Young Professionals in San Antonio: Opportunities for Growth

Report Completed by Trinity University Urban Economics Students for SA 2020

Chrissy Breit, Amelia Cover Kelsey Vasquez, Molly Vetter

Research Advisor: Dr. Richard Butler

rbutler@trinity.edu (210) 999-7256

May 2012

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Introduction

This report addresses how San Antonio can better attract and retain young professionals.

Overview

Research Methods (pg. 1)

The terms “Young Professionals” and “Talent” are defined (pg. 2)

Why Young Professionals Matter (pg. 3)

Introducing the Desirability Race (pg. 4)

The Findings: Three Themes (pg. 5) Density (pg. 5) Higher Education (pg. 8) Community & Networks. (pg. 10)

How is San Antonio doing in the desirability race? (pg. 15)

Competitors’ Strategies (p. 16)

Recommendations (pg. 17) Density (pg. 17) Higher Education (pg. 19) Community & Networks (pg. 20) Re-marketing Campaign (pg. 21)

Conclusion (pg. 22)

References (pg. 23)

Research Methods

Review of the scholarly and popular literature

Online survey completed by over 400 Young Professionals in San Antonio

Focus groups of Computer Science, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship upperclassmen at Trinity University

Correspondence with peer cities’ economic development officials

Interviews with industry and community leaders in San Antonio

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Define: Talent Talent is what San Antonio needs to thrive in the 21st century. It is the fuel that can shape San Antonio into a top tier city while still preserving its distinctive character. This talent comes in the form of young professionals.

Define: Young Professionals Young professionals are:

Individuals between the ages 25 of 34 who have attained at least a four-year college degree.

Location-oriented and innovative A report created through CEOs for Cities defines this group as being highly

adaptable and mobile. This report stresses that having a strong pool of young professionals is crucial for cities to succeed in today’s economy.1 The New York Times has further emphasized the importance of targeting the educated class under 35. Once someone becomes older than 35, his or her willingness to move significantly decreases, thus it is imperative to target professionals while they are still willing to relocate.2

The workforce needed for San Antonio’s emerging industries (information technology healthcare, energy, finance, and construction) to thrive. 3

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Why Young Professionals?

Young professionals are critical to economic development.

Young professionals are educated Cities with better-educated populations have higher per capita incomes. 4

“Economists estimate that each 10 percent increase in the fraction of a region’s

population with a four-year college degree has the effect of increasing wages 8 percent at every education level.” 5

Young professionals are innovative There are more entrepreneurs in this population than in any other subgroup.

Use the circle bullet, it needs to stay uniform 1 Progressive Urban Management Associates predicts that entrepreneurship will

be crucial to job growth in the coming years. 6 Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting, noted that in the 1990s, U.S. small businesses and entrepreneurs created 20 million jobs while large businesses eliminated 10 million. 7

Young professionals are location-oriented Young professionals choose a place to live because of quality of life factors—not

because of job opportunities. In fact, “3 out of 4 people under age 28 first pick the place they want to live and then find a job.” 8

This trend is greatly influencing where businesses choose to locate. Companies are following talent, flocking to cities that have large pools of young professionals. Companies recognize that having a talented workforce is a vital resource and provides them with a comparative advantage over businesses that are located in areas lacking talent. 9

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Desirability Race

Having a large population of young professionals is a central component of a city’s economic success.

San Antonio is in a race with other cities to attract this population of talented young professionals

William H. Frey, demographer at the Brookings Institution has characterized this race as a “a zero-sum game.”10 There are a limited number of highly talented young professionals, and one city’s gain in attracting this population amounts to another’s loss.2

Richard Florida, a leading scholar in the regional economic development discourse, puts it bluntly: “Places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people [young professionals] prosper; those that fail don’t. 11

The demand for these talented young workers is only going to increase in the coming years. 12 A culmination of factors [the retirement of the baby boomers, the likelihood that net additions of women to the labor force will soon plateau, and the predicted leveling-off of the college attainment rate] will lead to a shortage of workers, causing even greater competition for young professionals.1 Therefore, it is crucial that cities act now while there is still a chance to attract the resources that determine their livelihood in coming years.

