Advancing a Community’s Vision: Civic Capacity and Successful Implementation

By Matthew Tarleton, Vice President

As we all know, there is no “secret sauce” in the world of community improvement. There isn’t a common recipe for great communities. But there are often common ingredients, and civic capacity is clearly one of them.

Two years ago, I wrote a piece for the Market Street Report about civic capacity; specifically, what I had witnessed in my time working with residents of Watertown, South Dakota. That blog was written just a few weeks after the completion of the H20-20 visioning process for the community. It was already clear at that time, as noted in the entry, that “The citizens of Watertown have demonstrated an interest and willingness in not only defining their vision but also participating in the implementation of their vision on a scale that every community, regardless of size or location, should envy.” It concluded by noting that “…Watertown, South Dakota is a reminder that – while dollars are always critical – there is no substitute for civic capacity and we should never underestimate its value or importance in building the successful communities we desire.”

Here we are roughly two years later in Watertown. What the community has accomplished in this relatively short period of time is nothing short of remarkable. In a matter of 24 months they have accomplished more than many communities do in decades.

The City has started construction on a new $24 million multi-purpose facility.

The school system launched a Parent University to help promote parental engagement inside and outside the classroom.

A middle college was established at Watertown High School.

The City launched a portal allowing residents to report concerns that need City attention.

The community has come together to launch new events such as the Family Zoofari at Bramble Park Zoo, a Homecoming 5K, and the Rumble on the Ranch “mud run.”

An angel fund initially capitalized at $750,000 was developed to support local startups.

The Watertown Development Corporation helped advance the shovel-ready certification of two industrial parks.

Plans have been developed to improve alleyways in Uptown Watertown and expand recreational facilities for youth and adults including new softball fields, sheets of ice, and improved bike trails.

Volunteers launched Watertown Clean & Green and Litter Bit Better, community beautification projects that engage hundreds of volunteers on a regular basis in litter prevention and removal efforts, while promoting recycling awareness and utilization.

Volunteers launched other community beautification initiatives, including regular flower plantings and monthly contests that promote resident upkeep of private properties.

New signage has been developed and installed along with new landscaping to improve the appearance of the community at its main entry points and gateways.

Local artists have been engaged to create a series of public art works throughout town.

And the Watertown Community Foundation has helped coordinate it all, lending administrative and staff support when necessary, and providing the right balance of structure and freedom to help volunteers maximize their impact.

This just scratches the surface of what Watertown has accomplished through implementation of its vision plan. And remember, all of this has come to fruition in just two years. The list above illustrates the collaborative nature of the community’s approach to realizing its collective vision. The school system, the City, the Community Foundation, the Development Company, volunteers of all ages, and even the local zoo are all among the many participants that have embraced the community’s collective vision, taken ownership for achieving it, and become active participants in making it a reality. The commitment of this collaborative team that involved hundreds of community leaders and passionate volunteers has reaffirmed that Watertown’s civic capacity is, more than ever, truly enviable.

So what can other communities learn from Watertown? Well, again, there is no secret sauce; what has worked for Watertown in its implementation efforts may not be viable, appropriate, or successful in other communities. Its recipe will not be your community’s recipe. Nonetheless, there are certain ingredients that good communities should seek to include in their recipes – common ingredients that are found in the “sauces” of many great communities. Yes, I can tell that my inner chef is getting carried away with this analogy. On to the lessons, of which these are just a few:

1. Ask your residents’ opinions. This is obvious. A vision must be rooted in what residents want from their community. Some communities are scared by the accountability that comes from asking thousands of residents what they want and need. Embrace this accountability. Give every resident the opportunity to share their opinion. Watertown did so, promoting the online survey and community forums using a variety of non-traditional tactics from digital billboard advertisements to paper flyers at grocery check-out lanes.

2. Don’t just ask them their opinions. Provide them with ways to get involved. Give them opportunities to get their hands dirty. Committees are a logical place to start, but at the end of the day, those committees need to take action. They need a vision plan that gives them the chance to personally impact the community. Plant some trees. Organize an event. Coordinate a meeting. Adopt a classroom. Pick up litter. More than 600 residents (from a town of just 22,000) attended the public rollout of the vision plan, and all were encouraged to sign up as volunteers to support the portion of the plan that interested them most.

