August 05, 2010
Building a Next Generation Region
Some have said that Brain Drain, the outmigration of our educated youth, is an inescapable part of Iowa’s culture. We can’t keep them down on the farm, after all. But that assumption is costly and paralyzing. Fortunately, it is also false. Iowa can attract and retain our best and brightest, and we now have a toolkit to do it.
On May 14, the Generation Iowa Commission, on which I’ve served since its inception in 2007, presented an annual update on Brain Drain at the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
First, the bad news: Iowa lost 7% of its 25-44 year-old population between 2000 and 2008. The flight of our next generation is particularly pronounced in Iowa’s rural areas and smallest towns (down 16%) and our small cities (down 12%). But even our urban areas had a 2% loss. Outmigration is concentrated among our most educated, with the percentage of Iowans with advanced degrees plummeting to eighth worst in the nation. Simply put, our overall ability to attract and retain college graduates has flat-lined.
Why? Iowa surely has attractive places to live. Wisconsin-based Next Generation Consulting ranked Cedar Rapids and Des Moines among the nation’s top twelve “Next Cities” for young professionals. But strong community values and a rich quality of life cannot support a family alone. Brain Drain is a symptom of a broader economic development problem. Most of Iowa lacks the economic foundation that can attract and retain young people. Over the last decade we have not created enough good jobs in career paths that new graduates are choosing.
There are glimmers of hope. Some communities have become a magnet for the next generation. Namely, the counties containing Des Moines, Iowa City and Ames have shown growth in the key 18-44 year old demographic. (Linn County is unchanged and all other urban counties have lost population.)
Community leaders can look at common strategies from these growing cities:
- Growing cities focus on creating new economy jobs. The next generation is choosing career paths into knowledge economy fields and value-add industry sectors. Iowa will aim to add hundreds of thousands of new jobs, and growing communities will compete in sectors that dovetail with the enhanced skills and education level of our next generation workforce.
- Growing cities integrate students into the fabric of community, making professional development a top priority. Communities and business sector partners create accessible world-class education and professional training, in both K-12 and colleges. In the Corridor, Kirkwood Community College is building high skill programs in collaboration with local employers. We should allow the same in our high schools by overturning Iowa’s cumbersome Dillon’s Rule, a state rule which often blocks schools from innovative programs with endless bureaucracy and red tape.
- Growing cities work together to build infrastructure to accommodate and direct growth. Des Moines is planning 6-lane interstates into areas that were rural just a decade ago, and they are doing so in a regional context. The Corridor must keep up by completing Highway 100 and implementing a regional transportation plan that includes the most basic of 21st century infrastructure, high speed internet accessibility for all.
These are the building blocks of reversing Brain Drain. It will take vision to commit the next business cycle to an economic transformation, and the humility to work together regionally. This vision is not only pro-growth, it is pro-Iowan. Because it acknowledges that the people of Iowa are no longer cogs in the machine of an old industrial economy, but are instead the key wealth-creating component to the modern knowledge economy. That Iowa’s true core business is recognizing and cultivating lifelong human potential. And we have all the tools to make sure it starts here.