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The Findings: Key Themes Findings gathered from surveys, interviews, and focus groups are constituted by 3 themes: density, higher education, and community & networks. These three themes and the ensuing recommendation are specifically tailored to San Antonio. If San Antonio acts on these recommendations the city will assuredly better attract and retain young professionals.

Density

San Antonio’s community leaders cite density as one of the city’s primary shortcomings. Density signifies that a city has:

A centralized social center [phrase developed by Justin Cole of G-C Holdings, Ltd.]

A concentration of like-minded people

Reliable and efficient public transportation

Walkability

Engaging activities, events, and sites that facilitate spontaneity San Antonio has significant barriers that cause a lack of connectivity between the places where young professionals live, work, and play. Centralized Social Center & Concentration of Like-Minded People

The industries that employ young professionals, the neighborhoods they live in, and the spots they frequent for entertainment and socializing are sprinkled throughout San Antonio. As noted by one survey respondent in an open-ended comment portion, “Most cities have neighborhoods where young people gather and live. That does not exist here.” Similarly, rather than having a centralized social center where young professionals gather, San Antonio has a multitude of little areas that attract young professionals. In congruence, unlike many major cities, San Antonio does not have a strong central business district. Not only do young professionals live and play all over this city, but they also work all over the city. This sprawl is a serious issue for promoting connectivity and spontaneity—characteristics important to young professionals. Valero, USAA, Rackspace, and Clear Channel are dispersed throughout San Antonio. One cannot walk from one of these offices to another. Lacking industry, socializing, and housing clusters, young professionals struggle to meet one another, to develop a community of like-minded peers, and to share ideas with professionals in their industry. Industry leaders likewise recognize that this lack of centralization and agglomeration hurts San Antonio’s ability to innovate and to develop strong professional relationships. Louis Pacilli from Geekdom said that one of the company’s main initiatives has been to centralize the talent base in San Antonio. Jason Seats from TechStars noted that the professionals that come to San Antonio to be part of the TechStars’ 3 month program regularly cite San Antonio’s sprawl as its main flaw.

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Public Transportation & Walkability

The lack of a centralized social center and insufficient industry agglomeration (as noted by Steve Nivin of Sabér) contributes to San Antonio’s shortcomings with walkability and public transportation. When asked the open-ended survey question, “What are San Antonio’s biggest shortcomings?" San Antonio’s young professionals consistently noted inferior public transportation and issues with walkability, verifying the notion that young professionals value walkability and efficient public transportation. In the words of one survey respondent, “I want to be able to be within a 15 minute walk of most things I want to do.” Young professionals want to be able to navigate from their homes to restaurants, bars, shops and workplaces by walking and using public transportation. Another surveyed respondent noted, “One should not have to get in their car and drive on the interstate to get eggs.” Because San Antonio is so sprawled and the hot spots are so dispersed, (in the words of one survey respondent, “Everything is so far apart in terms of happening spots”), young professionals cannot walk from place to place nor can public transportation be utilized to efficiently take them across town from one hot spot to the next. Although sprawl and dispersion innately render public transportation inefficient [going from SouthTown to La Cantera on a bus or light rail is infinitely less efficient than by car], San Antonio’s current public transportation options are considered especially inadequate. Figure 1 shows survey responses to the question, “How is San Antonio doing at public transportation?” Over 90% of survey respondents feel that San Antonio is dong so-so or worse at having reliable and efficient public transportation! 2/3 of respondents even think San Antonio does poorly or very poorly at public transportation.

Figure 1

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Spontaneity

The absence of a centralized social center, coupled with issues of walkability and mobility produce a city that does not adequately lend itself to spontaneity. Due to this lack of connectivity and centralization, when people go out to play in San Antonio, they go out with a plan. Rather than parking their car, setting forth without an agenda, and stumbling into vibrant, unexpected events and places, young professionals in San Antonio drive to a specific restaurant and have each proceeding stop planned. San Antonio’s shortcomings in regards to producing a vibrant, “strong urban core” (a desirable trait according to one surveyed young professional), are illuminated by Figure 2. Akin to the results from the public transportation graph, about 70% of respondents said that San Antonio is doing so-so or worse at having a vibrant downtown. And, almost 1/3 of the respondents describe downtown vibrancy as poor or very poor.

