A new approach to local job creation
When the State Theater was rescued (possibly from the wrecking ball) back in the 1980s, around the same time that planning was underway for Marshall Plaza at Five-Corners in Uniontown, it occurred to some of those involved that these two – the State Theater and Marshall Plaza – could serve as anchors reviving the downtown.
Over the years, this possibility seemed more and more remote.
The theater and the plaza were shining examples of some nifty community engineering in the face of difficult trends. But nothing – not these two nor Joe Hardy’s later application of time, attention and money – seemed capable of reinvigorating downtown Uniontown.
I held fast to this idea until very recently. Now I’m beginning to change my mind. I read recently about a joint study of the Knight Foundation and Gallup called Soul of the Community. The multi-year, multi-community survey took a look at new and different strategies for municipal officials and public-sector planners engaged in trying to build healthy local economies and communities.
The study, which included nearly 15,000 interviews in 26 different towns and cities, posited that retaining and attracting job-creating entrepreneurs, talented workers, and people in general depended on the attachment residents feel toward their communities.
What fosters such attachments?
In the course of the interviewing, Knight-Gallup boiled things down to 12 individual strands. These included good basic services such as highways, affordable housing and accessible heath care; thriving educational institutions; smart local leadership; a safe, crime-free environment, and “social capital”, meaning the presence of family and friends.
The Knight-Gallup people also heard all about the importance of civic involvement. Apparently seeing your neighbors on election day lining up to vote or volunteering for charitable work tends to reassure people that their small slice of America is on track to do good things.
Though important, these were the lower-rung factors. The top three strands of the study are somewhat surprising.
Residing in the third spot was “aesthetics”, which translates into the physical beauty of a place, including the prevalence of parks and so-called green spaces. People like to be surrounded by pretty things.
Second was a willingness to roll out the welcome mat to strangers, whether coming from across the country or the globe. Being open to different types of people is the hallmark of a community confident about itself and its future – so confident that instead of recoiling from contact with strangers, it reaches out in anticipation to what new folks might bring to the table.
Strand number one was the biggest surprise of all, at least to me. The Knight-Gallup study pinpointed “social offerings” as the most frequently mentioned reason to love the place where you live.
Social offerings denote entertainment venues – theaters and bars and restaurants. One might reasonably presume such “offerings” also include public memorials, such as George C. Marshall Plaza at Five-Corners, and sports and recreational spots, like Uniontown High School’s outstanding football field walking track, bicycle and hiking trails like the still-on-the-board Uniontown portion of Sheepskin Trail, and unused and unappreciated Bailey Park, its vacant ball diamonds aching for action.
In sum, quoting from the study: These three attributes – social offerings, openness, and beauty – “consistently emerged” as the top three factors correlating to community satisfaction “over the study’s three years of research.”
The study found that the three “are far more important than people’s perception of the economy, jobs, or basic services in creating a lasting emotional bond between people and their community.”
It is clear from the study that “providing strong entertainment infrastructure … should be prioritized” by local leaders.
According to Jon Clifton, a Gallup Poll deputy director, “Our theory” going in “was that when a community’s residents are highly attached, they will spend more time” and money in their communities, and they will be “more productive and more entrepreneurial.” Whether self-fulfilling or not, Clifton said, “The study bears out that theory…”
Not convinced? That’s not surprising. The Knight-Gallup study is a new and different approach to a stubborn and vexing problem.
One study finding sounds unmistakenly true, however: “economically troubled communities that have experienced major industrial restructuring tend to have lower levels of reported satisfaction than other communities.”
This, unfortunately, seems to fit Fayette County – “Fayette-nam” – to a tee.
The good news is that Uniontown restaurants and bars appear to be doing just fine, including those on Main Street. As for the State Theater, the crowd that recently came out to see the one-evening-only showing of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was both raucous and robust.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown. He can be reached at dick.l.robbins@gmail.com.