BRAIN DRAIN: ConnectWith and Insight St. Louis fight to keep and attract young professionals
Brain Drain
By Lucas Hudson
Christmas is a time for sore cuticles, raw from fingernails clawing at red clearance stickers, and laughable attempts by parents to convince suspicious toddlers that presents are delivered by an obese cookie-obsessed, chimney-dwelling septuagenarian; but most importantly, Christmas is a time when bright young professionals come back to the family roost after planting roots in different cities. But for locally-born, preening professionals, why is the Christmas trip back to mom’s house via airplane instead of automobile? Comparatively speaking, does St. Louis truly suffer from a "brain drain" epidemic, or is the potential problem an exaggerated local myth reinforced by our well-documented racial problems, yearly crime rankings, historic population loss and the 17th time we’ve asked a coastal transplant: "So, why are you here?"
Statistically quantifying St. Louis’s "brain drain" problem is an exercise in frustration because current statistics used to bracket the issue only show small shards of a large statistical mirror needed for St. Louis and the region to reflect on its true severity and ramifications. Whether "brain drain" is a crisis, overblown perception, or lies somewhere in the nether region between the two, a host of organizations exist to attract and/or retain young professional talent to the region, including FOCUS St. Louis, Insight St. Louis, The River City Professionals, the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association, (RCGA), Metropolis St. Louis and many others.
How bad is the "brain drain" problem?
FOCUS St. Louis, a 12-year-old, regional, non-profit, booster organization released an 18-page report in July 2002 entitled "Preparing St. Louis for Leadership in the 21st Century Economy." The report’s subtitle is "An Economic Crisis on the Horizon: The St. Louis Region Must Attract and Retain Young Knowledge Workers." Separated into six sections, the report, at its core, maintains that "a dearth of young workers is a crisis for our regional economy." Buttressing this assertion are statistics from the 2000 U.S. Census that show St. Louis had a 15.1 percent drop in the number of people aged 20-34 from 1990 to 2000. Cities like Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Portland and Seattle had double digit increases in the same timeframe. This report, which also included other recommendations to maximize St. Louis’s potential, sounded a clear alarm bell that St. Louis must fight to recruit and retain young professional talent.
However, this call to arms was somewhat blunted by the spring 2004 release of "The Corps of Rediscovery: St. Louis in the 21st Century," a regional talent project report by famed urbanist Joel Kotkin, presidential fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, California. This 61-page study, sponsored by the RCGA and the Greater St. Louis Economic Development Council, painted a picture of a glass half full instead of half empty.
Kotkin’s expansive report, which placed a greater emphasis on recruiting and retaining thirty-somethings than twenty-somethings, stressed that "the long-term persistent out-migration out of St. Louis has now virtually ceased" and notes that "some of the most rapid rates of out-migration can be found in many of the so-called ‘creative’ cities, such as New York and San Francisco." The report also focuses on the "demographic recovery of the Midwest" as a region and highlights several important statistics, such as St. Louis’s comparatively high percentage of people under 18, its low annual rate of migration compared to other Midwestern cities, and its low cost of living compared to other "cool" cities.
Christine Chadwick, executive director of FOCUS St. Louis, welcomed Kotkin’s report, though it came to a different conclusion than FOCUS’s report. "FOCUS is all about collaboration, so we don’t find that competition, we find it good… we were glad someone took the [FOCUS] report and continued to keep the work alive." Chadwick added that "when that report was over, these folks that had gotten engaged in that work there ended up saying, fine, if you need a home, then come back to FOCUS." Chadwick also thought that the RCGA found the FOCUS report’s characterization of St. Louis’s "brain drain" problem as a "crisis" to be gratuitous. "I think that’s why RCGA picked up on it because we declared there was a crisis, and they didn’t want it to come across that way because it’s more of a rah-rah organization, so they hired Joel Kotkin."
Tim Alexander, director of business research and analysis for the RCGA, declined to comment on the FOCUS St. Louis report.
Regardless of how the "brain drain" issue is characterized, Insight St. Louis and Connect With St. Louis are two very different entities that are helping to attract and retain professional talent to the region.
Connect With
Connect With, www.connectwithstlouis.com, is a three-year-old initiative of FOCUS St. Louis that, in the words of Policy and Community Engagement Director Nikki Weinstein, is "a collaborative of organizations." Weinstein goes on to explain, "Connect With doesn’t take individual members, but what we try and do is to connect individuals to all those different groups that already exist."
According to Weinstein, Connect With started due to a confluence of different events including the aforementioned FOCUS St. Louis report. "Separate from the report, Connect With actually came about very organically from needs being identified by young professional leaders. One of them, Scott Lapp [founder of the River City Professionals] came to FOCUS St. Louis and said, ‘Hey, I was thinking about getting together some of the young professional groups and see if we could potentially be able to work together more collaboratively.’"
