Transcript Our Purpose - Cornerstone Foundation of Knoxville

Purpose of Research

What are the most effective
strategic actions to take to
reach our full potential as a
community?
Research Methodology
(Update of similar research five years ago)
Intuitive
 100 interviews with diverse leaders
 Youth (high school) focus group
 Young executive focus group
 Three Leadership Knoxville focus groups
Systematic
 Review of local and regional economic studies
 Review of “Salt and Light” community research
 Review of Nine Counties. One Vision. research
 Review of national studies on community building
Results of Interviews
and Focus Groups
Dramatic Increase in Optimism
 Question
 On a scale of 1 to 10, how optimistic were you five years
ago that our community was moving in the right
direction toward achieving its potential, and how
optimistic are you today?
 Five years ago: 4.68
 Today:
7.40
 Why?
 Changes in leadership – UT, ORNL, County
Executive, County Commission, TVA, school system, and
quality of candidates for Mayor
 Downtown revitalization gaining momentum
What are the greatest
obstacles to reaching
our full potential as a
community?
Need for Connections

We’re getting better at building bridges, but
our independence still creates problems

Still have difficulty working together

Need better:






Organizational cooperation
Governmental cooperation (even unification)
Regional cooperation
Racial understanding and relationships
Connection of the faith community to the real needs of
the community
Need for more of what social scientist Robert
Putnam calls “bridging social capital”
Losing our Best and Brightest
 Not fully competitive in retaining or attracting
creative, talented drivers of the new
knowledge economy (what researcher Richard
Florida calls the Creative Class)
 Regional workforce underprepared for the
new economy
 Lack of decent-size corporate headquarters
 Inadequate support system for new-economy
entrepreneurs
Need for Confidence and Leadership

Desperate need for successes

Too many starts and stops (particularly
downtown)

Downtown revitalization is seen as the key

Must deepen the pool of “servant leaders” with
high standards and a willingness to take risks
Environmental Concerns
 Air and water pollution
 Urban sprawl
 Gradually destroying one of our
dominant strengths–our natural
environment
Dysfunctional Families, Disadvantaged Kids
 Overwhelming response in 1997; not
mentioned nearly as often in these
interviews
 Very positive comments about potential to
build on Knoxville’s Promise and Project
GRAD
What are the greatest
strengths to build on as a
community to reach our
potential?
Economic Building Blocks
 University of Tennessee
 Great confidence in Dr. John Shumaker
 Plan—with performance scorecard—to raise UT to international
prominence by 2010
 Oak Ridge National Laboratory




Great confidence in Dr. Bill Madia
Major facility and scientific upgrade already under way
Aiming to be seen as the premier federal research lab
Best place in world for research on new materials (Spallation Neutron
Source)
 Other internationally recognized core competencies include
computational science, biotechnology, nanotechnology, nuclear
science, and energy research
 Partnership between UT and Battelle Corporation to
manage ORNL brings together educational, research, and private sectors in
new way—enhances potential for commercialization of technology and new
business formation
Social Capital Building Blocks

Good people







Strong work ethic
Giving and generous spirit, caring and concern
Relative absence of racial discord
Respect for the importance of family
Spirit of volunteerism
Love for the community and hunger to improve it
Potential of the faith community
 Potential to build on Compassion Coalition and
Venture 29/7
 Good leadership coming together across
denominational and racial lines
Social Capital Building Blocks

Bridges already being built
 Way region has been brought together by Nine Counties.
One Vision.
 Potential to build on Project GRAD, Knoxville’s Promise,
Leadership Knoxville, & United Way
 Increasing awareness of need for cooperation
 Generational changes and broadening of leadership

Size and nature of community
 Easy to become involved in community
 Large enough for plenty of options, small enough for solvable
problems
 Effective institutions like KCDC, PBA, and Airport Authority
 91% of kids are in public schools—most public schools
perceived as good
Quality-of-Place Building Blocks

Natural beauty and geography





Unique culture and traditions








Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Four seasons
Recreational opportunities
Central location
Music
Folk art
Storytelling
UT sports
Potential of arts and culture community
Unique history
Historic stock of buildings downtown
Great place to live
 Cost of living well below national average
 Comfortable place to live and do business
 Great place to raise children
Most Relevant Systematic Studies

