CEOs for Cities News

It's no longer summer, but recent book picks from Joe Cortright and Lee Fisher remain relevant. What about you, urban leader: Have you picked up Enrico Moretti's The New Geography of Jobs, Ed Glaeser's Triumph of the City, or the refresh of Richard Florida's seminal The Rise of the Creative Class?

Write Fisher and Cortright:

There's little question that the original generated a huge amount of debate and attention on the questions of cities and creativity, putting Florida at the center of many controversies. This edition revisits and updates the analysis from the original book, showing how many of the relationships from a decade ago -- such as the correlation between tolerance and technology -- persist or have grown stronger.

 

Much of the book is a response to critics, and while this may be Florida's effort to have the last word -- it won't be. Readers will find some points familiar and unchanged: despite broadening his case to include the creativity of all people, the book still retains his trademark term "class" to describe creative people. It is still possible to dispute some specifics, but Florida does deserve credit for signaling what he calls the bottom line: "cities need a people climate as much, and perhaps even more than they need a business climate."
 

Read the full list of recommendations here.

Despite representing nearly a third of the national undergraduate populatio, first-generation college students are not always easy to identify on campus or in the community at large. Although there have been some efforts to target this population in the past, support for first-generation students generally has come through broader initiatives aimed at low-income or otherwise disadvantaged students. Recently, however, some higher education leaders have pushed to raise the profile of first-generation students through collective efforts geared toward greater postsecondary participation and success.
A new IHEP brief, Supporting First-Generation College Students Through Classroom-Based Practices, captures how 30 minority-serving institutions leveraged support from the Walmart Minority Student Success Initiative to develop a multipronged approach based on the idea that what takes place in the classroom is central to the college experience. The report shares exactly how the institutions integrated faculty members as principal agents to create a more engaging learning environment -- ultimately  promoting stronger performance academically and socially among first-generation students.

The brief also provides insights from the Walmart Minority Student Success Initiative participants on how to redesign instructional styles and course content, use data to develop and sustain programs, and secure community partnerships and support.

Download the brief here.

In welcoming remarks at the CEOs for Cities Fall National Meeting held in Boston Oct. 16-19, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke about the importance of investing in education, research, and infrastructure, even during tough economic times: 

When we were hit by the global economic collapse, we cut public programs and thousands of state jobs. But, we also funded schools at the highest level in our history -- even when the bottom was falling out of the rest of the state budget. 

 

... Why do this during a recession? Because if you really believe in creating opportunity, you don’t tell a second grader she has to sit out the second grade until the recession is over. If you really believe in job growth, you don’t tell someone with a great idea for a new, transformative company that those jobs can wait until the amorphous market "feels" like hiring again. If you really believe in the American Dream, you don't leave it to chance.

 

Because of these investments, our unemployment rate is well below the national average, our innovation economy is on fire, our state's economy is growing twice as fast as the national growth rate, and we are first in the nation in student achievement -- in the top five in the world in math and science.

Read Governor Patrick's complete remarks here.

Political leaders and committed citizens alike discussed the role of education in America's future in both Tampa and Charlotte this past month. 

Focusing specifically on higher education issues, the Lumina Foundation hosted panel discussions about The College Advantage at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

The Hechinger Report recaps the conversation in Charlotte, which focused on ways in which we can fix higher education.

From Campus Progress, a discussion about the importance of higher ed to rebuilding the middle class, reviving the economy and tackling student debt.

And StateImpact Florida summarizes the panel in Tampa, from which four tangible solutions emerged for improving higher education.

Noël Harmon, National Director of the Talent Dividend, writes for the Huffington Post about how and why educational attainment and the vitality of our country's cities are so intimately connected.

We need to stop waiting for Washington, says Lee Fisher, CEO of CEOs for Cities, speaking at TEDxDes Moines. To change the world, start with your city instead. Large enough for you to make a broad impact, but small enough for you to make a deep impact, America's dynamic cities are huddles of innovation, intensity, and incubators of change. 

Watch the complete talk here.

Source: CEOs for Cities / TEDxDes Moines

City Vitals 2.0, a new report from CEOs for Cities, presents more than two dozen indicators in four key areas that measure the performance of the nation's 51 largest metro areas. 

The Workforce Investment Act, enacted in 1998, is due for an update, according to the National League of Cities.