Sarah Szurpicki

Sarah Szurpicki is a co-founder of GLUE, the Great Lakes Urban Exchange, an online networking and journalism effort to build regional identity and share information among young urban leaders from cities around the Great Lakes region.  She enjoyed celebrating GLUE’s first birthday, and the launch of GLUE’s new website, in a festive party hat at a community public art event and bronze pour in Buffalo, NY, on June 21, 2008.

Sarah is a Detroit-area native who, in early 2007, “boomeranged” back after eight years in Boston, DC, and New York, and now lives in Royal Oak.  She has developed expertise in operational and logistical planning and implementation through positions on various campaigns, and, most recently, as the director of finance and operations of the Harlem Success Academy Charter School in New York, where she oversaw the operational startup of the school’s first year.  

Sarah graduated from Harvard University with a BA in environmental science and public policy in 2003, where her studies focused on public participation and activism in environmental science.  Sarah supervises GLUE networks in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. 

Contact Information
Sarah Szurpicki
sarah@gluespace.org

Monday

July 7, 2008

Cities

As a co-founder of GLUE, I spend 50 percent of my time talking to young(-ish) people who care about at least one Great Lakes metropolitan community.

I say “at least one” because we have found that—though this sentiment hasn’t been given major public expression—people who love one “Rust Belt” city also love the reflection they see of their hometown in others.  I feel it in Buffalo (whose vacancy rates almost match Detroit’s and whose beautiful train station is similarly unused); Cleveland (clapboard houses and a market that rivals Eastern); Pittsburgh (with the Hamtramck-like Polish Hill, and an ache for the old days of steel like we ache for autos): city kinship.

Besides making us feel less isolated, what benefit is there to digging deeper into this city family?  This: the problems of the other cities in the region are often the same problems faced by Michigan cities.  Therefore, the same solutions that are working in other cities, might work here.

City leadership are currently wild about figuring out how to attract young talent like I was wild about jelly shoes in 1986.  Fortunately, it’s an important thing to figure out.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure that leadership are making a real shift in their thinking rather than following a trend.  I’m also not sure that we all understand why it must be a real shift, and not just a trend.  Young people aren’t worth listening to as a mere token measure of inclusion, but because they have real, and different, ideas.  They’ve grown up widely valuing things like tolerance and sustainability, and without the baggage of the racial strife of the 1960s.  They hold the values that need to be infused into our cities, and they also have the willingness to lead the charge.

Tuesday

July 8, 2008

Job Diversity

At my five-year college reunion in June, a survey showed that 71 percent of my graduating class are making their homes in large cities.  Finally we’re witnessing a growing understanding that YKWs are essential contributors to the economy, and that those YKWs overwhelmingly want to live in cities.  Therefore, the cities of the Great Lakes region must prioritize the capture of our fair share of the nation’s young(-ish), educated workforce.  Take a look at Lou Glazer’s work at Michigan Future, Inc., which shows Michigan lagging far behind in the race for post-college grads.

The argument has been dichotomized thusly: do these college grads make their move based on the place, or for the job?

Increasingly, data, like Lou’s and that from CEOs for Cities, show that YKWs are picking place first.  Unfortunately, the data don’t show yet whether they would pick place first if they weren’t picking a place rich in job diversity.  When I moved to New York City in 2004 with no job, I did so with the confidence that I would, eventually, be able to find a job in (or near enough to) my field.

We still need to move away from the idea that job creation is the only city redevelopment strategy; quality of place matters immensely.  But jobs also matter—just not in the way we’ve always thought.  It’s not just the number of jobs, but the variety of opportunities available, that makes your city a place YKWs pick (and the ease with which they can find a gig waiting tables until they land the job they really want).

Wednesday

July 9, 2008

People Diversity

Established leaders have expressed a growing understanding that they need to figure out and foster those elements of community that seem to attract YKWs.  Problem is, we’re not actually a homogeneous bunch, which leaves those leaders scratching their heads about what, exactly, is it that we want?  Cities and neighborhoods that are crawling with young people and young families are successful not because they’ve all developed that one magical thing young people want—but because they offer so many different things that there’s something for everyone.

