>This will be the last installment on Rebecca Ryan's book, "life first, work second."
This section follows the last post on what communities can do to become cool and offers these suggestions for how individuals can be cool and which "index" it applies to (see the previous entry about the indexes):
1. Quit talking about it and do it: Start or join a young professionals organization. (Here in Dayton that would be Generation Dayton.) Social capital
2. Stretch yourself. If you've never done anything in your neighborhood join your neighborhood association. If you're white, join a multicultural organization, and so on. Social capital
3. Invite a young professional to the decision-making table. The Red Cross is an example of a local organization creating junior boards to involve young people. There are others of you out there that are involved in your own ways and should find ways to recruit young people to participate! Social capital
4. Buy every birthday, anniversary, holiday cards or gifts from a local merchant or artist. Check out the 2nd Street Market and the Dayton Visual Arts Center (DVAC). Social capital & After hours
5. Have coffee, breakfast or lunch at a Third Space. Again, visit the 2nd Street Market (Thurs. Fri. Sat). Also check out the North River Coffee House on Salem Avenue, Boston Stoker, the cafe at Pacchia, and the 5th Street Wine and Deli. After Hours
6. Start looking at the community through the lens of the next generation. Strip malls aren't so cool. Parks, trails, and recreation areas are. Vitality
7. Develop a new economic development instrument that includes Cool Community criteria: SBA funding for small businesses, number of patents, stroll districts, population density. Be a catalyst for jump-starting a dialogue about community and economic development. All indexes
8. Get smart. Be familiar with The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Jacobs), Bobos in Paradise (Brooks), The Rise of the Creative Class (Florida) and his subsequent books as well. Learning
9. Tune in. Know what's happening around the country. Start here: www.smartcityradio.com/smartcityradio/
10. Eat fresh. Buy local food at such places as the 2nd Street Market. Vitality
11. Be people-powered. Don't drive to work! Walk or ride a bike! Drive Less-Live More! Good for your health and the environment! Vitality
12. Get creative. Invent your own sampler platter of the arts. In the next 6 months attend a music or theater performance, a visual arts event, a spoken-word event and an underground arts event. Check the left sidebar of my blog for all kinds of ideas After hours & Social capital
The final chapter of her book is directed at how employers need to also operate differently when recruiting and retaining young, new talent. Since I've been focusing on the community, I'll let you find out more about the corporate/management piece on your own. Suffice it to say that each generation has its own work ethic, communication style, motivation, and world views.
My next review will be of RenGen: Renaissance Generation - The Rise of the Cultural Consumer
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