Three major compilations:
 MDC – The State of the South 2002
 Richard Florida – The Rise of the Creative Class
 Robert Putnam – Bowling Alone: The Collapse
and Revival of American Community
All Other Studies and Writings Reviewed Validate the Trends
and Implications Detailed in the Three Major Compilations

Economic Review 2002 – East Tennessee Economic Development Agency

Knoxville Economic and Demographic Profile, November 2002 – Mike McCarthy

Cities on the Rebound – William Hudnut

Entrepreneurial Hot Spots – Cognetics

Regional Creative Scorecard – Catalytix, Inc.

America’s High-Tech Economy – Milken Institute

Small Business Survival Index 2002 – Small Business Survival Committee

Attracting the Best and Brightest to Memphis – Memphis Talent Magnet Project

Measuring Progress Toward a Vibrant Silicon Valley – Cultural Initiatives Silicon
Valley

Social Capital Benchmark Survey – Seguaro Seminar (East Tennessee research by
Mary Kay Sullivan, Maryville College)

ORNL Renaissance – Knoxville News Sentinel

UT Scorecard – Office of UT President Dr. John Shumaker

Nine Counties. One Vision. – A Region Growing into Greatness

Salt and Light Guidebook – Compassion Coalition

The Church of Irresistible Influence – Robert Lewis and Rob Wilkins

Seeking the Peace of the City and The Myth of the Dying Church – Doug Banister
The State of the South 2002

Report for Southern Growth Policy
Board and Southern Governors –
update from 1986

Days of economic growth through
recruitment of low-wage, low-skill
manufacturing are over

Need a broader vision and new
framework for economic and
community improvement
Big Forces Pushing the South

Globalization – Communities must measure strengths
and weaknesses in context of a global economy

Technology – Transforming all businesses, yet Southern
states (Tennessee included) rank low on preparation for the
knowledge economy

Demographic Destiny – Population gains turning the
South from biracial to multiethnic

Metropolitanization – Shifting from a largely rural to a
predominantly metropolitan region

Fiscal Anemia – “None of the states has modernized its
[tax] system to conform to today’s more service-andknowledge oriented economy”; therefore states’ ability to
respond to new challenges is weakened
“In light of the forces of globalization and
technology, today’s South confronts a
sweeping economic challenge with an impact
more devastating that the sum of its parts.”
The State of the South 2002
Three Most Important Priorities
 Education
 Regionalism
 Leadership
Education

“In an economy gone global and
technological, education has become a
lifelong imperative.”

Education is also an equity issue
 “The line that separates the well educated
from the poorly educated is the harshest fault
line of all.”
Former Governor of Mississippi William Winter
Regionalism
Talent clusters in geographic regions; good
jobs will grow best in those metropolitan
regions that are the greatest talent collectors
 “The South needs leaders who can guide their
communities in forging regional partnerships
and new metropolitan governance structures”
(such as regional confederations)
Leadership
Leadership needed that can help communities adapt and change in a
knowledge economy; can build a common vision; can create an
entrepreneurial culture; can create opportunity for everyone; and is
inclusive

“Every Southern state should pursue leadership development at the
grassroots, in the civic sphere, and for public elective office. Universities
have a vital role to play in bringing knowledge to bear on the major issues
facing states and communities—and in arming elected and civic leaders with
knowledge and the skill to lead in an often fractious democratic society.
Traditional leadership development programs that focus on building a
network among a limited representation of the community are not the
answer. States, cities, towns, and counties require the development of
leaders—knowledgeable of trends and issues, representative of all residents,
skillful in guiding citizens in a participatory process—to meet the publicpolicy and human relations challenges of the 21st Century.”
Richard Florida – The Rise of the Creative Class (2002)
 H. John Heinz III Professor of Regional
Economic Development, Carnegie Mellon
University
 Substantial new research, and
review of existing research, on the
people who are driving the new
economy, and their effects on
communities
Major Findings
 Regions that are succeeding in the new economy have
high concentrations of creative people (what Florida
calls the new Creative Class).
 “Access to talented and creative people is to modern
business what access to coal and iron ore was to steel
making. It determines where companies will choose to
locate and grow, and this in turn changes the way cities
can compete.”
 Cities that retain or attract the Creative Class are
greatly outperforming other cities economically.
The Creative Class
 Distinguished from lower-wage Working Class and
Service Class, who are paid to execute according to a
plan
 Creative Class is paid to create
 They have considerably more flexibility in their jobs
 Scientists, engineers, architects, designers, artists,
musicians, educators, researchers, and those who use
creativity in business, law, and health care
 30% of U.S. workforce – over 38 million people
 “The Best and Brightest”
 Choose places to live on the quality of the place
 Companies are moving to places with a thick
concentration of the Creative Class, and companies are
forming and growing up there
Creative Class seeks the “three T’s”