3. There is no substitute for passion. You can’t force residents to care about their community or commit volunteer hours to a project for which they have little concern. But it is far too easy to allow those at the opposite end of the spectrum – those that are passionate, ready, willing, and able – to go unnoticed and unutilized. You can’t manufacture passion in people, but you can accidentally suppress it. Try to find the passion. Look beyond the “usual suspects.” While many of the “usual suspects” – the community’s most active citizens and community leaders – were engaged in the H20-20 planning process and remain involved in its implementation, the community found that hundreds of other residents were passionate about various components of the plan. And the community was smart enough to leverage that. And that’s how you get 350 volunteers to show up in 45 degree weather to pick up trash.

4. Don’t be naïve – volunteers can’t do it all. There is an important role for paid staff and I’m not talking about the chamber of commerce executive, the United Way president, or the city manager. Successful communities recognize that, at the most basic level, volunteers will need paid staff support to help them coordinate their efforts, achieve their objectives, and communicate effectively with each other and the community. This often comes in the form of a volunteer coordinator or a “community vision coordinator.” The Watertown Community Foundation has provided this support when needed, but Watertown is often fortunate to have many volunteer leaders that have devoted significant time to coordinating meetings, communicating with other volunteers, and planning certain initiatives. Most communities do not have this level of engagement, and most volunteers cannot be expected to provide more than a few hours of their time each month.

5. Don’t worry about who gets credit. As Mac Holladay always says “It’s a team sport!” This is selfless work. “We” means the community, not your organization, your board of directors, or your staff. Successful communities are characterized by collaboration and cooperation to degrees that these words are the norm and not something to be achieved. There was a never question of what “we” meant in Watertown.

6. Stay positive and celebrate your accomplishments. Give each other a pat on the back. Have a party. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are making a difference. Those who benefit from your endeavors rarely know who to thank. Community leaders and active volunteers deserve positive reinforcement. What you are doing matters. Building a better community is a noble endeavor. There is no failure. There are accomplishments and things yet to be accomplished. This is the mindset that I observed in Watertown.

7. Talk to the media. We have witnessed some hostile and downright strange relationships between well-intentioned client organizations and media outlets in some communities. If this sounds like you, you might be thinking “I’ve tried. It’s hopeless.” Try to start from a point of common-ground: we are both here, in this community, doing what we do, because we care about it. Good media partners should help you communicate with your community while also maintaining their impartiality. You shouldn’t expect them to give you a pulpit. But, know that they are in the business of telling their community’s story. And you are in the business of actively shaping that story. Watertown and the volunteers leading the H20-20 implementation effort have excellent media partners in the Watertown Public Opinion, KELO TV, and a local radio station, KXLG. Guest editorials in the newspaper and regular segments on the radio station provide a direct means of communicating with residents, giving them continuous updates on progress and informing them about ways to get involved (see number 2).

Watertown is a place that many of our clients, large and small, can learn from as they begin implementing their own vision plans. I’m curious what other lessons have been learned by community leaders out there. How have you tapped into your community’s civic capacity? Tell me.

Immigration as a Growth Strategy

By Ryan Regan, Project Associate. 

Immigration reform was set to be a hotly debated political topic again this year, but it now looks like meaningful legislation is unlikely to materialize. Ignoring the political theatrics of the topic for a minute, it’s worth considering the role that immigrants play in a community through the lens of community and economic development. Immigrants make significant social, cultural, political, and economic contributions to the United States that, in my opinion, are underappreciated thanks to common misconceptions about the immigrant population. Did you know that according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, 28.2% of foreign-born adults ages 25 years and over in the United States have a Bachelor’s degree or higher? This educational attainment rate is not far off from the 30.0% rate for native-born U.S. citizens. The foreign-born population also boasts a lower rate of unemployment and a higher labor force participation rate than their native-born peers in the United States. Immigrants with low-skills pursue low-skill occupations that complement their existing skillset, and thus, they fill critical occupational gaps in the economy that are less sought after by native-born workers. Immigrants are also well-represented in skilled occupations, especially in research and development fields that have far-reaching global impacts. In 2013, immigrants were more concentrated in high-skill occupations related to computers, mathematics, architecture, engineering, and life and physical sciences than native-born U.S. workers.[1]

Communities across the country, especially those dealing with dwindling populations, are recognizing the benefits that immigrants bring to their communities. Below are just some of the communities that are rolling out the welcome mat and incorporating immigrant-friendly policies into their broader growth strategies.

