Social Capital: Four orgs and events to help you build it in Lex'vegas

I posted previously about the importance of bridging (connecting to people who are not like you) and bonding (connecting with people who are like you.) Read the post here.

If you need a little bridging and bonding kick-in-the-pants this summer, here are five groups you should get to know, especially if you don't feel like you'd "fit in." (That's how bridges are built, grasshopper, by connecting two distant lands!)

1. Lexington Young Professionals Association grooms the next generation of community leaders while improving the quality of life in the city of Lexington. For those of you who think "I'm not young!" or "I'm not a professional," think again. YLPA's events are open to everyone, including the young at heart, and those who share their passion for their mission.
2. Awesome Inc. is a business accelerator. Got an idea for the next iPhone app, or a business mash-up that someone should invent (why not you?) Awesome Inc has space, mentors and a great environment. If nothing else, follow them on Twitter to get exposed to the awesomeness. (Personal favorite: The Awesome Rules.)
3. Have you ever wondered "What if...?" The IdeaFestival is filled with peeps who do just that...and share their ideas with you. "But," you say, "Louisville is so far away!" Get over yourself, make it a road party, and get yourself to the IdeaFestival this September.
4. Creative Cities Summit 2010. (Has this been announced yet?) If not, you're reading a big rumor. I hear that Lex'vegas was hosting the Creative Cities Summit next April.

Finally, I promised Phil that I would re-port his very kind introduction of me, which put my (meager) contribution in context with all the amazing things Lexington's got going on.

That's all from me. I promised I'd post through July 4, and am headed out on vacation. See you all soon...maybe in April 2010 if not before.

What Lexington Has That Madison Doesn't

One of the things we Madisonians wish we had more of is nice weather. Sure, it's 82 and sunny today, but that'll only last about 4 more days before the leaves start to turn.

So here are a few ideas for the things Lexington might do with its physical environment to take advantage of what God gave ya - great weather!

1. Mill Street pedestrian mall
2. Two way streets for downtown (double the traffic, and increase retail revenue!)
3. Downtown lofts (I'm a fan of Phil Holoubek's, but there are other great developers, too...)
4. Legacy Trail
5. Town Branch Trail
6. Distillery District (Park once, and spend your entire evening downtown!)
7. Implementation of downtown streetscape master plan with new Farmer's Market building

The Mission-Driven Memo

Gail Glasser, the President and CEO of Lexington's YMCA, gave me permission to post the following email she sent to her team, to remind them of the YWCA's role in making Lexington a destination for the future workforce. I was especially inspired by the practical "to do's" that she suggested for her staff, in the second half of the memo.

Commerce Lexington’s 70^th annual leadership to Madison, Wisconsin was an interesting one. I, along with 260+ of my new comrades in travel, was able to benchmark several key areas for our area. Madison was chosen because year after year it has maintained a steady hold on national rankings that proclaim it a great place to live and work.

While much of the trip related to sustainability, there was much to learn for the YMCA. I wanted to share some of the data with you.

• The next generation is making choices differently. Live first, work second. This basically means that rather than following a job to a location, the next generation is choosing the location first then finding a job. For our YMCA, we are fortunate to live in a beautiful place, full of amenities. This is working on our side!
• We must do things by intentional design. A great question was posed… “What do you want to be homesick for?” For the YMCA, we may want to repose the question. “What do we want our members to be homesick for from their YMCA experience?” If they were to leave us, what would we want people to miss and thus turn back to us for?
• Of the seven indices of great places (called Next Cities at the leadership visit), we can have direct influence on several. The seven indices are vitality, earning, learning, social capital, cost of living, after hours and around town.
• Our work with Activate America reminds us that we can influence the life expectancy and life experience (vitality) of even more people that we current serve – the health seekers.
• Our focus on arts and humanities and other educational opportunities (beyond health and well-being) means we can influence the learning index as well.
• The YMCA’s commitment to being open, safe and accessible to all allows us to influence social capital as well.
• Our Pioneering Healthy Communities work – working outside the YMCA to influence policy for community good – means we influence the around town index as well. Here we can influence bike friendliness, town and gown relationships, trails, stroll districts, etc.
• Mayor Newberry reminded us that we must invest in things that overcome class divides and build cohesion in an increasingly diverse world. We must get this one right as the YMCA.
• Interesting book to read Live First, Work Second by Rebecca Ryan. I have a copy I read already if anyone needs to borrow it.

Other things we may want to consider as YMCA facilities, sites and personal space include:

• Reducing car usage. Could we do a one day a week non-car day as staffers and see if we could sustain it?
• Recycling. Can we do more individually or within our locations?
• Influencing farm-to-food programs. This one got me thinking about what we might serve at day camps…
• Participation in the World Equestrian Game planning and execution. 40,000 people a day will be in our city for 16 days. How will the YMCA make them feel welcome?
• Registration of our volunteers (and ourselves) for the United Ways’ 10,000 Hours Show. This program will reward community volunteers who register and document at least 10 hours of community service. The volunteers will be able to attend a concert at Applebee’s Park in 2010.

