Milwaukee is betting big on the young, college-educated “creative class.” New apartment buildings have emerged to house a generation with historically low home-ownership rates, and the city is building a $128 million streetcar to transport a generation that has largely embraced public transit. To add to the synergy, UW-Milwaukee has recently achieved “R1” status according to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education—placing it among the best doctorate-granting universities in the country according to level of research activity—bringing great prestige to the university.
There has certainly been a surge in civic pride recently, and the city has attracted praise from national publications like The New York Times, but do “People’s Flags,” Milwaukee Home shirts, a new arena and a Downtown streetcar actually translate into Milwaukee becoming a hub for young people in the same way that Austin, Texas and Seattle have?
“Milwaukee is emerging, I would say,” said Ian Abston, who recently launched a millennial-centric consulting group with developer Blair Williams. “I think it has a lot of upsides and potential. In comparison to other large metro areas, we’re not gaining population yet. However, I think that into the near future, what you can get for a dollar in Milwaukee, job opportunities and quality of life, will beat out many of those other cities. We just have to make sure that we get better at telling that story.”
Effectively telling its story has challenged Milwaukee for decades. Groups designed to champion our city like Spirit of Milwaukee have come and gone, making way for new organizations like NEWaukee. Slogans such as “Milwaukee: A Bright Spot,” “Making Milwaukee Mighty,” “Milwaukee: Talk It Up!” and “A Great Place by a Great Lake” have all similarly oscillated through the local lexicon.
“Every time I hear about Milwaukee, it’s either the drunkest city in the U.S. or it’s the most segregated,” said Ian Lutfiyya, a 2014 graduate of UW-Milwaukee who took a job in the San Francisco Bay Area two months after graduation. “That’s what bothers me a little bit.”
Whether that is a fair assessment of the city or not, it is how many outside of the area view Milwaukee. Miller Beer, bratwurst and “Happy Days” have encapsulated Milwaukee’s image to many on the outside. The city’s segregation and mass incarceration issues have drawn critiques from the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks’ New York-native president and documentary filmmakers.
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“Historically, whoever is running marketing for the City of Milwaukee is not doing a great job,” said Matt Cordio, cofounder and president of Skills Pipeline Group and Startup Milwaukee, where he recruits people from across the country to work for Milwaukee technology companies. “There isn’t really anyone saying, ‘This is what Milwaukee is to young talent, and this is why they should come here.’”
Stopping the Leaking Pipeline
A recent study by the Urban Land Institute published by Time magazine found that the City of Milwaukee saw a 1.8% drop in its 25 to 34-year-old population from 2010-2015—though census data suggests an overall 3.8% increase in the age group over the same time period.
Abston describes recent college graduates leaving Milwaukee for careers elsewhere, as Lutfiyya did, as a critical point where the city’s “talent pipeline is leaking.” He feels that the city and universities need to do a better job tying themselves to each other, specifically citing one example. “UWM should own Bradford Beach,” he said; not literally, of course. “It shouldn’t just be volleyball. There should be a ton of stuff happening there that UWM would kind of stake claim to.”
Cordio echoes this point, stressing that students who fail to engage with the community while in school are more likely to leave after graduation. “We need to be doing more to get college students when they’re here, because they’re our biggest attractor of talent to the region,” he said. “We need to get them off campus and into the community to experience the cultural amenities that we have.”
This issue is intensified for the most talented individuals—those who are most likely to be courted by the Apples and Googles of the world. “What happens if you have a great SAT score, graduated at the top of your class or showed incredible entrepreneurship skills?” Abston asked. “What do we have put in place here to connect you to the other top 1% of thought leaders? And what are we doing to make sure that they stay here?”
A starting point would be collaboration between local companies. “We need a citywide talent retention strategy,” Abston continued. “The fact that we’ve got 10 major corporations all bringing in summer interns, and none of them are talking to each other, is embarrassing. They’re all creating their own separate ways to sell Milwaukee, and it’s stupid.”
There have been efforts such as The Commons—a nine-week skills accelerator that connects entrepreneurial college students to local startups and corporations to cultivate and retain the business leaders of the future. While relatively effective, these small programs can only reach a limited number of people at a time. Cordio hopes to launch a program through Startup Milwaukee that will connect college students with startups and high-growth companies.
Investing in City Infrastructure
Connecting people with job opportunities is just one piece of the puzzle. Another challenge is investing in the amenities young people are looking for.
The City of Milwaukee and private businesses have invested millions of dollars in an effort to house, transport and entertain young people in the city. More than 6,700 multifamily units are expected to be added through 2019 according to a report from real estate firm Marcus & Millichap. Many of these units are targeted to young professionals with disposable incomes that are not yet ready to buy a home. The largest infrastructure initiative to attract young professionals has been the Downtown streetcar. While derided as a waste of money by opponents, the Milwaukee Streetcar’s website claims that it will “attract and retain young talent needed to grow Milwaukee’s economy, support the creative class and fuel a culture of entrepreneurship.”
Abston seems to agree with this sentiment, though he admits that this is far from the consensus. Chalking it up to a lack of knowledge on the subject fueled by the talk radio echo chamber, he urges naysayers to experience streetcars in similar cities like Minneapolis before forming an opinion. According to Abston, a number of lower-profile additions to the city could also go a long way. Bringing more attractions to the Milwaukee River, expanding the number of popup beer gardens in county parks and creating a Downtown dog park were also on his list of desires for the area, along with more traditional goals like a better school system.
A Midwestern Advantage
Bryan Burlingame recently moved back to Milwaukee from Seattle. He received his masters in mathematics from UW-Milwaukee, then left to chase the flourishing tech scene with his wife. After 14 months, they made the move back.
“If we were being realistic with ourselves, we wouldn’t have been able to afford a home out there until four or five years from now—at least not where we wanted to be,” he said. “You couldn’t find anything in the city for less than $750,000.”
While housing costs are on the rise in Milwaukee, with affordability falling 14.2% over the last year according to the most recent First American Real House Price Index, a home is still much more affordable here than in many of the cities like Austin, Seattle and San Francisco that get recognized for being meccas for young professionals. Milwaukee also boasts a cost of living that is 1.7% below the national average according to Forbes. (Just spend a day down in Chicago and you will quickly appreciate Milwaukee’s more modest cost of living.)
While no one would be completely happy about a 14.2% increase in home prices, Abston sees the rising values as a sign of progress. “We’re finally starting to get the amenities that people want, and that means things are going to get more expensive,” he said. “That’s a good sign. We as city planners now need to do a good job of making sure that at least some of the housing going up is affordable, but the fact that you can’t get a good Downtown condo or apartment for $500 a month anymore means that our city is progressing.”
Burlingame also pointed to an intangible reality of Midwestern life that drew him back. He wanted to get away from the always plugged-in, constantly on-call lifestyle so prevalent in the booming startup economy. “A big reason we came back was because we could have that work-life balance,” he said. “It exists. You can shut down after work and not be expected to always be available.”
Milwaukee continues to push itself to become a hub for young entrepreneurs and budding business professionals. While the effort is gaining momentum, the end result is anything but guaranteed.
“Here in Milwaukee, there is some kid who has the next big idea,” Abston said. “The next Harley-Davidson is here. The guy who is going to create the next Northwestern Mutual is today, right now, working out of a Colectivo coffee shop. But, do we have the resources that he needs to take his business from that idea to five people? To 10 people? To 3,000 people? I just don’t know if we do yet.”