Detroit, MI: Global Detroit is a non-profit organization funded in part by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce that identifies and implements initiatives that make the City of Detroit a more welcoming place for immigrants. Some of these initiatives include; an online database that allows immigrants to search for local providers of immigrant integration services, and an entrepreneurship training and development program that focuses on tapping into entrepreneurial talent in low-income, minority, and immigrant neighborhoods. Global Detroit was birthed out of a 2010 study that documented the tremendous impact that immigrants have on the Detroit community. This study made a series of strategic recommendations to make Detroit more immigrant-friendly, and as of 2014, over $7 million has been raised to put these recommendations into action. 

Dayton, OH: Dayton was highlighted in a TIME magazine article last year as being perhaps the gold standard of immigrant-friendly communities. The Welcome Dayton Plan is a community plan that was unanimously adopted by the city commission in 2011 to fully brand Dayton as an “immigrant-friendly city.” The plan resulted in numerous proactive measures to make the city more immigrant-friendly. These measures range from a directive by the local Police Chief to be more lenient in checking the immigration status of witnesses of crimes or those suspected of minor criminal offenses, to embracing the World Cup-esque Dayton World Soccer Games that is enjoyed by 600+ Daytonian children and adults from all corners of the world. As a result, Dayton’s immigrant population grew by 40% from 2011 to 2012 alone, and the city received special recognition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for being one of seven “Enterprising Cities” for the support systems they put in place for immigrant entrepreneurs. 

St. Louis, MO: The St. Louis Mosaic Project is an initiative that began in 2012 after regional economic development partners – including former Market Street client, the St. Louis Regional Chamber of Commerce– recognized that increasing the city’s foreign-born population could greatly impact job creation efforts in the region. At the time, St. Louis ranked second to last out of the 20 most populous metros in the country in its share of immigrant population, but the St. Louis Mosaic Project aspires for the city to be the fastest growing U.S. metro for immigrants by 2020. The St. Louis Mosaic Project’s website serves as a support network of sorts where foreign-born professionals, women, entrepreneurs, students, and yes, even soccer fans are provided with opportunities to share positive experiences with each other about being an immigrant in St. Louis. The social capital that the St. Louis Mosaic Project fosters through these supportive immigrant networks is invaluable to community development. It is often these social bonds that encourage residents to make a community their “home.”

Sioux Falls, SD: The state of South Dakota experiences approximately 500 refugee arrivals every year, and the Lutheran Social Services Center for New Americas helps to resettle the vast majority in Sioux Falls (389 in 2013).[2] In addition to the LSS Center for New Americas, the Sioux Falls Diversity Council, the Multi-Cultural Center of Sioux Falls, and the Sioux Falls Arts Council also provide important support services and outreach to immigrants. The Sioux Falls Arts Council’s newest cultural plan includes strategies to engage the immigrant community by harnessing the cultural influences they bring to Sioux Falls. These community organizations are symbolic of the broader community’s support for their new residents. This sentiment was echoed in a recent article in which Mayor Mike Huether stated, “Right now, we truly are embracing diversity in Sioux Falls at an all new level. We are reaping the rewards that come with it.”[3]

Market Street is familiar with this Midwestern region, having worked on the Future Sioux Falls economic strategy in 2010. The strategy was part of the broader Forward Sioux Falls 2011-2016 joint venture between the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. This partnership has been so successful in marketing the region and funding community economic development efforts that it too resulted in Sioux Falls being recognized as an “Enterprising City” by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Market Street is working in Sioux Falls once again this year on a strategy that will focus on planning for the long-term sustainability of the Sioux Falls metro’s workforce.  

As you can see, whether it’s discouraging police harassment, fostering immigrant social networks, supporting immigrant entrepreneurs, or embracing the power of the game of soccer, communities across the country are getting creative in how they incorporate immigrants into their long-term community goals. Visit Welcoming America to learn more about some of these communities and others that are leading local efforts to embrace immigration as a growth strategy. This national grassroots organization partners with cities and counties across the country to share resources and best practices on supporting local immigration growth.