It’s the “everyone” that makes these communities so vibrant.  I’d argue that one way in which YKWs are nearly homogeneous is in that we value diversity.

We value diversity not as a backdrop for our progressive self-image and secret desire to be featured in a United Colors of Benetton ad.  We value diversity because a cross-pollination of ideas, cultures, sectors, and perspectives leads to explosions of creativity and vibrancy.  Diversity is inherently (and economically) valuable—not just pretty—and we know that.  We want to see our leaders express that they know it, too.

Thursday

July 10, 2008

Civic Engagement

If I’m right about successful communities offering a variety of assets, a political or business leader reading along may be shaking her head with exasperation, “So, you’re telling me that I have to do more than bring in an organic grocer, a coffee shop, and a new music venue?  I need different kinds of organic groceries, coffee shops, and music videos?”

Well, yes.  But there’s a silver lining—you can get these YKWs to create all of these things for you!  What you have to do is get the values right.

The focus of established leadership now should be on identifying, empowering, and rewarding the “do-ers” who are already living in our metropolitan communities.  As I mentioned, 18 to 40 year-olds are not a homogeneous bunch.  Detroit is years away from being able to attract the YKWs who move to New York because they want to plug themselves effortlessly into a community and lifestyle that already exists, ready-made.  The YKWs who are currently making their homes in Detroit are there because they want to be active participants in, contributors to, and shapers of their communities.  They want to be part of positive change.

Like the “first adopters” sought by the fashion industry, aren’t these the kind of YKWs we should be working to “attract and retain?”  Michigan cities should be celebrating these individuals, and marketing themselves to more people like them.  The message shouldn’t be, “There’s so much to do here—I swear!”  It should be, “Here, you can play a role in creating the future.”

If the YKWs who are here are rewarded with leadership roles in their communities, whether in the public or private sector, the word will spread.  As anyone familiar with Michigan’s history around the turn of the (19th) century will recall: nothing moves people in like opportunity.

Friday

July 11, 2008

A Note to City Leadership

Being heard is a reward in itself.  If you, a city leader, can make your young leaders feel heard, you’ll make a major stride in locking those young leaders into your community.  You’ll also bolster your reputation for being participatory and transparent—openness and transparency are values YKWs love.  So here are a few suggestions for established city leaders (designed for political leadership and city management, these tips can be tweaked for other types of leaders) to engage meaningfully with the younger generation:

1. Make sure your personal city website is well-designed, useful, and interactive.  Post videos of public meetings and use the website to ask residents for their feedback and ideas.
   
   
2. Name some young(-ish) people to leadership roles, or help them get elected.  Nothing says, “We care about new ideas!” like a 25-year-old effectively leading a meeting.
   
   
3. Pick a progressive issue, commit your city to becoming a leader on it, and stick with it.  Does Mayor Daley really care about the environment?  I have no idea.  But does the fact that he has forced every city agency to have a plan for being “greener” indicate to me that he knows that YKWs do care about the environment, and that he cares about YKWs?  Absolutely. 
   
   
4. Include bloggers on your press list.  Make your office responsive to their questions and requests for information.  Better yet, reach out to them, develop relationships, use them to increase the transparency of your job, programs, and decision-making processes.
   
   
5. Browse placeblogs dedicated to your city; you’ll quickly be more in touch with the people you serve.
   
   
6. Blog.
   
   
7. Develop relationships with the young business and social entrepreneurs in your city.  Help them navigate the bureaucracy that stifles so many good ideas.  Frequent their shops, galleries, and community events.  Ask them what would make it even easier to be entrepreneurial in your city.  Ask them what they think about other things.
   
   
8. Take on the responsibility of increasing public turnout at hearings and community meetings.  Rules might require you to simply post notices of meetings in the paper of record, but limiting your outreach to this outdated method of communication is going to leave you with the same familiar audience.  In addition to finding new methods of outreach, it is your job to educate people about why they should care and why they should participate—and then to actually listen to what they say.