Spokane – leveraging alumni

People grew up in your neck of the woods, and moved on…people have visited for annual events and moved on…people went to school there and moved on. Do you see the trend here?…they all move on!

Jack Schultz, the author of Boomtown USA http://www.boomtownusa.net/ (featured last month in this column), says that Spokane, Washington State, has a program that markets the city to alumni of the universities and colleges in the region. They concluded that for 4 years (sometimes more) these students build nostalgic connections to the community, but once they get their degree they leave town.

When Spokane recognised that there was a crop of productive, contributing citizens slipping through their fingertips they did something about it. The Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce has printed postcards that economic development groups can use in the "Homecoming Spokane" campaign. They’re following up the cards with alumni events, profiling recent returnees in alumni magazines, and promoting the city at sporting events around the country.

They sent leaflets to 300 alumni in Washington, DC. – 50 attended a reception, and one has moved back to Spokane and two others are thinking about it. Visit http://www.movetospokane.com to read stories of returnees and the lives they’re building in Spokane.

(Many thanks to http://www.boomtownusa.net/ )

(Many thanks to Rod Brown of "The Clustering Alliance" http://www.capinc.com.au/ for passing this info along. Russ)