Immigrants come to the United States because they see an opportunity to improve their own lives and those of their families. Forward-thinking communities are starting to view these immigrants in similarly opportunistic terms, and kudos to them for doing so.

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[1]“Foreign-Born Workers: Labor Force Characteristics-2013” Bureau of Labor Statistics news release, May 22, 2014. 

[2] Weinstein, Dorene. “Befriending Sioux Falls refugees.” Argus Leader, October 4, 2014.

[3] Harriman, Peter. “Sioux Falls embraces its changing look.” Argus Leader, November 11, 2014.  

Wanted: Millennials

By Katie Thomas, Project Associate.

In nearly every community we work in, the challenge with workforce dynamics and millennials inevitably comes up when talking to employers. Millennials are one of the most studied, sought-after, and resented generations in modern day. There are countless reports, surveys, and articles about millennials, and they have been called everything from lazy and entitled to innovative and brilliant. Millennials are quickly taking over the workplace; the Census projects that millennials will make up about half of the workforce by 2020, and by 2025, they are expected to account for three fourths. 

While it’s a little comforting knowing that your business community isn’t the only one facing this challenge, the task of successfully overcoming it still remains very real. There’s the old adage that a tree that does not bend with the wind will break. In the fierce competition to attract the best and brightest to replace employees nearing retirement, past recruitment strategies and traditional work environments may have to change in order to recruit and retain talent. 

The December 2014 Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey stated that approximately 60 percent of the U.S. chief financial officers surveyed reported that their firms have not made any changes in an effort to attract millennials. Of those that had made changes to appeal to the millennials, 21 percent adopted flexible work hours, 17 percent allowed work from home, 16 percent increased training, 13 percent implemented a new mentoring program, and 10 percent had altered the corporate culture. 

Every aspect that may appeal to millennials in a workplace won’t work in every business sector, so some companies modify certain aspects that do work with their business model to increase their attractiveness to millennials. Below are a few companies, some of which have landed on Best Companies to Work for and Best Workplaces lists, and examples of the actions they have taken to attracting workers.

• NetApp is a large, international provider of data management and storage. The company provides an environment that encourages personal and professional development. NetApp provides tuition reimbursement and averages 56 hours of annual training for full-time salaried employees. Also, they have a program, NetApp University, that provides additional professional, technical, sales, and management development courses and mentorship opportunities for employees to continue to learn new things and feel challenged.


• USAA allows employees to work flexible hours and/or remotely. Approximately 25 percent of employees take advantage of the opportunity to work compressed schedules, varying start- and stop-times, and remotely. There were an average of 56 applicants per job opening and the total voluntary turnover rate was 8 percent for the previous year. Nationally, the annual quit rate for companies in finance and insurance was 13.5 percent in 2013.


• Zappos implemented a “skills set” system to replace annual raises. The company developed a program with around 20 skills that employees could acquire, and once mastered, would receive a small pay increase. The transparency enables its employees to have more control over their pay and challenges the employees to develop new and useful skills that benefit both the employee and the company.


• The information technology company, Squarespace, which specializes in website design and development, provides stock options for every employee to receive shares of the company. The work environment is a “no door” workplace, casual dress attire, stocked kitchen for employees, and a flexible work schedule that enables employees to get the work done wherever and in whatever time period they need. The company averages over 100 applicants per job opening.


• Allied Wallet, a payment processing company headquarter in Los Angeles, shows its appreciation for employees by handing out gift cards or cash each month to top performers. When surveyed, 96 percent of employees reported that managers recognize and appreciate the good work and extra effort put forth by employees.


• At the grocery store, Wegmans, the majority of the jobs are low-skilled with minimal education requirements and pay hourly wages, yet the company has created an environment where each employee feels part of a family. Employees reported that managers encourage people to maintain a work/life balance and are able to take time off for work, show appreciation of each employee through handwritten thank you notes and gift cards, and hosts employee appreciation festivities. Wegmans boasts an incredibly low turnover rate at 3.6 percent. In comparison, companies with business activities in retail trade averaged a 29.4 percent turnover rate in 2013.
• The Container Store’s efforts to create a great atmosphere for employers includes a wellness room, a lending library, and a variety of celebrations, including adopting February 14th as “National We Love Our Employees Day” where the company showers employees with love in the form of balloons, treats, and notes of appreciation. Roughly 40 percent of new hires come from employee referrals.


