We're over a year into the competition for the Talent Dividend Prize -- the challenge issued by CEOs for Cities to raise the number of college degree holders by 1% point in cities across the country. You've got your eye on the prize -- $1 million for the city with the greatest increase in college attainment rates by 2014. You know how much your city stands to gain by focusing on talent. You've built ground-breaking cross-sector partnerships, you've launched game-changing campaigns, and you may even be seeing signs of early success.

 

What's missing, you've told us, is a place for you to channel all of this gathering momentum -- a way to share your city's successes and challenges, connect with and learn from other talent leaders across the country, and collaboratively develop best practices and solutions that will make everyone smarter, faster, and better prepared to achieve their Talent Dividend.

 

Welcome to the Talent Dividend Network. It's a national web magazine and engagement platform. It's a social network for civic change. And it's a unique media partnership that we believe will really help you out. 

 

Talent Dividend Network is a collaborative partnership between CEOs for Cities, Issue Media Group, and The Civic Commons. 

 

"This partnership marks an exciting new phase of the Talent Dividend Initiative," says Lee Fisher, President and CEO of CEOs for Cities. "We are confident that getting the message out about the Talent Dividend will make an impact in your city and across the country, and we encourage you to get involved." 

 

"Talent will define the future of your city," says Brian Boyle, Co-CEO of Issue Media Group. "We hope that Talent Dividend Network will allow local leaders in the Talent Dividend Initiative to reach a wider audience, share their efforts nationally, and provide content that will help you make the case for talent to your network of stakeholders."

 

Gathering information about what works in cities to improve college graduation rates is a key goal of the Talent Dividend Initiative, says William Moses, Program Director for Education at the Kresge Foundation. 

 

"We believe that this competition will motivate local leaders to think creatively about reaching out to both traditional and non-traditional students to improve college achievement," Moses said. "Four years from now, when the Prize is awarded, we hope to not only have improved life outcomes and fostered a workforce that is educated to compete, but to have secured evidence of what really works to create a pathway to college completion."

 

 

Each month you'll receive an issue of Talent Dividend Network in your email. Expect op-eds from urban leaders, features on compelling approaches, videos, research, and news that highlights what's working in cities. 

 

When you click "Engage" at the top of the page (or just bookmark this link), you'll enter The Civic Commons, where you can sign up, join ongoing discussions, pose questions to the group, access a library of resources, and participate in moderated conversations with innovative thinkers (this month with Joe Cortright, starting 7/30 at 10 am EST). We'll discuss the case for the Talent Dividend, benchmark attainment and metrics, and how the Prize is calculated.

 

(Oh, and it's so easy to sign up and jump right in -- Emily will tell you more about that here.) 

 

"The Civic Commons is social media for civic good," say Dan Moulthrop, Curator of Conversation for The Civic Commons. "We want to build on existing civic engagement efforts -- like the Talent Dividend Initiatives underway in all of these cities -- give people new tools for learning about local efforts, and turn talk into action." 

 

 

Detroit-based Issue Media Group was founded in 2005. IMG covers what's next for cities in 19 markets across the country. The Civic Commons, based in Cleveland, OH, is a civic engagement utility funded by the Knight Foundation, providing community outreach, social networks and online tools to support civic action for the improvement of communities across the U.S. 

 

Your Talent Dividend Network Editor is Amy Elliott Bragg, IMG's Director of Custom Programs. Amy formerly edited Milwaukee's ThirdCoast Digest, loves bicycles and city parks, and is a die-hard nerd for Detroit's early history. (She would probably like to hear about your city's history, too.) 

 

Your host on the engagement platform is Emily Cole, National Talent Dividend Engagement Director and The Civic Commons Community Connector. Emily formerly worked in both undergraduate admission and alumni relations at CWRU, loves museums and all things athletic, and spends all her spare time serving on the board of Girls With Sole.

Learn more about your CEOs for Cities Talent Dividend team here.

Welcome to the conversation. We're so glad you're here.

Amy Elliott Bragg is Director of Custom Programs for Issue Media Group, media partner for CEOs for Cities and the Talent Dividend Network.