Frequently Asked Questions of the Greater Louisville Project

What is the Mission of the GLP?
How did you arrive at the three Deep Drivers of Change?
Where does the list of “peer cities” come from – who says those cities are our peers?
What area does the data cover?
Why focus on Bachelors Degrees as the education Deep Driver?
What about the quality of arts and cultural institutions, or recreation opportunities, as critical for attracting knowledge workers?  What about health indicators and measures of environmental quality?
What can I do to further these goals?

What is the Mission of the GLP? (back to top)

The Greater Louisville Project is a non-partisan civic initiative designed to ensure that Louisville moves into the top tier of American cities.

Its mission is to act as a catalyst, using research, data analysis and civic dialogue to engage leaders from the region's key sectors to come together around a shared agenda to achieve long-term civic progress.

It pursued that mission initially by commissioning and publishing The Brookings Institution Report, “Beyond Merger:  A Competitive Vision for the Regional City of Louisville” five years ago.   Its work since then has focused on sustaining and achieving the Competitive City Agenda spelled out in that report, which assessed Louisville strengths and weaknesses compared to its peer cities.

How did you arrive at the three Deep Drivers of Change? (back to top)

We followed the same process we used in choosing the 36 indicators tracked in the Competitive City Report published in January, 2005.  We researched and evaluated key data sets related to each dimension of the Competitive City Agenda put forward by the Brookings Institution in “Beyond Merger:  A Competitive Vision for the Regional City of Louisville.”  That agenda was based on The Brookings Institution’s research into the qualities and characteristics of cities that are faring well in the 21st Century economy.  It says that cities need to

• “Fix the Basics,” which in Louisville’s case meant improve education attainment;
• “Build on Assets,” which includes economic development and community assets and amenities that attract knowledge workers;
• “Create Quality Neighborhoods,” because people they talked to here clearly equated the quality of neighborhoods with quality of life;
• “Invest in Working Families,” which focused on improving the economic stability of families with low-wage workers; and
• “Balance Regional Growth,” which focused on policy and planning to ensure that Jefferson County does not hollow out as the region grows over the course of this century.

In choosing the 36 Indicators, we convened an Advisory Board that included approximately 50 individuals from various sectors and institutions involved in the Competitive City Agenda and, over the course of a year, tested the validity of various measures, or indicators, for illuminating progress and challenges in implementing the agenda the Brookings Report had spelled out for Louisville and its region.

When we honed those Indicators down to the Deep Drivers, we engaged various advisors in discussions designed to prioritize indicators and identify those that resonated as most significant – or “deep drivers”-- prompting change that would “drive” improvement in multiple areas, or dimensions of the agenda.  In order to increase the number of young adults with a Bachelor’s Degree, for example, improvements in early childhood education and in K-12 education achievement would also have to occur, including raising reading, math and science scores.

In other words, like the goal of Every1Reads, we were looking for individual indicators that would also drive improvement in other areas.   The theory behind Every1Reads is that if every child in the Jefferson County Public Schools were reading on grade level, education achievement would also rise in other areas, not just in reading. 

Working with the data sets for all of the Indicators and thinking about them in that way, we honed the focus to education, 21st Century jobs, and a measure for achieving balanced regional growth.  We looked for markers that would point to community progress in building the type of workforce, job base, and growth environment that position Louisville Metro advantageously in the competition for jobs, people, and talent for the 21st Century.

Where does the list of “peer cities” come from – who says those cities are our peers? (back to top)

We used the list of cities outside the Commonwealth of Kentucky identified by Dr. Paul Coomes of the University of Louisville as “peers” to Louisville, meaning cities roughly located in our region of the country (Midwest and southeast) that are roughly comparable to Louisville in size and against which we tend to be compared by professionals in the field of economic development.

What area does the data cover? (back to top)

For all of the original 36 indicators, we “ran the numbers” for both Jefferson County and the MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the Bureau of the Census).  Our partners at the University of Louisville, Michael Price and his team, calculated the rate of improvement that each city on the list of cities identified as peers for Louisville (outside of Kentucky) experienced from 1990-2000.  Next we calculated what the 2010 Census will show if each of those cities (and Louisville Metro) sustained the same rate of improvement over this decade.

That told us that although Louisville Metro was one of the fastest improving cities on several measures, it would move up on the list of competitor cities very little – if it only continues the rate of change that it experienced from 1990-2000.

Next our partners at U of L calculated what it would take – how much we would have to accelerate the pace of change – in order for Louisville Metro to move into the top five cities on the list.  Those are the quantifiable goals that we put forward in the Deep Drivers presentation.

