Sunday, June 19, 2005

City/University/Alumni Working Together

Cape Girardeau’s Show Me Center was one of the many wonders that I found when I was doing my research on BoomtownUSA. This was a project that was done jointly between the city and university, one of only eight such projects done jointly in the USA.

Why aren’t more done in this manner?

I attribute it to a “silo mentality” of groups only working in their own silo, instead of working cooperatively together. An example of this silo mentality is in the area of recruiting back alumni to the agurbs®. In searching for many years I’ve only found one place that is doing this effectively—Spokane, WA. This week my e-zine, which you can sign up to receive for free on my website, discussed how Spokane has effectively developed their program.

The following email in response to my ezine is another example of how the town of Pocatello and ISU have worked together to develop a bigger project than either could do alone, fully utilizing their alumni in their fundraising efforts.

“I was interested in this article as it relates to Pocatello and Idaho State University. We began a capital campaign for a new performing arts center and we directed our efforts to our alumni. We had initially targeted the $30 Million cost of the new facility but we broadened our scope at the suggestion of one of our "movers and shakers". To make a long story short, the foundation has raised over $150 Million on the project. Alumni are a wonderful source of not only money as you suggest but also to assist in our continued efforts of economic development.”

Why don’t more agurbs® utilize this wonderful untapped resource?

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