Figure 2

San Antonio is not adequately maintaining a centralized social center, it is not enabling a concentration of like-minded people, it is not supplying reliable or efficient public transportation, nor is it providing environments conducive to walkability or spontaneity. These characteristics are important to young professionals—especially young professionals in San Antonio. Therefore, San Antonio must improve upon these density-related shortcomings if it wants to compete and successfully attract and retain young professionals.

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Higher Education

Community leaders and students included in focus groups note that current college students need to be better connected to one another and better integrated into the city. San Antonio has over six universities and more college students than Austin or Denver. College students are soon-to-be young professionals. Because of this, they are an incredible asset to a city. Currently many of the students that attend college in San Antonio leave shortly after graduation; each year approximately 80% of Trinity’s graduating class leaves San Antonio.13 In order for San Antonio to better develop its pool of young professionals, it must take measures to retain its college graduates. Higher Education refers to:

College students establishing roots in San Antonio

College students investing in city resources

Strong connections between the various universities in San Antonio

San Antonio investing in students College students establishing roots in San Antonio

Students should not see San Antonio as simply the place where they attend college. The city should emotionally resonate with college students, leading them to want to settle here after they graduate and make this city into their permanent home. For this to happen, students must establish roots here. Trinity entrepreneurs who participated in a focus group said they want to stay in San Antonio because of the great connections they have made through the entrepreneurship program. These ties to the city are crucial in order for San Antonio to retain students after graduation. College students investing in city resources

Roots are further established when students utilize the city’s resources. Examples of this include riding public transportation, dining at local restaurants, visiting urban parks, engaging in community service, and attending city-wide events like Fiesta, Siclovia, and Luminaria. By getting involved in the city, students develop an emotional connection to San Antonio and thus establish the roots that would prompt them to settle here after graduation. Strong connections between the various universities in San Antonio

Just as young professionals in San Antonio cite the lack of a centralized social center as inhibiting the development of communities of like-minded peers, college students are experiencing the same disconnect. Due to the location of the universities, issues of insularity (akin to the infamous Trinity bubble), and the lack of a centralized social center that all college students flock to (like Austin’s 6th Street for UT students), students in San Antonio are incredibly disconnected. This lack of connectivity is a major issue because students want to live in young, hip cities of like-minded peers. For such an experience, there must be vibrant places in which all students congregate. Having such a place would produce an agglomeration of students, rather

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than the current situation which is characterized by a high number of students who are thinly distributed throughout the city. In order for students to consider settling in San Antonio after graduation, they must also become better connected to other students in the city. As things currently stand, many students do not even know what one another’s campus looks like. While these universities will never be in close proximity, the city can better facilitate the congregation of these students. If a city has centralized social centers enabling students to meet one another and to develop new friendships, the city better assures that these students will stay after graduation. San Antonio Investing in Students

By providing students with better places and opportunities amenable to their needs, a city shows that they value their students. As things currently stand, college students report that they do not feel valued here. They are poorly integrated into the greater urban and civic life and they feel under-appreciated. Thus, students are not developing loyalty to San Antonio. Many students state that they feel that the city could easily survive without them. The city must invest in and value its college students if it wants its future talent pool to stay in San Antonio.

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Community & Networks

Fostering the development of young professionals’ community & networks is essential to attracting and retaining young professionals. In a survey of over 4,000 young professionals under the age of 40, greater than 60 percent said they valued communities where they could hang out with “people like them” and network with other knowledge workers.7 This theme also came up in focus group discussions with students from Trinity University and with interviews of young professionals. Young professionals are a highly mobile group, who are willing to move locations in order to better their quality of life. Because this group is so mobile, it is crucial that cities find means of tethering them down, thereby insuring that they do not leave. In order for young professionals to stay in a city, they must develop a connection to place. Young professionals must establish roots in a city, develop a community of peers, and feel a sense of belonging. Ultimately, it is this connection to place that will lead these innovators to stay and to invest in a city. A connection to place is created when community and networks are fostered. Community & Networks grow out of:

Internships

Professional networks

Opportunities

Social communities

Internships

If people develop networks and foster connections to place, they are more likely to develop a profound attachment to a city. San Antonio has a vast network of college students that could be future leaders. In order for them to decide to stay and to invest in the city, they need to have a connection to the city. A really powerful way to get college students invested in their city is through internships. Having spoken with many Trinity students and having witnessed the post-graduation decisions of many peers, it is evident that students that complete internships in San Antonio and become involved in local affairs and businesses throughout their undergraduate career are far more likely to stay here than those who do not complete internships or those who do their internships elsewhere. Survey results suggest that too few college students stay in San Antonio after graduation. The survey asked young professionals why they moved to San Antonio. If they grew up here, they were asked why they have stayed or returned to San Antonio. As shown in Figure 3, of those surveyed, only 1 in 5 answered that they currently live in San Antonio because they attended college here. This finding alludes to the greater phenomenon that too many of the college students in San Antonio leave after they graduate.