Talent – Attracted to places where there is a
critical mass of other bright, creative people

Technology – Attracted to areas with a strong
technology base, and by being there they help
build an even stronger base

Tolerance – Attracted to places with tolerance
for diversity. Creative people come in all races
and styles. They value individualism, selfexpression, and openness to differences.
Florida’s Creativity Index measures the “Creative
Capital” of every City-Region in the Country
(Composite measures of the “three T’s”)

Knoxville ranks 89th out of 331 U.S. metropolitan areas

We rank 15th out of 32 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs)
between 500,000 and 1 million in population

At the national average on measures of talent
 For example, Knoxville’s MSA has college graduate % of 24.6%;
Raleigh Durham–Chapel Hill region has 41.2%; Austin has 36.7%

Above average on general entrepreneurship; above average on
patents per capita, but below average on supporting technological
entrepreneurship

Below average on measures of tolerance
Importance of Florida’s Research
 A country of rapidly developing economic winners &
losers
 Widening divide between Creative Communities—high
wage, wealth, and economic prosperity—versus …
 … Working and Service Class Communities with much
less prosperity
 Why communities lose their “best and brightest”
Economic Prosperity
High
Medium
Low
Creative
Capital
How to build a creative community that retains
and attracts the Creative Class and creates a
place where it can flourish

Creative Class prefers authentic urban cores with renovated historic buildings

Major research university or research facility is “a basic infrastructure
component, more important than the canals, railroads, and freeway systems
of past epochs—and a huge potential source of competitive advantage”

Attracted to a “world-class people climate” – urban parks, greenways, bike
lanes, excellent schools, outdoor recreation, reduced sprawl, and a great
natural environment

Attracted to thriving arts and music scenes, an active street and
neighborhood life, and authentic cultural activities

“Communities need to be open to diversity and invest in the kind of lifestyle
options and amenities people really want”
Robert Putnam–Bowling Alone: The Collapse
and Revival of American Community (2001)
 Peter and Isabel Malkin Professor of Public Policy
at Harvard
 Details study after study showing disintegration of
sense of community (social capital) over last 30
years, and how it has affected us
“Over the last three decades a variety of social,
economic, and technological changes have rendered
obsolete a significant stock of America’s social
capital. Television, two-career families, suburban
sprawl, generational changes in values—these and
other changes in American society have meant fewer
and fewer of us find that the League of Women Voters,
or the United Way, or the Shriners, or the monthly
bridge club, or even a Sunday picnic with friends fits
the way we have come to live. Our growing social
capital deficit threatens educational performance,
safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection,
democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and
even our health and happiness.”
Robert Putnam
Bridging vs. Bonding Social Capital
 Bridging – inclusive (example:
Nine Counties. One Vision.)
 Bonding – exclusive (example:
country clubs)
Putnam’s Recommended Agenda: To yield a “more civil,
more trustworthy, more collectively caring community”

Focus on civic engagement of youth – civics education,
community service, increased extracurricular options in schools

Make workplace more family and community friendly
(reward volunteerism)

Reawaken the faith community (“arguably the single most
important repository of social capital in the country”) to get outside
its walls and deeply engage in the community (Bridging Social
Capital–building trust and tolerance)

