Yesterday's UpDayton Summit was invigorating. The outcomes are reported in the Dayton Daily News and I'll also comment on them at the end of this post. I give the organizers credit because the flow of the day was pretty good, except for the voting on projects which took forever, even using the latest technology to cast votes.
About 200 people were present to discuss ideas about entrepreneurship, nightlife, neighborhoods, making a difference (which I thought was supposed to be about volunteerism but wasn't), hiring/employment, and school systems (don't think that one happened).
A couple things struck me...the target audience was 20-40 year olds and I'd say that maybe 1/2 of the participants fell in that category. I think it's great that so many older people were interested in reaching out to help Dayton be a thriving community but part of me wonders, if these are really serious issues for young people, where were the young people? Of course, we have brain drain. So perhaps there just aren't enough young people to step up.
Another thing that struck me and was a surprise was the amount of conversation we had about ideas to start things, not knowing that what they were talking about already exists. Now, granted, perhaps some services aren't what they should be or could be. Another thing is that some organizations just need to advertise better. Finally, people need to seek what they're looking for. Searching can sometimes be a hassle but my general impression is that people want things handed to them on a silver platter.
So here's a list of "needs" that were identified and resources that already exist:
People wanted to connect entrepreneurs to resources, including startup business development. Here's what I know exists: The Entrepreneur Center (which includes SBA resources), the Urban League also directs minorities to the SBA, the City of Dayton and several other organizations recently combined resources to open the Dayton Business Resource Center. What some participants were looking for were websites like "startabusinessdayton" or "daytonbusinesshelp". Perhaps the already-existing organizations should beef up their online presence!
People also wanted to connect entrepreneurs to investors through forums and even a business start-up competition similar to The Apprentice. We used to have the I-Zone. Does anyone know what happened to it? Was it a precursor to the Dayton Development Coalition or the Entrepreneur Center or are they completely separate?
Again, along the entrepreneur lines, people wanted more opportunities for students, even suggesting that the local universities work together to create programs for students. I didn't research all the schools but I know that UD has an Entrepreneur Program as well as several student run campus businesses. Maybe the other schools should take note, unless they already have programs of their own.
Looking for a job? Someone suggested a job fair, different from the universities and campus recruiting. Apparently the person didn't know that we have a Job Center that has job fairs throughout the year. Separately, multiple industries even have their own job fairs either at the Job Center or at the Convention Center. The Dayton Daily News (where people can look for jobs) is a frequent sponsor.
A community service day received high scores. Apparently people don't know that Dayton already has Community Action Day, Generation Dayton Day, and Rebuilding Together Day.
Things like a safe downtown, changing Dayton's image, developing a brand for Dayton, renovating vacant downtown spaces all came up as priorities. Apparently people don't know about the work of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, the Dayton Development Coalition or the City of Dayton. On the flip side, people said the brands that have been developed don't speak to us or represent us. Leaders, take note. I also tend to think that once the other things fall into place Dayton's brand will be created. So I don't put too much stock into trying to identify the brand first.
Student Housing downtown was an interesting idea. It kept coming up in the scoring but I'm not sure where it ultimately ranked. With local universities plus Sinclair and Miami Jacobs being actually downtown, student housing isn't a bad idea. The Savannah College of Art and Design has basically revitalized Savannah by rehabbing buildings to make housing, studios, classrooms, etc.
A Culture Club was another idea. Organizing events and arranging for discounts, and connecting people to arts and culture. That would be Culture Works. There's also the DDP's Campus Connect program. Someone was describing a Culture Pass but that was really about making downtown safe for people and events. I'm not sure how culture pass represents that. All I could think of was the Culture Works Passport (2 for 1 card).
A trolley system connecting people to arts and cultural events and locations was a priority. However, if we can overcome the image of an unsafe downtown people shouldn't need a trolley. They should be willing to drive. Arranging for transportation from local universities to downtown is a different matter and we should make sure that students have access to events and amenities.
STEM opportunities for volunteering and tutoring in math and the sciences was highly regarded. Hopefully programs teaching the STEM curriculum will reach out for community support for their students.
People wanted weekly updates of things happening. Ideally they want a central hub/portal but in the meantime the following organizations already do regular email blasts: Downtown Dayton Partnership, Culture Works, Dayton Daily News, Metroparks/Riverscape. One thing about all of these sites is that they aren't inclusive. That's why there was so much appeal about a central hub.
Some other projects that drew alot of interest (and could probably happen on their own, in a grassroots kind of way) were: public art programs (like murals, etc.), food co-ops and community gardens, green streets (including bike lanes), and a "buy local" campaign (which I'm surprised wasn't a top priority because it was scored all the way until the end, meaning it was high on the list).
Now on to the four projects that apparently scored the highest (although I'm not sure how the scoring software took into account how 1/2 the people left the Summit during the scoring because it took so long): Grow Downtown Dayton and focus on the urban core, Create more programs for youth, create a central communication hub, and fix up Wayne Avenue between the Oregon District and E. Third Street.
Here are my thoughts: growing downtownis already happening through the efforts of Mike Ervin, the Downtown Dayton Partnership and folks in the Oregon District. Growing downtown and the Wayne Avenue corridor are already priorities. At least these resonate with people and are seen as important. Too bad we can't focus on two different priorities since these are already in the works. Of course, maybe we can build momentum since two separate initiatives have identified these issues.
As for more youth programming: this could be focused at students who are downtown waiting for bus transfers. That was one idea. Others included beefing up the offerings of parks and recreation departments, schools, community centers, arts organizations, etc. This is going to be a challenge since the City of Dayton and Montgomery County are both making drastic cuts due to budget shortfalls and the closing of parks and summer camps is already happening. Creative solutions will be most welcome! Quite frankly I'm surprised this scored so high on the list but I have a feeling the scores were possibly driven by the older people in the room who want to see young people doing something more constructive with their time. At the same time, if young people see opportunities to get involved they might be inclined to have positive memories as they mature and might actually want to stick around instead of getting into trouble or leaving for greener pastures.
Finally, a communication hub that can be a source of things going on. Some people would say ActiveDayton.com is that source. For arts, people can go to DaytonArts.org. Others would argue those sites are insufficient and not representative or inclusive of the community at large. As I mentioned above, several regular communication vehicles are already in place for organizations with email blasts. We may not need them to be replaced but perhaps a portal of some kind can be a one-stop online presence where people can click on the things that interest them and follow links to sites of those other organizations. For instance, on this blog I have an entire list devoted to links of sites that identify things to do. Another topic that came up was the use of viral marketing and social networks. Many of the organizations above haven't gotten around to using Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube. Imagine how much their businesses and attendance might improve by reaching out to people without even realizing it!! There's no better marketing than word-of-mouth and being linked from profile to profile on networking sites serves that purpose.
Moving forward we need to remember that all of this is to make a better Dayton. People signed up to work on the four top projects. Hopefully people already engaged in these areas will see this is a sign of help...not a takeover. Now is not the time to be territorial. It's a time to work together and show how innovative and creative we can be at making Dayton the best place possible.
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