Our partners at U of L performed these same calculations for all of the peer cities (using the core county of which they are a part) and also for each Metropolitan Statistical Area (surrounding counties in each region). 

When all of that work was finished, we shared the results with our Advisory Board, which pushed us to focus on Louisville Metro, or Jefferson County, primarily in our presentation of the data because they believed that focusing on a narrower goal would facilitate “getting our arms around” the idea of working to achieve these big goals.  Also, their reasoning was that if we built momentum for change in Louisville Metro, we could also expand or translate that momentum throughout the region, partnering with entities such as One Southern Indiana and KPDA to spread the word..

As our website grows, we will begin to publish data for both Louisville Metro and the MSA, which includes Bullitt, Oldham, Spencer, Shelby, Trimble, Henry, Nelson and Meade counties in Kentucky, and Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Washington counties in Indiana and for the peer city comparisons also at both the core county and MSA levels where appropriate.

Why focus on Bachelors Degrees as the education Deep Driver? (back to top)

Improving overall educational attainment is the overarching focus.  We chose to focus on the number of young adults (age 25-34) who hold a Bachelor’s Degree in part because it resonates as an indicator of overall improvement toward becoming a more educated community.  In addition, it is an indicator that economic development prospects assess in judging the skills and competitive strength of a community.  

Our intention in focusing on that measure of progress is not to downplay the importance of other levels of post-secondary education.  National research shows that what’s key for individuals in the 21st Century is some level of post-secondary education – not necessarily a Bachelor’s Degree.  The goal is actually stated that we need to “double our efforts in education and increase the number of young adults with a bachelor’s degree by 10,000, while bringing about comparable increases in high school graduation, associate degrees and technical certificates.”

Another key note:  that particular measure – the number of young adults with a Bachelor’s Degree - -is one on which we are making rapid improvement as a community, so featuring it will help build confidence that we can achieve important change.  

What are professional and technical jobs?  Aren’t manufacturing jobs important too?

Both the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics break down the types of jobs in a local economy into several groupings.  We chose to focus on professional and technical jobs as a proxy for “new economy” jobs or “knowledge-based” jobs – two ways in which many writers and economists talk about the types of jobs that build economic strength in the 21st Century. 

Professional and technical jobs include job categories such as engineering and information technology, health care, management, and law, but also education (teachers) arts, and media.  As a category, it does not include every desirable job we might strive to create or attract in our community, but taken as a whole, our conclusion was that it represents a good “proxy” for building economic strength that can be measured regularly from reliable sources.

Manufacturing jobs represent a vital sector of our economy, and we must nurture their continued strength in our economic base.  However, it is commonly accepted that a strong local economy in the 21st Century must be diverse and include a mix of high-skill, high-wage jobs.  We concluded that jobs in the professional and technical category represent the type of employment that will generate strong economy for this Century.

What about the quality of arts and cultural institutions, or recreation opportunities, as critical for attracting knowledge workers?  What about health indicators and measures of environmental quality? (back to top)

Those are all critical dimensions to overall community vitality and strength – they represent dimensions or aspects of the total picture of our community’s position.   Again, our intention in identifying three Deep Drivers was not to downplay the importance of other dimensions of what makes our community great, or its important civic agenda, but to identify aspects or measures of community life that would have a ripple effect for the good. 

Until this year, we have not had adequate  indicators for health, or the environment, both of which are critical measures of community health and future prospects.  Those were probably the greatest weaknesses of the Brookings Report and the Competitive City Report.  We are working to identify good measures of those two important dimensions of community vitality that we can include in the second edition of the Competitive City Report to be published in January.

What can I do to further these goals? (back to top)

The first, most important step, is to become involved, understand these issues, and elevate their importance throughout the community, beginning at work, at home, and in your civic activities.  Discuss these issues and help mobilize action to achieve these goals. 

That can take many forms – from simply volunteering for an education initiatives such as Every1Reads, to working with young people in other ways to encourage education achievement and post-secondary education attainment.  Bring these goals to the attention of groups with which you are involved and encourage them to identify ways to support achieving these goals.

Go to our website www.greaterlouisvilleproject.org and explore the Competitive City Action Network for more ideas about initiatives that are underway in our community to achieve these goals.

Find an initiative listed there and contribute your time, energy and support to further their efforts.  Get your neighbor, your church group, your book club, your department at work to do it too.  Become involved in creating positive change in this community.  Watch it happen – and help make it happen!