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Figure 3

Why did you move to San Antonio? If you grew up here, why have you

stayed/returned?

Job Opportunity 51.8%

Wanted to be Near Family 34.4%

Liked San Antonio 21.4%

Attended College Here and Stayed 19.6%

Followed a Spouse/Partner 12.5%

Other 7.1%

Professional Networks

Internships are crucial because they help future young professionals [college students] develop professional networks. Professional networks are what encourage young professionals to stay in San Antonio. Professional networks:

Facilitate the connection of people in similar industries

Lead to the development of new ideas and new businesses

Help young professionals develop communities of like-minded peers Because San Antonio is so sprawled and lacking in industry clusters, professionals often do not interact with one another. In contrast to Austin where professionals can easily run into their peers because most live and work downtown, San Antonio’s young professionals are less connected. Due to the absence of this type of organic interaction, there is an incredible need for professional networks to connect San Antonio’s young professionals. A Trinity student who works at Geekdom mentioned that his boss wanted to start a morning coffee group for local entrepreneurs so that they could meet one another, network, and develop ideas. As it came time to establish this group, his boss struggled to decide where the group should meet. The lack of industry agglomeration and the reality that young professionals—specifically entrepreneurs—are so dispersed throughout the city made it impossible to find a place for this group to meet. Because of this barrier, this group was never formed. This is just one example that highlights the lack of connectivity between young professionals in this city.

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Survey results further speak to the relevance of professional networks. Figure 4 shows that young professionals who belong to a San Antonio-based professional or networking group are over 13% more likely than those not involved with such a group to strongly agree with the statement that they enjoy living in San Antonio. For young professionals to truly invest in the city and to help it develop and transform, they must strongly enjoy living in it. Professional and networking groups help to foster this city loyalty.

Figure 4

Opportunities

Internships and professional networks are crucial because they foster opportunities for young professionals. No matter how great the public transportation systems or how beautiful the parks, professionals cannot be expected to stay in a place if they do not sense opportunities. The common adage circulating today is that one gets jobs through networks—not through the traditional application process. By fostering connectivity, one likewise fosters career advancement. While 80% of Trinity University students leave Trinity upon graduation, 1/5 decide to stay. Of those that do stay, many do so because they have engaged in internships and jobs that have helped them to develop professional networks in San Antonio. Students who have been professionally engaged in San Antonio (while enrolled at Trinity) are likely to choose to stay here because they have strong networks. They feel that these networks will provide them with opportunities that are not available elsewhere. When asked what they forecast they will do when they graduate, junior entrepreneur students overwhelmingly said that they imagine they will stay in San Antonio. The entrepreneurship program prioritizes developing strong relationships between students and local leaders. Because of these relationships, these students are confident that they will have unique opportunities in San Antonio upon graduation. In contrast, students who have not networked with local professionals or industries are overwhelmingly likely to leave San Antonio. Not having established connections to place beyond their campus bubble, many students return home or move to other cities upon graduation.

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Social Community

Young professionals are a highly trained, in-demand group. In many cases, they can choose to settle anywhere. Because of this, quality of life factors are often the biggest determinants in where they decide to settle. A person can have all of the career opportunities in the world, yet if they are not fulfilled socially it is unlikely that they will stay in a place for long. San Antonio is often cited as being the place to settle down and to raise kids, whereas Austin is considered the place to be single. Our survey findings substantiate this claim. Respondents currently raising children in their home are 16% more likely to strongly agree to the statement, “I enjoy living in San Antonio” than their childless peers (Refer to Figure 5).