• In Indianapolis at Roche Diagnostics, employees participate in company sponsored sports teams for rec-leagues that include basketball and softball, among others, and there is a comradery among its employees. They also have an on-site garden available for employees to use while at work to grow produce.
• Snagajob’s office includes an indoor soccer venue, an outdoor volleyball court, a fitness center, and breakfast for employees. Additionally, it hosts outings for employees which have included a trip to the Washington Nationals game, go-kart racing, and a wine tour.

Providing an attractive total package not only helps employers to get more applicants, it also cuts down on the costly training expenses incurred by companies that have high turnover by creating an environment where employees feel like family, are challenged, and receive appreciation, which contributes to the reduction in the percentage of employees that quit working for the company. Flexibility, appreciation, a collaborative environment, and opportunities to advance and develop skills are all among some of the cited workplace characteristics desired by the next generation of workers. The challenge for employers will be to adopt policies that will be competitive against other companies through whichever avenue is most compatible with their business activities to remain competitive in an evolving work environment.

What Communities Can Learn from Thomas Edison

By Alex Pearlstein, Vice President. 

I lucked upon a very interesting and well-made biography of Thomas Edison last night on PBS. It’s always useful to get the full picture of a historical icon such as Edison to bring some perspective and shading to what is often a singularly reverential image and legacy. To be sure, Edison was perhaps the most impactful innovator and businessman of the last 150 years, but he also had his faults and his failures. In some cases, spectacular, expensive, and years-long failures like an ill-advised foray into iron-ore refining. He could also be stubborn to a fault – so much so that it eventually cost him his stake in what became General Electric. Above all, however, Edison was a preternatural optimist and never let setbacks get in the way of his long-term vision or ambition. As I tend to do, I starting thinking about the connections between Edison’s philosophy, process, and prowess and the workings of community and economic development. Here then are some key takeaways from the story of Thomas Edison that can inform how communities seek to grow and succeed in a hyper-competitive global economy.

Don’t Be Discouraged by Limitations

Even before adulthood, Edison was hard of hearing and could barely discern sounds or speech more than a couple feet away from him. But this was also the man who invented the phonograph and schmoozed financiers as needed to fund his labs, inventions, and businesses. Too often, communities restrain their ambitions because they outsize the challenges posed by, for example, lack of a hub airport, lack of a research university, or a harsh winter, to name just a few. While these issues certainly impact competitive position, they are not make-or-break challenges that should cause a community to compromise its vision or settle for second-tier status.

Be Curious, “Creatively Borrow,” and Optimize

Like Bill Gates and Microsoft Windows, Edison often took existing technologies and evolved them to become market-changing innovations and products. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone before Edison’s phonograph, but Edison challenged himself to devise a way to record and play back sound. (An aside: being almost obsessively competitive is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to market domination.) The first patent for a light bulb came almost 40 years before Edison developed his prototype. And “motion pictures” were already an emerging technology before Edison created the Kinetoscope. In each case, however, Edison knew intuitively that the technology could be enhanced to be transformational and disruptive. And he didn’t stop until achieving his goal. As Edison became interested in motion pictures after attending a lecture by photographic pioneer Eadweard Muybridge, communities should always be on the lookout for good ideas, best practices, and innovative programs from other places. But, so too, should they never assume that an existing idea will work for them lock, stock, and barrel without customizing and vetting it for their population, economy, and geography.

Don’t Cling to Outdated Ideas

As noted, Edison was stubborn. So much so that he insisted despite contrary evidence that his DC power was superior to the AC power of a competitor, even to the point of losing control of General Electric after his investors froze him out and acquired a smaller AC firm. Communities shouldn’t be blind to the prospect that a competitor might have advanced a program or process beyond what they have achieved. An example would be an existing-business program. Simply continuing to visit employers and query them on their challenges and hiring plans may not be enough to fully capitalize on retention and expansion opportunities. A new innovation like economic gardening might be a worthwhile addition to provide the assistance necessary to really make an impact on local job-creation.