Foster new uses of electronic communications to link people

Enhance opportunities for active participation in arts and cultural
life

Encourage more active participation in the public civic life of the
community
National Benchmark Study of Social Capital

East Tennessee Foundation participated as one of
40 communities

21 counties in East Tennessee study

We ranked higher in measures of faith-based
participation and generosity with time and money

Ranked lower on measures of trust and tolerance

Conclusion – We need more bridging social
capital
Strong Sense of Community
High
Medium
Low
Social
Capital
Disturbing Fact:
Communities that ranked highest on creative
capital ranked low in social capital and vice versa.
High
Medium
Low
Creative
Capital
Social
Capital
“What is really needed, and what growing
numbers want, is a new model. More and more
people in my interviews are leaving places like
the Silicon Valley to build what they envision as
real lives in real places. They yearn for some
balance between being themselves and having
some sort of community, not the old-style
community Putnam romanticizes, but a new and
more accepting kind.”
-Richard Florida
Social Capital and Tolerance:
Robert Putnam’s Four Types of Society
HIGH
TOLERANCE
LOW
TOLERANCE
Low Social Capital
High Social Capital
Individualistic
You do your
thing, and I’ll do
mine
Civic Community
Inclusive, tolerant,
bridging sense of
community (Bridging
Social Capital)
Anarchic
War of all
against all
Sectarian
Community
In-group vs. out-group
(Bonding Social Capital)
Knoxville’s Unique Opportunity

New Model Community that achieves the
balance of which Florida and Putnam speak

Community with its own three T’s:
 Talent.
 Technology.
 Trust.
Why Knoxville Can Achieve This Balance
Vibrant downtown and
confidence
High
Support for technology
entrepreneurship
More trust and
tolerance
Need for more
connections
More tolerance for
diversity
Medium
Size & nature of the
community
Low
Quality of
Place
Building
Blocks
ORNL
UT
Creativ
e
Capital
Social
Capital
Bridges already
being built
Potential of faith
community
Giving,generous
people
What are the strategic
actions to take as a
community to achieve
that vision?
Talent
Create a world-class people environment through:
 Building on Project GRAD to ensure educational excellence
and opportunity for our most disadvantaged kids
 Building on the relative confidence in the Knox County
Schools to aggressively pursue a world-class school system
 Encouraging and supporting regional and state efforts to
make excellence in education the top public policy and
funding priority (Education Means Jobs)
 Creating a strong, authentic downtown with a vibrant street
life and a creative music, arts, and cultural scene
 Investing in parks, greenways, bike lanes, recreational
opportunities, and other amenities
 Supporting policies and initiatives that limit sprawl and
protect the natural environment
Technology
Build on the technology research and
development assets of the region by:
 Supporting the efforts of Dr. Shumaker to transform UT
into an internationally recognized research university
 Supporting the efforts of Dr. Madia and UT-Battelle to
solidify ORNL as the premier federal research laboratory.
 Using targeted recruitment and the synergy between UT
and ORNL to become a talent attractor for world-class
scientists, researchers, research and development
consortia, and technology companies
 Determining how to support UT, ORNL, and Technology
2020 in commercializing technology and creating a more
entrepreneurial regional culture (e.g., incubators, research
foundations, seed capital, the Center for Entrepreneurial
Growth, the Technopreneurial program)
Trust
Although seemingly at opposite ends of the individuality
spectrum, the strategic actions to build both tolerance for
diversity and togetherness (stronger community) in Knoxville
are the same—that is, building bridges and new levels of trust
between diverse people through:

Creating a “leader full” community by including, training, and
engaging people in leadership development across the full
diversity spectrum

Making a particular effort to engage young adults in the efforts to
plan for and improve the community

Mobilizing the community of faith to “get outside its walls” into
bridge-building community volunteerism and partnerships,
continuing the work already started by Compassion Coalition and
Venture 29/7

Seizing every opportunity to build bridges of all kinds—between
competing governments, regional partnerships; organizational
partnerships; and new ways, direct and electronic, to link
individuals together
The New Model Community
High
Medium
Low
Talent
Technology
Trust
A place where we want
our kids to grow up, and
a place to which they will
have an economic
opportunity to return.