We do so much well already. What else can we do? Remember as Jim Collin’s notes, “Good is the enemy of great.”

The close of Gail's email said, "The YMCA's mission is NOT in recession."

What are you and your teams doing to participate in making Lexington an even better version of itself?

Lexington ranked as the 13th best city for next gen workforce!

We released our Next Cities list today, and Lexington was ranked 13th, just behind #12 Raleigh, and ahead of Virginia Beach.

Nice work.

What are next gen's city priorities now (in recessionary times)?

As many of you know, we've been talking to 20-40 year olds since 1998. In that time, some people have aged out of that demographic, and others have aged in. Sing it with me...."Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!"

Many folks wonder, "In a recession like we're in, aren't young people just happy to have a job? Do they really care what city it's in?"

Great question. Late last year as Wall Street was melting, we did a deep dive into that very question. We asked a sample of young professionals in 8 North American cities what matters most to them in a city.

The surprise? Jobs were not first. Affordability was.

Here's how they ranked the Seven Indexes (and a reminder on what those seven indexes mean):

1. Cost of Lifestyle ⎢ Students and young professionals are just getting started in their careers, and affordability is key. This index includes variables in the national cost of living index, which encapsulates a roof over the head, food on the table, clothes on the back, and a warm bed at night. (Lexington scores 7 our of 10)

2. Earning ⎢ High school guidance counselors tell students that they’ll have between nine and eleven careers in their lifetime. The Earning index measures Lexington’s future job growth, the diversity of employment opportunities, the percentage of jobs in the knowledge-based sector, average household income, and more. (Lexington scores 6 out of 10.)

3. Vitality ⎢ How “healthy” is Lexington? This index tallies your air and water quality, measures your green space, and estimates your residents’ overall health (e.g. obesity, life expectancy, etc.). We blogged about this and reported the ideas generated at the Madison visit here. (Lexington scores 6 out of 10.)

4. After Hours ⎢ There’s more to life than work. This index counts the places to go and things to do after work and on weekends. (Lexington scores 6 out of 10.)

5. Learning ⎢ Is Lexington committed to high quality education, for all of its citizens? This index tallies educational opportunities and expenditures, public library use, Wi-Fi hotspots, and more. (Lexington scores 5 out of 10.)

6. Around Town ⎢ How easy is it to get to where you want to go in Lexington? This index measures your “walkability,” airport activity, commute times, and mass transit opportunities. (Lexington scores 5 our of 10.)

7. Social Capital ⎢ Great talent comes in every race, creed, and color. This index accounts for how open, safe, and accessible Lexington is to all people. It includes measures of diversity, crime rates, voter participation rates, and the percentage of women and minority-owned businesses. Tom Eblen had a great post about the importance of this in Lexington here. (Lexington scores 7 out of 10.)

How to make Lexington even healthier...

The seven indexes of a "Next City" are Vitality, Earning, Learning, Around Town, After Hours, Cost of Lifestyle and Social Capital.

Vitality focuses on Lexington's health; what are the region's mortality rates, obesity levels, air and water quality and availability of parks and trails? The "Handprint" (right) compares Lexington to Next Cities (all U.S. cities with over 100,000 people) and to Madison. Lexington scores a “6” in Vitality, slightly better than average (“5”) and lower than Madison, which scores an 8.

Participants on the Madison city visit had a lot of energy and ideas about Lexington's Vitality index. Here are their responses to two questions about Lexington's Vitality. (Note: Ideas have been edited for clarity and brevity, but emphasis, e.g. all caps, underlining, etc., are original):

Q1: If Lexington's success in the Vitality index was completely guaranteed, what bold steps might we choose?

Implement a comprehensive AND USEABLE planned series of bike, walking, and trails to encourage everyday non-auto transportation:

• Connect green ways with water ways
• Ensure that bike/walk trails are on every street and connect to every community
Connect our paths (bike/walking/horseback riding) systems
Create new ways to get over/under New Circle
Value alternative transportation options equally to that of car-based transportation
Require more stringent “green” compliance, e.g. require or incent recycling by business
Use "Natural Step" principles as guidance

Improve attitudes and behaviors towards healthful living:

Offer major incentives for changes in lifestyle - bike, one car families etc...
Offer Bonus/Incentive based on 4 principles of sustainability
Promote top-notch wellness programs, e.g. incentivize health, incentivize prevention of disease
Add more 2nd Sunday type activities more frequently
Ring downtown with parking centers, to encourage walking
More public toilets downtown
Ask all chefs/restaurants to reduce portion sizes
Promote use of local foods/products to chefs, and among public

Ensure our children learn healthful behaviors:

• Invest in school-based health programs that promote students' health and well being
• Eliminate soda machines in K-12 schools
• Require K-12 children to be activite 30-60 min/day in school
• Provide organic foods in schools
• Make UK campus pedestrian only
• Educate future generations on transportation, mass transit
• Ensure that children can walk to their schools