Be a Canny Promoter

From the outset of his career as a full-time inventor, Edison was conscious of cultivating his “brand” as a world-changing innovator. His discoveries were often consciously “leaked” to the press to build buzz in advance of media-friendly launch events worthy of today’s most savvy marketers. He took his phonograph on the road to newspapers and government chambers and fully illuminated his Menlo Park lab in a New Year’s Eve unveiling of his perfected light bulb. The press ate it up, making Edison a revered, almost godlike icon in his own lifetime. Later in Edison’s career, his eponymous company sustained itself almost exclusively by trumpeting his name and image in products and advertisements. While there is a fine line between self-promotion and self-aggrandizement, most if not all communities already understand the importance of external marketing, but maybe not as it relates to promoting the process as well as its results. Very often, investors will make a bet on a community that might not be optimally competitive, but is laser-focused and aggressive in its strategic improvement.

Build a Great Team

Edison was the brain; Edison was the brand. But he wouldn’t have been successful without the group of talented and accomplished individuals he gathered around him at all stages of his career, from the early Menlo Park days to the final corporate baron years. He was clearly an effective manager and multitasker and worked longer and harder than everyone in his employ, but Edison never was foolhardy enough to think that he could do everything – or even most things – by himself. A community’s “team” is more complicated and diverse than a corporation’s, involving public and private leadership from across multiple sectors and constituencies. But if local leadership does not have the collective vision, persistence, patience, and passion to aspire to high goals and work to achieve them, the community will languish or decline.

Today’s communities have to invent and reinvent themselves constantly to stay abreast or ahead of the competition. Looking to the most famous inventor of the modern era provides valuable perspective on what it takes to disrupt the status quo and affect transformative change.

How can you tell if wages are really low?

By Ranada Robinson, Research Manager.

In our economic research for clients, there are times when annual average wages are low compared to peer communities. A common question that arises is “are they really low or are they commensurate with the cost of living in that community?” So, one way we have explored this issue is to create a wage/cost of living differential so that we could compare the relative wage of a community (indexed to the combined average wage for all metros) to the relative cost of living index published by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER)[1].

In the following table, the twenty metros with the most favorable differentials are presented.

Top 20 Metros with Favorable Cost/Wage Differentials, 2014

Source: Council for Community and Economic Research, EMSI
(Click Graphic to Enlarge)

These twenty metros are those that have the most competitive wages as a percentage of the national average annual wage across all metros compared to the relative cost of living. Texas metros are high on this list. Additionally, many of the southern metros, who are growing quickly, made this list—Austin, Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Raleigh, and Charlotte. As an example of why this differential is telling, the Bridgeport, Connecticut MSA, who ranks high on the list but is typically thought of as an expensive place to live, has a very high cost of living compared to the national average; however, its average annual wage is similarly much higher than the national average, so the average worker can handle the expense of living in this metro.

On the other end of the spectrum, the ten communities without as much buck for the bang are illustrated below.

Ten Metros with the Least Favorable Cost/Wage Differentials, 2014

Source: Council for Community and Economic Research, EMSI

(Click Graphic to Enlarge)

While New York and Honolulu may not be surprising, southern communities like Auburn, Alabama and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina are not as obvious. In these communities, the average wage is comparatively low even with their lower-than-average costs of living.

In the world of economic statistics, sometimes one indicator does not tell the whole story. However, looking at data points alongside each other is one of the many ways we here at Market Street are able to tell the true story of what’s going on in our client communities.

[1] For this analysis, the central urban area in the C2ER Cost of Living Index was chosen for comparison in instances where a metropolitan area has multiple urban areas represented.

Riding the Transit-Oriented, Mixed-Use Wave in the Suburbs

By Matt DeVeau, Senior Project Associate.

In October 2013, news began to emerge that insurance giant State Farm planned to locate a large operations center in Dunwoody, Georgia, a near north suburb of Atlanta. It was welcome news for the region and an especially big deal for Dunwoody, a city of about 48,000 where Market Street is currently engaged as part of a team of consultants working on a comprehensive plan update. State Farm and its development partner KDC Real Estate Development and Investments will build a 2.2-million-square-foot mixed-use project – by some estimates the largest such development in the region’s history – that could eventually be home to 8,000 company employees. The city provided no incentives to the project.

