Next City Vanguard Conference

[UNFurbanist]

What do we have to do to get Next City's downtown development conference to Jacksonville?! This could be a big deal.

Is your city the next Vanguard city?

Next City is searching for host cities for its 2016 and 2017 Vanguard conferences to take place in Spring of 2016 and 2017. Vanguard is an annual leadership gathering of young urban leaders working to improve cities. Serving as a host to Next City's annual Vanguard Conference is a unique opportunity for a city to show off its latest urban development projects while getting to know the next generation of urban leaders. In addition to organizing the conference, Next City brings media coverage and attention to your city.

http://nextcity.org/vanguard/host

[thelakelander]

Apply! If Reno can successfully host one, Jacksonville can. The don't have much of a strong Florida presence (Field and I are two of probably 5 to 10 Vanguard alumni from Florida), so there would certainly be interest.  In fact, one of the board members told me challenges faced in a city like Jax would be something that Vanguards would be interested in. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures I took during the Reno conference in May:













I'm overdue for a story about this conference. One of these days, I'll find the time to complete it and share the Reno experience.

[UNFurbanist]

That's cool but who has to apply? The city gov. or a separate group that is just willing to organize a conference and show them around? If it's the latter I say some of the guys at FoHP, Cultural Council and DT Vision should get in a room and whip something up. I'd be willing to participate too if I had any actual say in a DT organization. haha

[ProjectMaximus]

Hey Lake, do you think there are any residual benefits to hosting this? Do Vanguards contribute ideas, energy, etc to the host city in any way? Obviously would be cool to host regardless but I want to get a better understanding of how to sell this idea.

[thelakelander]

For the last two years, Vanguards have been split into groups and those groups compete for a pot of money (from sponsors) to problem solve an issue in the host town.  Each group presents to the community on the final night and the pot of money is utilized to implement the winning group's proposal.  Nevertheless, the major benefit is you're showcasing your community to some of the brightest young leaders in the country (Vanguards from Canada, England, Mexico have attended the last two years).  If you believe attracting a talented young workforce is important economically, then yes, there are residual benefits.

[thelakelander]

That's cool but who has to apply? The city gov. or a separate group that is just willing to organize a conference and show them around? If it's the latter I say some of the guys at FoHP, Cultural Council and DT Vision should get in a room and whip something up. I'd be willing to participate too if I had any actual say in a DT organization. haha

Here's the email, I got the other day:

Ennis A,

The search is on for the 2016 and 2017 Vanguard host cities! Please share our RFP and help us get the word out about this fantastic opportunity to welcome the next generation of urban leaders to your city.

As an ambassador for the program, your support in suggesting cities and partner organizations is invaluable. Much thanks if you have already reached out with suggestions, connections and ideas.

We hope to announce the 2017 host city at the 2016 conference. The application process will be open through August 17th. Look out for a fall announcement of the 2016 host city.

Check out the video of this year's conference as well as this year's RFP and again, please share it with anyone who may be interested.

As always, please feel free to reach out to me anytime.

Sincerely,
Sara Schuenemann
Events & Development Manager
267-239-0762

From the three conferences I've attended, both the city and private sector would have to play major roles, rolling out the red carpet.

[thelakelander]

Here's the application. It should answer most questions about what it takes to host a Vanguard conference:

[UNFurbanist]

Well, it certainly is a lot. Someone should definitely send this to the DIA and the JaxChamber to try and get the ball rolling. 2016 might be too soon but I think we would have a great shot at 2017 if we can get our ducks in a row. Maybe Jax can even have a few small projects done to impress with by then.

[ProjectMaximus]

For the last two years, Vanguards have been split into groups and those groups compete for a pot of money (from sponsors) to problem solve an issue in the host town.  Each group presents to the community on the final night and the pot of money is utilized to implement the winning group's proposal.  Nevertheless, the major benefit is you're showcasing your community to some of the brightest young leaders in the country (Vanguards from Canada, England, Mexico have attended the last two years).  If you believe attracting a talented young workforce is important economically, then yes, there are residual benefits.

The impression I got from you was that these people are all selected for the tremendous contributions they have made in their communities, so I figured attracting them was a hard sell. More like sharing problems and solutions and so forth. Certainly the attention and showcasing the city is a great thing but how many Vanguard scholars have decided to relocate to Reno, Chattanooga and Cleveland since those conferences? You're talking about less than a hundred people or so who even attend right?

Sorry if I sound unreceptive, I am actually just trying to get a better picture so I can figure out what degree of resources we could potentially leverage. In fact, iirc a couple years ago I asked you about how we could bring this to Jax lol

[thelakelander]

No need to apologize to me. I'm just trying to answer the questions you have to the best of my knowledge. It's probably not a good event to host if your core goal is to have a good percentage of Vanguards to relocate to your community.  Perhaps some involved with certain programs, real estate, etc. would be tempted to make investments in the community, but I don't think any are immediately pursuing relocation to a random annual host city. 

Also, I don't know the impact on Reno. That conference was just last month. It got a lot of international press but I can't estimate the ultimate impact of them hosting....or the impact of the tactical urbanist project the winning group proposed for a dead space in downtown Reno. For previous host cities, I'd have to do some research to get their opinions about the aftermath.

[UNFurbanist]

I think just the national exposure and the downtown project by themselves are enough to pursue this. I'm sure non of the people that come to the conference will move to Jax but out of the thousands that follow Next City's publications we might get a few engaged individuals looking to make a difference in a mid-sized city with potential.

[Todd_Parker]

This conference seems to be a good idea but is the city in a position to be able to capitalize on any idea/plan that would originate from it?

[thelakelander]

^Probably not at this moment. Cleveland, Chattanooga and Reno seemed to have a clear idea of what they wanted to become, understanding their challenges and how they were planning to become better 21st century cities. I'm not sure Jax is there, especially with a new administration coming in.  Perhaps next year or the year after would be more preferable.

[ProjectMaximus]

Perhaps next year or the year after would be more preferable.

Well, this cycle is for the 2016 and 2017 conferences.

[UNFurbanist]

Jake Gordon, the head of DVI, tweeted that he wants to bring Vanguard to DTJax so let's hope the process gets rolling!