Blog
How Colleges are Reviving Downtown
Posted by Nicholas I. Emenhiser on November 14, 2012 |
Downtown college campuses are a popular trend to follow for talent retention and galvanizing downtown activity. As this trend grows and becomes more successful across the nation, more research into particulars may be necessary to understand their effect on urban revitalization. It is clear, however, that downtown college campuses are yielding interesting benefits for cities such as Chicago, Richmond, Omaha, Cleveland, and Tacoma.
Strategies for City Success: A Webinar Series
Posted by Tara Sturm on November 08, 2012 |
CEOs for Cities is pleased to announce a six-part webinar series titled “Strategies for City Success.” This series, designed to support the efforts of cities participating in the Talent Dividend Network and Talent Dividend Prize Competition, was made possible with generous support from the Kresge Foundation and The Council on Adult and Experiential Learning. The webinars will explore strategies around data use, engaging municipal leadership, economic and workforce development, and supporting adult learners. The presentations will also feature tips from key stakeholders in higher education development on idea implementation.
The series will begin on the first Friday in December and will continue through May 2013 on the first Friday of each month. Each webinar will begin at 2:30pm ET. Participants must register for each webinar separately. Please click on the live links to register today!
Ten Creative Ideas for Energizing Our Streets
Posted by Tara Sturm on October 29, 2012 |
We all know that walking has many advantages over driving—it costs less, it burns more calories, and we get to see the world in a way that is much less rushed, properly taking in our surroundings. Those surroundings, however, could in many places need a bit of a makeover. Retail establishments put a lot of thought and money into making their space a desirable place to visit. Our research has found that reducing vehicle travel by just one mile per day, per person in the 50 largest metros in the U.S. could lead to over $31 billion in generated savings—so why wouldn’t our communities work to make our streets a more desirable place to walk? Here are ten creative placemaking ideas to inspire our streets...
Bridging the Gap
Posted by Tara Sturm on September 26, 2012 |
While unemployment rates are at about 8.1%, we are finding that the problem is not always that the jobs aren’t there—it’s that our workforce doesn’t have the skills needed to fill available positions. This has caused much public discussion, but the problem persists. Some initiatives, however, are tackling this issue in an effective and meaningful way. It seems that the windy city is at the forefront of this effort, serving as a model for how to approach closing the gap through STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) initiatives in higher education.
CEOs for Cities spoke with the key players behind two very important programs: the College to Careers (C2C) program spearheaded by Chicago City Colleges, and the more recent Minority Male STEM initiative, a partnership between Chicago City Colleges and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
Finding Fearless: the Search for America’s Most Fearless Changemakers Begins!
Posted by Catherine Bittar on September 26, 2012 |
In order to find solutions to the chronic and complex social challenges we face as a society, we must Be Fearless. And we have a hunch that there are thousands of concerned citizens who have let go of old and unsuccessful approaches and instead are taking risks, being bold, and making failure matter — embracing a fearless approach towards social change.
The Case Foundation is launching a new campaign — Finding Fearless — to identify the undiscovered social innovators who are dreaming big and taking risks to change their communities and the world. More than $650,000 in grants, software and technology prizes, and outdoor adventures are at stake in this search for America’s Most Fearless Changemakers.
So, are you a fearless changemaker?
We’re excited to help support the Case Foundation’s effort to uncover the stories of the undiscovered individuals in communities across the country that have a successful track record of tackling social challenges because their approach is bold, uncommon, experimental, unconventional, and fearless.
It doesn’t matter if they are 18 or 80; or if their work is done in a big city or one-stoplight town. It doesn’t matter if they have ten diplomas or…
Skills Development in Post-Recession Years
Posted by admin on September 26, 2012 |
While closing the gap is important for getting more citizens across America employed, is it a worthwhile investment, though, when our economy has been hit hard and jobs more scarce? It turns out that economic strains are making the need for skilled workers even greater.
Lee Fisher and Joe Cortright Discuss Urban Reading on the Huffington Post
Posted by admin on September 24, 2012 |
Last week on the Huffington Post, CEOs for Cities’ Lee Fisher and Joe Cortright reviewed three books for those of us who love cities.
Digitizing the Public Sphere
Posted by Tara Sturm on September 20, 2012 |
Thousands of years ago, the public square was created as the original marketplace; with the influx of people, goods and ideas, it evolved to be a bustling center of human interaction. Public squares still exist today, of course, and the public realm reaches far beyond the stark geographic boundaries of the square, piazza, or plaza. Our streets, parks, museums, and town halls are places where we can bump into an old friend, solicit important information, and exercise our right to free speech. Some say that the energetic power of interaction has been lost in these places over the last few decades, while others argue that our voices and interactions have found their place in another public realm: the internet...
Technology in (and out of) the Classroom
Posted by admin on September 19, 2012 |
The apple, long a ubiquitous symbol of education, may take on a new role as technology challenges and reinvents the physical classroom… unless of course you are more of a Windows guy. Numerous innovations are appearing in our classrooms—smart chalkboards, remote controls, and online discussion boards—and some teachers are even using strange (yet entertaining) memes to motivate and teach their students.
Technology has allowed us to break free from the “traditional” classroom. The value of alternative education has been debated by leaders throughout education—discussing both the incredible potential for increasing access to higher education as well as the benefits of learning in a physical classroom. With the rising price tag of a traditional college degree, monetary, cultural or value-driven barriers can dilute access to higher education.
Understanding the Importance of Context
Posted by Tara Sturm on September 13, 2012 |
At CEOs for Cities, we understand that data are only a piece of the city success story. We feel the need to make some clarifications in light of a blog post published on Gambit, a publication found at TheBestofNewOrleans.com, concerning one of many performance measurements found in our report City Vitals 2.0. The blog suggested that our report claimed New Orleans to be “the least cultured city in America,” ranking #51 among 51 metro regions among the country “when it came to ‘cultured cities.’” That is not what we said or concluded. We have read this post thoroughly, as well as the comments, tweets, and emails that were sent regarding the blog post. We agree that if this was the conclusion our research was making, the entirety of New Orleans should have had the same reaction of disbelief and anger that was being directed at us. There has been, however, some very serious confusion surrounding this measure, what this report is, and more importantly, what it is not.
City Vitals 2.0 is not a collection of “best and worst of” lists, like so many we see on the internet. It is not…