In addition to being an interesting local economic development story, the move also is part of a larger trend with broad implications for suburban communities. The Dunwoody project is part of State Farm’s move to consolidate its customer service operations into three large centers – the other two will be in Dallas suburb Richardson, Texas and Tempe, Arizona near Phoenix. These locations have many things in common: Sunbelt metros, great highway access, in areas with very high educational attainment rates.

But there is another common thread – all three sites are located in mixed-use, transit-accessible areas. The Dunwoody site is proximate to a MARTA light rail stop in Atlanta’s Central Perimeter – a formerly auto-oriented office and shopping mall complex that is rapidly urbanizing. In Arizona, State Farm’s offices will be at the mixed-use Tempe Town Lake development less than a half mile away from a Valley Metro light rail stop. And in Texas, the company will anchor KDC’s massive CityLine development that is just steps away from a DART light rail stop. This is no accident. In marketing materials KDC prepared for CityLine, State Farm Spokesman Gary Stephenson said:

“There’s a lot of competition for quality employees, not only within the insurance industry but across various sectors, and attracting and retaining those employees is critically important to the future success of State Farm. The physical environment is an important element of what a company has to offer.”

According to KDC, State Farm’s top factors in selecting the Richardson site were location and the quality of the facility. Access to transit and amenities such as restaurants, retail, and hotels were also priorities. Specifically, the hub was designed to recruit and retain Millennials, who prefer workplaces that are convenient, located near quality housing, and located in mixed use environments. Said KDC CEO Steve Van Ambaugh:

“Millennials prefer a live-work-play environment. They want to be in a work environment that is happy and energized. They don’t want to be in a remote location, disconnected from everything.”

Much has been made in economic development circles of firms abandoning suburban office parks to re-enter central business districts and other close-in office submarkets. But not all ongoing trends are bad news for suburban communities. According to the CoStar Group, insurers like State Farm are increasingly open to leaving high-rent districts for suburban markets. And State Farm’s big bet on its three operations centers suggests that the suburbs in the best position to capitalize on this phenomenon will be those that can complement their traditional advantages – workforce, housing stock, schools, highway access – with transit-oriented and mixed-use developments that appeal to the emerging Millennial workforce.

Suburbs without transit and mixed-use environments should work to develop these amenities, while communities that do have these assets can leverage them right away. Of course, not all communities with transit will have large, undeveloped sites adjacent to transit stops like those in Richardson or Tempe. But the area around the Dunwoody site is largely built out, and its initial design included large surface parking lots, superblocks, and wide, fast roads that are poorly suited for walking, biking, and transit use. These existing conditions were significant impediments to the area achieving its full potential in today’s market.

Local officials have therefor been hard at work to retrofit and re-cast the area as a more walkable, urban place. The Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs), self-taxing districts of commercial property owners, developed a Commuter Trail System Master Plan and has installed wide sidewalks, and illuminated, landscaped medians and improved traffic signaling to allow for safer road crossings. For its efforts, PCIDs in 2014 received an award from a local pedestrian advocacy organization for the third consecutive year. These improvements have helped further tap into the Central Perimeter’s excellent transit and highway accessibility, and its 11.0 percent Class A direct vacancy rate as of the fourth quarter of 2014 was at least four percentage points lower than every other major office submarket in the region. Communities and districts around the country with similar assets can and should emulate its success.

State funding, a human approach

By Alexia Eanes, Operations Manager.

I had the opportunity to attend the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s (GBPI) 2015 Policy Conference on Wednesday, January 7th, 2015. The conference revealed a lot about the actual state of affairs happening in Georgia, which is exactly what GBPI does as an organization. GBPI, a ten year old organization, thoroughly analyzes Georgia’s budget and tax policies to inform public and local leadership. Their research is meant to be used as a tool which will hopefully benefit the state. The Policy Conference consisted of two panels that discussed K-12 education issues in Georgia and another about healthcare coverage across the nation along with author Bob Herbert as the keynote speaker. 