Figure 5

Not only is San Antonio more suited for young professionals raising families, but it is likewise more amenable to those married or in a domestic partnership than those who are single. Figure 6 shows that 67% of single persons agree or strongly agree with the statement that they enjoy living in San Antonio whereas 86% of people that are married or in a domestic partnership state that they agree or strongly agree with that statement. Figure 6

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Adding a qualitative perspective to this discussion, the widely circulated Rivard Report14

published a post in April 2012 that speaks to this issue. Writing about the experiences of her young professional friends that left San Antonio, author Callie Enlow reports: “While everyone I spoke to about leaving San Antonio stress how friendly, fun, and down-to-earth San Antonians are, they also acknowledged it could be downright impossible to find enough likeminded individuals for friendship, professional partnerships, or romance…’It’s really hard to meet new people and the search becomes mundane and depressing’, a sentiment I heard echoed again and again.” Young professionals want to be able to spend time with like-minded peers. Because this population lives and plays throughout the city instead of in specific social centers, young professionals in San Antonio struggle to find friends, people to date, and social groups. Until San Antonio addresses this issue, the city will continue to lose these talented individuals to other cities. Fostering professional and social relationships is crucial for San Antonio to retain young professionals. It takes more than simply a job to root these highly mobile persons to a locale. By developing strong professional and social networks and through getting college kids actively engaged in the professional sphere while they are still in school, San Antonio can better attract and retain this talent pool.

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Desirability Race: Where is San Antonio in the Race?

In the competition for young professionals, it is important to see where San Antonio currently stands in comparison to its peers. Figure 7 compares the proportion of young professionals in San Antonio’s peer cities. This graph represents a composite measurement; it is the population of people in each city who are both between the ages of 25-34 and hold at least a 4 year college degree. The population of young professionals is lower in San Antonio than in its peer cities. At 7.1%, Austin’s percentage of young professionals is more than double San Antonio’s. Similarly, of the 50 most populous cities in the United States, only Tampa, West Palm Beach, and Las Vegas, have smaller percentages of young professionals than San Antonio.4 Figure 7

For San Antonio to better compete with its peer cities, it needs to understand how they are successfully attracting and retaining young professionals. Austin and Denver are two of the top cities in terms of maintaining a strong population of young professionals. Denver not only has a high population of young professionals, but it is also number one in terms of attracting workforces from areas around the country.10

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Competing Cities: Austin and Denver

Austin

Molly Alexander with Austin’s Downtown Alliance attributes their large population of young professionals to four characteristics:

Austin is home to the second largest public university in the United States UT brings thousands of talented individuals to Austin each year. Students are drawn to the University of Texas not only because of its academic programs, but also because it is in Austin. Furthermore, there is a large community of recent graduates (an agglomeration of like-minded peers) that prompts many students to stay in Austin post-graduation.

Young professionals appreciate Austin’s “laid back” vibe Credited with developing “Casual Friday,” Austin is perceived to have a relaxed atmosphere that appeals to young professionals.

Austin is perceived to be a cool, hip place People flock to Austin to hear live music and to go out at night. Austin is full of late night restaurants brimming with new people to hang out with. These assets play into the perception that Austin is “the place to be”, which further encourages young professionals to check out this city.

Creative and innovative community Austin provides a stimulating environment that supports boundary pushing and thinking outside the box.

Denver

Cole Judge, of Denver’s Downtown Alliance, attributes Denver’s success to the following characteristics:

Great outdoor spaces Denver sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, providing young professionals with premier outdoor recreation opportunities.

Denver has 57,000 college students These college students live downtown, frequent local establishments, and invest in the city’s urban core. Many of these students stay in Denver after graduation

Multiple Transportation Options Denver has made profound investments in multi-modal transportation. Denver has an extensive system of bike lanes and light rail (FasTracks) and it recently started a car share program (Zipcar). Denver has also made significant street improvements, resulting in a more pedestrian-friendly city.

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Recommendations

San Antonio can learn from Austin and Denver. These cities have aligned their core values with the values of young professionals and they have capitalized upon their comparative advantages. Likewise, by addressing its current shortcomings and by building upon its assets, San Antonio can assuredly better attract and retain young professionals.

Recommendations for Density:

Address property values downtown:

Survey respondents noted that there is a need for “available downtown-living that isn’t subsidized” as well as “more residents downtown and more amenities for the residents to keep them there and to attract more people.” Having locals downtown is essential for creating a vibrant and irresistible urban core.

