By Michael F. Carmichael
Feb. 17, 2011
| The Grand Rapids skyline. |
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Grand Rapids, Mich. is the greenest city in the U.S. for its size, with more LEED-certified buildings per capita than anywhere. It has more than $1 billion invested in leading-edge health science research and patient treatment. It was once known as the furniture capital of the world and the area is still home to the country’s leading office furniture manufacturers. Its long-time Congressman, Gerald Ford, became the 38th President of the United State. It has a huge Stabile (some might call it a statue) by Alexander Calder in front of City Hall. It hosts the state’s only professional ballet company, as well as one of the oldest chapters of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America and the longest running professional opera company in the state. And, on occasion, zombies walking around downtown.
In short, there’s “there” in Grand Rapids, as Gertrude Stein might have said.
While Grand Rapids, like the rest of the state, has been declining somewhat in population (the result of “out-migration” in federal Census Bureau terminology) two significant statistics stand out:
- 92 percent of local Grand Valley State University’s recent graduates are either working or studying for advanced degrees
- 88 percent of them are pursuing their careers in Michigan (and most in Grand Rapids’ greater West Michigan area.)
Nearly 25,000 students attend Grand Valley, contributing to a total of 77,000 attending 22 institutions of higher learning in the Grand Rapids area (approximately 30 percent of the state’s total undergrad and grad student population). It appears that local Gen Y-ers and Millennials are staying put and adding a vibrancy to the area that promises to pay off economically.
That would be a good thing for all concerned because, according to Michigan’s State Demographer Ken Darga, “The economy is the key reason for Michigan’s population decline. Its biggest impact was on the number of people moving to Michigan from other states. Because few businesses were moving to Michigan, few workers were being transferred from other states and few people came to Michigan to start their careers. Economic conditions also decreased the number of immigrants from foreign countries, increased the number of out-migrants, and decreased the number of births.” The official news about the status of Michigan and Grand Rapids will be released by the Census Bureau in March.
| Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell |
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Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell is heartened by the positive and undismayed by the negative. An ordained minister and former city councilman, Heartwell is an unabashed cheerleader for his city.
“No matter what a dying newsmagazine may say about us,” Heartwell said in his recent State of the City speech. “Our people make us great. People whose families have been here for generations.”
Some of those families have built businesses that have thrived over the years and left them in a position to give back in ways large and small to their hometown.
“Our philanthropic base has remained very solid and they’re willing to invest in public-private partnerships,” explains Heartwell. “The founding families of Steelcase and Amway are still here and willing to invest. The Van Andel Arena’s $60 million cost had $10 million of Jay and Betty Van Andel’s money in it. Our world-class convention center is DeVos Place because Richard and Helen DeVos put about $40 million into that $220 million facility. The Grand Rapids Art Museum has a new gold-LEED-certified $30 million addition thanks to Peter Wege [the son of the founder of Steelcase]. That kind of support you just can’t replicate. If you don’t have it, you just don’t have it. We would be nowhere near what we are today without that kind of public-private philanthropic investment.”