The Education Plenary: Emerging Issues in Education panel consisted of four men who were there to not only discuss school funding but also key emerging issues in Georgia’s K-12 system. Rep. Mike Dudgeon, vice chairman of the Education Committee in the Georgia House of Representatives; Sen. Lindsey Tippins, chairman of the Georgia Senate’s Education and Youth Committee; Rep. David Wilkerson from Cobb County; and Richard Woods, Georgia’s new state school superintendent. Education remains at the forefront of Georgia’s budget and policy debate. After suffering significant cuts since the Great Recession, Georgia’s K-12 formula is still underfunded by $746 million in 2015 (see chart below). All of the panelists agreed that something needs to change in Georgia’s schools whether it is funding or curriculum, business as usual will not suffice for Georgia’s schools. One of the major areas of agreement all four panelist favored is increasing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education in Georgia’s schools. There’s a good reason for this backing. STEM occupations are expected to grow 17% by 2018 and get paid more than their non-STEM counterparts by 26% according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Source: GBPI, Georgia Budget Primer 2015

While I could go on and on about STEM education, there were other very important topics discussed regarding the school system in Georgia: high school graduation rates (Georgia is 40th in the nation), school funding (see graph below) and readjusting the state’s K-12 formula, Common Core, and teacher and parent responsibility. The latter, by far, was the most passionate discussion I have ever witnessed. Teachers and administration were both present in the audience which made for a very insightful discussion, and rightfully so, not only do teachers have to deal with stressful teacher evaluations and “teaching to the test,” but also with financial support that remains below pre-recession levels. As Richard Woods pointed out, only half of Georgia’s teachers don’t make it past their fifth year. The first chart above and the second one below both illustrate that while 2015 funding won’t be as bad as previous years, it’s still worse than where we were pre-recession and need to be.

Source: GBPI, Georgia Budget Primer 2015

Healthcare is also another important topic to Georgia’s budget and policy debate. The state has chosen to forgo Medicaid Expansion and, as a result, have lost billions in federal support. The Healthcare: Closing Georgia’s Coverage Gap panelists included Jason Bailey from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy and Adam Searing from the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Jason Bailey discussed how Kentucky, a conservative state, was able to expand Medicaid coverage as well as the depth of Kentucky’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act, most notably its health insurance exchange Kynect. Kynect is a user friendly website that helps Kentuckians find affordable health care and has been widely used and accepted. Providing Kentuckians with quality healthcare and not lose out on the funds being given to the state was the motivation behind Kentucky leadership’s decision to expand it. To understand the repercussions the state and the people of Kentucky could have faced if Medicaid was not expanded, click here. 

Adam Searing provided a national overview of Medicaid expansion, as well as some insight into different approaches states, especially conservative ones, are using to pass Medicaid expansion. One examples is Utah, where a coalition of civic leaders including local chambers of commerce, hospitals, and religious institutions along with the governor banded together to support expansion within the state. More importantly, Searing noted that Medicaid expansion is not one size fits all, the federal government has established a great amount of flexibility including shared costs structures. He also noted that states, on average, saw a 30 percent drop in uncompensated care with the expansion of their Medicaid program along with the community health benefits the expansion provides.

Both education and Medicaid expansion had an underlying theme that was not apparent until the Keynote speaker, Bob Herbert – author of Losing Our Way, took the stage to discuss wealth and income disparity between the rich and those living in poverty. He made us think about a “living” wage and minimum wage, about how one third of the population is either poor or near poor, and where the disconnect is between leadership and the people they represent. Perhaps the most poignant part of his keynote address came when he read a passage from Losing Our Way, the story of a 19 year old girl, Jessica Gallardo, who worked in a bakery manufacturing operation. The teen worked nights, including school nights, often till 1 a.m. in order to help provide shelter for her family. Conditions in the factory were grueling; employees often didn’t take lunch or bathroom breaks – instead favoring to stay on the manufacturing line until their shift ended. Needless to say, Jessica had trouble paying attention in class, let alone doing her homework. With the example and so many more listed in his book, Herbert believes that change starts with the public voice. Herbert’s call to action against disparity is for us, the community, to challenge the local leadership and make them take notice in what we believe needs to be changed. “Believe passionately about your cause, it’s our America”, he says. 

One of the key takeaways that was repeated time after time by each presenter/panelist is that leadership needs to recognize their states strengths and weaknesses. State budgets are not just numbers on a spreadsheet but directly affect its citizens’ wellbeing. That should be the main concern for each state representative and community stakeholder.