Currently, there is a shortage of young professional housing downtown because the land is too costly. The city’s thriving tourist industry has driven up the price of land downtown so that only hotels can afford to settle.

This high cost of land is a significant hurdle that cannot easily be overcome. With this in mind, efforts should be taken to develop housing in the urban neighborhoods that border downtown (rather than trying to compete with hotels for downtown land). Areas such as Lavaca, South Flores, Dignowity Hill, and River North would be ideal for young professionals as Downtown is still highly accessible from these neighborhoods. By developing these areas into young professional hubs, San Antonio will develop a denser urban core. This would significantly increase downtown vibrancy and the city’s ability to attract and to retain young professionals.

Encourage development of a centralized social center

Young professionals want to run into like-minded peers and to stumble upon activities and places that promote spontaneous fun. By creating a centralized social center, San Antonio will foster communities of young professionals and spontaneity. Developing vibrant young professional neighborhoods in the urban core will produce the agglomeration needed to facilitate a centralized social center.

Develop efficient and reliable public transportation options

Young professionals value public transportation. San Antonio’s bus system is stigmatized because it is unreliable, inefficient, and difficult to navigate. San Antonio should invest in developing more reliable public transportation and it should continue to promote bike-friendliness and car sharing programs.

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Increase liquidity of the housing market

There needs to be more rentable property in the urban core. Currently, several of the downtown living options are only available for purchase. Because young professionals are highly mobile and just starting out their careers, many are not interested in or able to buy housing.

Incentivize agglomeration of industries

Young professionals are scattered throughout the city as San Antonio lacks industry clusters. Due to this sprawl, young professionals struggle to easily connect with one another. Having industry clusters will help to foster an environment of like-minded professionals that can easily communicate with one another.

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Recommendations for Higher Education:

Promote stronger connections between students and the city

By better integrating current college students [future young professionals] into the city, San Antonio can better retain these students post-graduation. Doing this will help to transform San Antonio’s workforce into one that is more talent-laden. Currently, college students are not well plugged into the city. Thus, proactive measures should be taken to get students playing in the urban core, visiting local restaurants, and participating in public events.

Suggestions for how to do this include developing VIA bus tours of San Antonio specifically for college students. Furthermore, VIA, bars and restaurants, the city, and universities should team up to host downtown college nights. By encouraging all college students to play downtown on college night, the city would be developing an agglomeration of young, like-minded peers and a centralized social center. While this agglomeration and centralization might be temporary, it would assuredly help young people realize that they do have peers in the city and that San Antonio is cool. This change in mindset would facilitate the development of roots and connections to place—the anchors that will keep students here post-graduation.

Foster inter-collegiate relationships

San Antonio needs to connect students from each of its and colleges. Doing so will help San Antonio develop a critical mass of youth who are willing to learn, grow, and share ideas together. Establishing inter-collegiate community housing would better connect college students in this city, increasing the city’s youth presence. Similarly, colleges could develop inter-collegiate interest groups or clubs consisting of students and young professionals, thus enabling these two populations to better meet one another.

Inter-collegiate events during new student orientation

San Antonio needs to capitalize on the new influx of students that arrive each fall. From day one, students should be plugged into San Antonio. Akin to suggestions previously noted, the city, colleges, VIA, and local establishments should team up to create college events [every night] during new student orientation week. A college-themed night at a centralized location [the location changing each night] with discounts at local restaurants and VIA buses providing transportation from different campuses, would better introduce freshmen to the city, their peers, and public transportation. Creating these types of events would show new freshmen that the city is a place where they can thrive and that San Antonio values its students and is invested in their happiness thrive and that San Antonio values its students and is invested in their happiness.

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Recommendations for Community & Networks

Relationships between universities and industries Significant steps should be taken in order to foster stronger cohesion between San Antonio’s universities and local industries. An anomaly worth replicating is the relationship between Trinity University’s computer science department and USAA. Throughout their undergraduate career, Trinity’s computer science students are encouraged to intern with USAA. The relationships created during these internships turn into long term careers, as half of each graduating class of computer science majors goes to work for USAA. This pipeline relationship between Trinity and USAA needs to be replicated across industries and across universities.

