Why do millennials want to leave Springfield?

A job with the state of Illinois and relatively low cost of living brought Laura Zuniga back to Springfield, where she studied for a couple years, from the Chicago suburbs in 2013.

The capital city proved to be a good place to start shifting her career to the arts because she found colleagues at work and others willing to connect her to the local arts scene.

That’s led to opportunities to display her work at the Central Illinois African American History Museum and paint a mural on a downtown building.

“You meet different people, of different ages, different experiences, people that give you that little push you need to put your name out there,” Zuniga said.

Despite having a good professional network, Zuniga, 27, said she’s considering moving out of Springfield in the next couple of years. And she may not be the only young person contemplating whether to leave.

In a survey of Sangamon County residents released this summer, younger respondents were more likely to say they had considered moving in the last year.

Just over half of the survey participants younger than 35 said they’d thought about leaving the county in the last year, compared to around 37 percent overall.

That could be explained in part by the fact that younger people are more likely to move around in general. But given the demographic shift in the county, the finding is concerning, said Matt Case, interim director of the University of Illinois Springfield Survey Research Office. The office has conducted the study every other year since 2013.

The issue has gotten more attention lately. What millennials, those born roughly between 1981 and 1996, in Springfield are looking for and how policymakers can meet those needs was the topic of a Citizens Club of Springfield presentation and panel discussion on Friday at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.

Four young Springfield residents talked about a desire for more social activities in the city, a passion for community service and the need for a long-term plan or vision for Springfield.

Keeping young people in mind while making policy decisions is important given the county's changing demographics, according to Case. Recent population studies of the area forecast a rising proportion of non-working-age people, those over 65 and younger than 18, and a shrinking percentage of working-age adults between 19 and 64.

“If we want the county to grow and not experience the sort of population loss we could, we have to start investing in young professional and convincing them to stay and have careers here,” Case said.

More opportunities

Zuniga loves Springfield’s small-town vibe and appreciates living near family.

Others her age are looking for a more active social scene and more variety in restaurants or entertainment options, she said.

In her view, Springfield has made progress here, with more festivals and new dining options.

“But unfortunately I don’t think it’s fast enough,” Zuniga said.

More job opportunities in other cities like Chicago or New York City are part of why she’s thought about leaving.

That seems to be in line with national trends. Millennials are moving to the top 90 largest cities in the country, according to Norm Sims, who is head of the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission and presented findings at the Friday morning event from a study published last year on the generation's traits and behaviors.

Dominic Watson, who participated in the Citizens Club panel, agreed that better career choices in other cities can drive young people out of Springfield.

Watson, 33, is the president and CEO of the Springfield Black Chamber of Commerce. He grew up in Springfield and said he’s stayed because he’s committed to seeing the city grow.

“Do I enjoy it all of that the time? Does that translate to excitement at every turn? Not necessarily,” he said. “I think I enjoy it to the extent that I want to be change I want to see in Springfield.”

But part of the challenge he sees is that the city is divided, by age, race and gender. And it can be a place where your last name matters.

“In a place like Springfield, a who’s who town, often (young people) don’t find out about job opportunities or board opportunities outside of word of mouth,” he said. That can make it more difficult for those without a strong social network.

He says young professionals in Springfield who may need mentors sometimes have to hunt to find them. But he also acknowledges some of the responsibility falls to young people to reach out more.

What does Springfield need?

Sims emphasized the need for Springfield to look at encouraging more innovation and jobs in technology to attract young people.

"They are moving to areas where the knowledge economy exists, where people are doing new things, where people are experimenting," Sims said. "...That's something we could do but don't really see much of that occurring in the area. If we're going to hold young people, and we're going to need to, those kind of things have to occur."

The city has made some progress on this. A recent article on the technology news site TechCrunch identified Springfield as one of the top Midwest cities for startups.

That's a designation Katie Davison, executive director of Innovate Springfield, is excited about. She hopes the business incubator and office sharing space in downtown can be a hub for new ideas and businesses.

"Communities that support entrepreneurial thinking and creative expression and innovation are very attractive and appealing to younger people," she said recently at her office that overlooks the Old State Capitol. "Having a place that embodies that, or is the headquarters of that is central."

Some on the Citizens Club panel said there are pockets of good things happening in Springfield but also pointed out what they see as the city's resistance to change or adapt quickly as a challenge to overcome in keeping millennials in the area.

Elizabeth Scrafford, an organizer with the Sierra Club, described her frustration with the lack of a long-term or strategic plan for the city.

"If we don't know where we're going, then we're just going to keep running around in circles," Scrafford said. "It's really time to start making some plans and shaking things up in my opinion."

City government does not have a planner position, an issue debated at length in the 2015 mayoral election.

Sims also warned that public officials would have to start thinking differently about how to engage and inform the millennial generation.

"I don't think local government has done a good job of reaching out and providing information in that way," he said.

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