From its first meeting with seven organizations, Connect With is now in contact with more than 40 groups, organizations, and initiatives focused on social networking and young professionals. Its structure has gotten more formal as well. Weinstein notes that "last February, we came up with more guiding principles and started an executive committee. Every event and program has to have a chair, so we’ve done some trainings throughout the year... The collaborative meets quarterly, but the chairs and the executive committee meet more frequently."
Weinstein stressed the importance of diversity in a variety of ways: ethnically, geographically, and by type of profession. "This year we added an [art] event, and we really did get a different crowd. We’ll approach [that audience] in different ways and offer different things." Weinstein maintained that regional diversity is also crucial to the success of Connect With. "FOCUS St. Louis is a very regionally-focused organization. Most of the organizations that are members of Connect With have a city/county focus, but we’ve reached out to groups in St. Charles County and Illinois."
Regarding ethnic diversity, Weinstein thinks the region needs to engage in more power sharing. "We’re truly open and have therefore attracted racially and culturally diverse groups… And that doesn’t happen very much in our region, I’m afraid. Decisions are still made in the Old Boys network—it becomes self-defeating. I think our community needs to take a real hard look at how we make decisions and who we’re including in those decisions."
InSight St. Louis
According to Executive Director Jo-Ann Digman, InSight was established in 2006 from a conversation that Arnold Donald, former president and of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and former presidential appointee to the President’s Export Council, had with Stuart Greenbaum, former dean of the School of Business at Washington University. "He [Greenbaum] was just getting ready to retire, and he asked Arnold Donald to be an executive in residence at Washington University. They started talking about some of the challenges and opportunities in the St. Louis community with regards to business, and one of them was companies in St. Louis felt that they weren’t attracting and retaining diverse talent as well as they would have liked."
In order to recruit students, employees, board members, former students, company representatives and even local celebrities like Cedric the Entertainer travel on InSight’s behalf to HBCUs in order to give speeches and attend career fairs. Prospective students must submit their resumes, and the process begins from that point. Once accepted into the program, students are invited to St. Louis at no cost over a specified weekend in order to participate in formal interviews with employers, or just informally communicate with their appointed representatives. Outside of career fairs and speeches, InSight also works with key faculty and staff at HBCUs to help target students.
During weekend visits, the students get a whirlwind tour of the city and meet with influential members of St. Louis’s business and political sphere, according to Digman. "On their most recent visit, the students toured Washington University, went to the zoo, did interviews, and the first night they arrived, we had a sit-down dinner with senior executives from all the companies. We showed them a variety of the things that St. Louis has to offer a young professional, whether it’s networking or cultural and civic venues that they can utilize while they’re living in St. Louis… Last spring, some of the young professionals that had been hired met with Charlie Dooley, and he talked to them about St. Louis County and getting involved."
On the weekend of Nov.7, InSight invited its student class to SkyBox on Laclede’s Landing to meet informally with company representatives and show off one of St. Louis’s premiere nightlife destinations. James Buford, a representative from United Health Care, and Jason Worth, a representative from Access Secure Pack, agreed that "providing guidance and opportunities for young students is critical for our employers’ success as a company and the region as a whole."
Nicole Cook, a New York native, senior from Hampton University and a major in computer information systems, talked to several employers, and noted that "St. Louis is a nice-looking place. The cost of living is attractive and it has a friendly community—the entertainment isn’t up to Atlanta’s level, but it’s not boring here either." Jason Hailstock hails from Salisbury, NC, is a senior at Morehouse College and is seeking a degree in computer science. Hailstock mentioned that "I’m looking for an opportunity in St. Louis. I’ve had three formal interviews, and I wanted to say that InSight is a great program—it lets you see the culture of a city and meet hiring executives as well. The only thing I worry about is the crime rate in St. Louis."
Julian Ross, a native of New Orleans, computer science major and president of the Association for Computer Machinery at Hampton University, was dropped of at Hampton University for his freshman year days before Hurricane Katrina Struck his hometown. Julian spent the past summer in St. Louis and fell in love with the city. "New Orleans and St. Louis are very much alike—good food, good people, and a good working environment. I want to be active in the community outside the workplace, and St. Louis will allow me to do that." Julian interviewed with two companies and talked with six others.
Miquez Hadley, a native of Kenosha, WI, gradated from Morehouse College with a degree in business administration and was hired through InSight by member company Edward Jones. "Originally, I wanted to work out west," Hadley said. "But Since I found out about InSight and came out to St. Louis and experienced the opportunities and culture, I reconsidered."
Digman insists that St. Louis is an easy sell once students visit the area. "St. Louis is a wonderful community. Many of the students who come to St. Louis have never been here before, and they’re pleasantly surprised at what a beautiful city we have, how friendly everyone is, the great job opportunities here and the cost of living. All the things that are positive aspects of the city resonate with them."
You can e-mail Lucas at lucashudson@thevitalvoice.com
