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About Economic Development America
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Growing and Keeping Your Region’s College-Educated Workersby Todd Hoffman, President, Collegia
Twenty-five years later, college grads have a different agenda. This is a “work hard, play harder” generation that cares deeply about how they’re going to spend their nights and weekends. And as the most brand-conscious generation to walk the earth, where they call home is as much a part of their identity as what they drive, or that newest of status symbols – which cell phone they carry. No longer are the best and brightest willing to live just anywhere. In today’s innovation-driven and knowledgedependent economy, the most sought-after grads are calling the shots. Smart employers are the ones now doing the migrating to ensure ready access to a quality, college-educated workforce. “In today’s economy, talent is the natural resource most important to regions,” says Steve Wray, a lead partner in Philadelphia’s Knowledge Industry Partnership and executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League. “Those regions that can increase the quantity and the quality of their workforce will ultimately prevail in the knowledge economy.” In light of a new economic reality in which a deep talent pool trumps temporary tax breaks, smart cities are literally going back to college to ensure that they are producing and retaining the college graduates necessary to start, keep and attract knowledge-based businesses. Case in point: Philadelphia, where affinity for the city among local college students and recent grads has climbed considerably in recent years. This trend is driven at least in part by a talent-growth strategy launched four years ago under the banner of the Knowledge Industry Partnership (KIP).1
Led by a coalition of area leaders representing academia, government, business, tourism and the civic sector, KIP’s primary mission is crystal clear: “To grow the region’s collegeeducated workforce.” Those at the helm recognize that the greatest net talent gain will come from a two-fold strategy of increasing the overall student population and improving graduate retention rates. Regarded by many as the most comprehensive, innovative regional program built around a higher education cluster, KIP is designed to increase the pull of top talent to the city at three distinct phases of what Collegia has coined the “college student life cycle:” First, when students are applying to college; then when they are enrolled; and finally when they begin the job search. With significant involvement and investment from the region’s lead tourism organization, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, a student-oriented branding platform was developed to position the region as “one big campus” and Philadelphia as “a city built for students.” To date, dozens of off-campus and inter-campus activities have been created to facilitate stronger personal and professional ties to the region among the quarter-million students enrolled locally. Among the signature tactics leveraging KIP’s network of 30-plus college partners are a glossy, 48-page magazine encouraging prospects to extend their campus visit into an overnight stay; an outdoor student festival which draws more than 20,000 students into downtown Philly every September; and a college-to-career program that already has generated more than 4,500 new internships.
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