

There is a buzz in the air of this town these days that is growing.  But it isn’t the buzz 
we are used to hearing – it is the kind of buzz that is much more likely to make an impact on the future success of Dayton than the typical buzz you are used to hearing.

[Read more…] about Generation Dayton + The Circus = Dayton’s Future

Regarding the homeless standing outside The Other Place, in an editorial in the Dayton Daily News, Benjamin Schuster was quoted as saying

MSNBC has published an article that is printed in the November 6th Newsweek edition that highlights the controversy in many U.S. cities about feeding the homeless in public parks.