$1 million competition aims to boost number of college grads in urban centers across the U.S.

Talent Dividend Prize’ highlights the education’s role in strengthening economies.

Tues. 05/10/11, TROY, MICHIGAN -- More than 50 U.S. cities have entered a competition to boost the number of residents with a college degree and win $1 million.

The “Talent Dividend Prize” will be given to the metropolitan area with the greatest increase in the number of post-secondary degrees granted per capita over three years.

The aim is to increase college attainment in U.S. cities by 1 percent. The nonprofit organization that will award the prize, CEOs for Cities, estimates that increase would be worth $124 billion a year in increased national earnings.

CEOs for Cities President and CEO Lee Fisher and sponsors of the prize launched the competition today at an event in Chicago.

“There are huge financial gains that can be achieved through small improvements in educational attainment in our cities,” said Fisher. “This competition is part of our ongoing effort to generate awareness, and ultimately action, among urban leaders of the potential economic returns that can be achieved by increasing the rate of college degrees by just 1percentage point. Simply put, the more educated a city’s population, the more robust its economy will be.”

Based in Chicago, CEOs for Cities is a network of urban leaders advancing the next generation of American cities. Its research indicates that 58 percent of a city’s success, measured by per capita income, can be attributed to the percentage of the adult population with a college degree. The current median four-year college attainment rate in nation’s the 51 largest metropolitan areas is 29.4 percent.

The $1 million prize can be used by the winning city to launch a national promotional campaign centered on talent development. The winner will be announced in September 2014.

To be eligible for the competition, cities had to register by May 2 and be the largest metropolitan area in the state, or have a population of 500,000 based on 2009 Census data.

The Talent Dividend Prize is supported by The Kresge Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education.

As an added incentive to competing cities, Kresge announced today that it will award up to $570,000 in $10,000 “challenge grants” to cities that secure $10,000 from donors to support local college achievement. Challenge grant funds can be used by cities to:

• Further develop their college achievement plan to increase the number of local college graduates;
• Raise awareness of the value of improving college achievement;
• Convene partners to improve local college achievement.

“While only one city will be awarded the million dollar prize, all competitors will benefit as they work with their community partners to increase talent in their cities.” said Kresge President Rip Rapson.

Competing cities include:

For more information, contact Cynthia Shaw, cbshaw@kresge.org or call 248-643-9630.

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