Mentor and internship programs

Akin to developing stronger relationships between universities and industries, universities should invest in the development of mentorship and internship programs. Rather than simply advising students to do an internship sometime and somewhere in their undergraduate career, formal requirements should be established regarding internships. These internships should be San Antonio-based and they should be real learning and work experiences. To further help students gain insight into local industries and to help them find their place in the professional realm, mentorship programs should be established. Trinity University’s Urban Studies department is starting a mentorship program with the Urban Land institute in the fall of 2012. More of these should be developed. For underclassmen and less advanced students, service learning and community-based research should be emphasized. These classes are crucial not only for helping students get exposure to life in the city, but also for helping foster professional networks which lead to job opportunities. With a job offer in San Antonio upon graduation, these talented individuals will have less of a reason to leave.

Foster social and professional communities

Due to the lack of industry clusters and the inability of different professionals to simply run into each other during lunch breaks or morning coffee runs, intentional steps must be taken to insure that these individuals meet one another. Industry-based mixers should be held at venues amenable to the tastes of young professionals and professional organizations should be further supported. Furthermore efforts should be taken to incentive industry clusters.

It cannot be over-stated how important social networks are for young professionals. San Antonio has an unfortunate reputation of being a hard place for singles to live and to meet people. Steps must be taken to reverse this trend; otherwise San Antonio will continue to lose this talent pool to other cities. As such, there must be spaces amenable to this group’s needs. Networking groups like LOOP and Downtown Alliance Young Professionals should be fostered as these organizations provide a community of like-minded peers that this population so desires. Until San Antonio’s professionals are better connected, the Alamo City will continue to lose this population.

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Concluding Recommendation: Re-marketing Campaign

San Antonio has two primary issues that need to be addressed when trying to retain and attract young professionals: real-shortcomings and perception issues. San Antonio has significant, very real issues that make it less than amenable to young professionals. San Antonio is too sprawled, it lacks a vibrant downtown social center, and college kids are not well integrated into the city. However, San Antonio also suffers significantly from its image. To outsiders (and to many locals), San Antonio is a military town geared towards older adults and middle-aged tourists. This perception significant hurts San Antonio’s attractiveness to young professionals. Young professionals want to be in a young, vibrant, progressive city—they do not want to live in a tourist trap. Unfortunately, San Antonio is largely at fault for its bad perception. The marketing that the city currently produces (see figure 8 )15 is centered on a tourist-based vision of San Antonio. Tourism is thriving in this city and it is an economic asset for San Antonio. Because the industry is currently very healthy, attention should be shifted from marketing to tourists to marketing to young professionals. This outreach needs to focus on showing the outside world what young professionals in San Antonio enjoy doing. This advertising and marketing should play up Luminaria, the Mission Reach of the River Walk, Pearl, and Blue Star. Furthermore, the advertising should show the recreation opportunities available nearby. Los Angeles capitalizes upon the fact that it is an hour from the mountains and an hour from the ocean. Similarity, San Antonio is an hour from the breath-taking hill country and a couple of hours from the beach. By taking targeted measures to show young professionals that San Antonio is a vibrant place amenable to their needs, San Antonio will better retain and attract this talented workforce. Figure 8

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Conclusion

To be a first rate San Antonio, this city needs to better attract and retain young professionals. In the desirability race for young professionals San Antonio is losing. Too often students leave San Antonio after they graduate from college, and not enough young professionals come from other locations. For years San Antonio has been talking about this issue, but now is the time to act. Successful cities align their values with those of young professionals. San Antonio should not mimic the strategies of other cities, but rather should focus on how it can improve upon its current shortcomings related to density, higher education, and community & networks, while likewise capitalizing upon its unique assets. San Antonio needs to build on its comparative advantages and highlight its distinct characteristics that no other place can offer.

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10. Frey William H. Brookings Institution.

11. Florida, Richard. "The Rise of the Creative Class". Washington Monthly. 2002. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0205.florida.html.

12. Cortright, Joseph. "The Talent Dividend". CEOs for Cities. September 2008.

13. Trinity University Office of Alumni Relations

14. Enlow, Callie. “Left Behind: Why People Leave San Antonio.” The Rivard Report. April 17, 2012. http://www.therivardreport.com/left-behind-why-people-leave-san-antonio

15. San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. http://partners.visitsanantonio.com/tourism