Consider alternatives to the predominant one-car-per-person transportation infrastructure such as:

Build high density downtowns and city centers, so that people can walk to work, to grocery store, etc.
Build rail to connect Lexington, Louisville, Cincinnati
Value non-car alternatives at the same level as car-centered alternatives, e.g. put bike racks in prime parking locations

Brand/Market the city as a vital place:

• Invest and budget for things symbolic of vitality - trees, exercise, water sheds, farms, street-scape
• Brand city to vitality - live, play, connect
• Establish “vitality” as a community value, and take the politics out of “green” i.e. it shouldn’t be a “liberal” vs. “conservative” issue; it's a sustainability issue
• Educate the public on how well the recycling programs are doing

Q2: What’s the very next action we - as individuals or as a group - can take to ensure future excellence in the Vitality index?

• GET THE FACTS! regarding bike trails, walking trails and other non-auto connectors and then EDUCATE OTHERS!
• Talk to those who disagree with you and you see everyday, and educate them on the vitality issues that we discussed here
• Show up MONDAY for BIKE LEXINGTON DOWNTOWN COURTHOUSE
• Acquire ROW!
• Write council people to raise awareness and ask them to require green space in new development
• Offer workplace wellness incentives for activity (Here's one idea....)
• Create and prominently display a scorecard with score on indices: vitality, earning etc... (see Handprint above for a start...)
• Start working/lobbying to get trolleys back downtown
• Assign better parking spot for drivers of hybrid cars
• Ask city council/elected officials to establish a set of principles for growth similar to “Natural Step” - a guideline for all future development
• Add recycle bins in downtown/public spaces (and compost collectors)
• Talk to stakeholders about building a local food processing center and collection system
• Ask city council to adopt policy to serve local food at public buildings
• Build trails that are funded - raise funds for those with plans
• Inventory trails and I.D. gaps
• Prioritize which ideas should be public vs. private
• Review ordinances

Making Lexington More Diverse: Bridging vs. Bonding

Tom Eblen wrote a great post on Sunday about the silent crisis facing Lexington: its approach to diversity.

Cities such as Madison and Austin are more open to people who are different. They value diversity and strive for inclusion. They are, the consultant Ryan said, places where “what’s your idea is more important than who’s your daddy.”

It was a point that had many of the Lexingtonians shaking their heads in agreement — especially the 20- and 30-somethings who kept saying, in so many words: Give us more reasons to stay in Lexington. Please.

Despite significant improvement in recent years, Lexington remains divided by race and class. Too many aspects of community life are as starkly black or white as the plank fences that surround our horse farms.

For example, many Lexingtonians do not welcome Latinos, even though the local economy would collapse without them. Gays and lesbians often feel shunned. Young people of all races complain they are not valued — or listened to.

How many white people attend the annual Roots & Heritage Festival? How many blacks and whites attend Festival Latino?

Eblen's post is a strong reminder that cities that thrive do so because they know that talent comes in all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and flavors.

I hope by now you're asking, "Where do I start?"

I learned from Dr. Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, that there

are two fundamental methods of creating a more diverse and inclusive community: bonding and bridging. Both are important, and in Eblen's opinion, Lexington might benefit from a little more bridging.

• Bonding occurs when you hang-out with folks who are similar to you. You've heard of "male bonding," right? Bonding occurs when you strengthen connections among homogenous groups of people. If you're white, you hang out with white people. If you're gay, you go only to the gay bars. Bonding occurs at Country Clubs, among classes, and even at Thanksgiving, when the men gather to watch the game, and the women gather to visit and catch-up on family goings-on. Most of us are great at bonding, because we're comfortable with folks who are similar to us.
• Bridging occurs when you hang-out with folks who are different than you. Protestants who celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, white people who join the Urban League, Young Professional Organizations that host Mosaic events...these are examples of people and organizations who build and strengthen bonds among and between heterogenous groups of people. Putnam uses the example of the church choir; there's one of everything! Bridging is a challenge to many people, because it requires us to leave our caccoon of familiarity and interact with people who don't share our class, religion, or background.

In communities that have strong bridging, social problems aren't "other people's problems," because people are connected ("bridged") to those affected. To use Putnam's example, if you sing in the church choir (choirs are great bridging tools) with someone who's going to lose their home because of foreclosure, you're more likely to give a darn about your city's - and your country's - support for people facing this crisis.

In Madison, there's a recent example of a community that's well-bridged: the Community Foundation announced an unprecedented approach to supporting basic services in Dane County. The Foundation has never made a commitment like this before, but in Madison, there's intolerance for policies and funding that don't address "the least among us."

In Lexington - like most cities - people are fairly well bonded to groups that think, act, and are of the same class. But what are you doing to serve as a bridge between and among people who are not like you? Who could you invite to dinner, what committee could you serve, which ethnic festival might need an extra pair of hands - your hands - to help make their next fundraiser a success?

What action can you take today to be a bridge-builder for Lexington?