Cleveland entrepreneurs answer the question, “How do you get college grads to stay?”

By Lynne Meyer  |  Photo by Jamie Janos

Ohio has one of the largest concentrations of colleges and universities in the country, including top-notch schools in Northeast Ohio. In Cleveland, college graduates are considered vital to the city’s future.
Unfortunately, too many graduates from these schools aren’t sticking around because they don’t see career opportunities here. They view the region as a Rust Belt dinosaur still mired in manufacturing.
The truth is that there’s been an aggressive move to shift gears from manufacturing to fields that require post-secondary degrees. In fact, there’s an unmet need for qualified workers in the fields of biomedical technology, healthcare, engineering, renewable energy development, and information technology.
What’s needed is something to grab the attention of our college students, engage them, show them the many great things Cleveland has to offer, and encourage them to build a career here.

Engaging the ‘Net Generation’ Two Cleveland entrepreneurs have come up with a unique initiative to showcase cities across the region to help stem Northeast Ohio’s brain drain and retain local college graduates. Executive producers Barbara Oney and T.L. Champion call their venture Got*City GAME! (GCG). It’s a Cleveland-based reality show aimed squarely at college students and young professionals while highlighting the region. What makes GCG unique is that it leverages social media and the Web to reach a national and global youth audience.
“Today’s college students are the ‘Net Generation,’” Oney says. “Static Web sites with lots of written information miss the mark, and printed materials just don’t cut it. The only effective way to engage college students today is to communicate with them where they are. And where they are is on social media sites and watching programming on the web.”
According to Champion, “The Net Generation is setting the pace and direction of change in the media and entertainment industries. At the same time they are exhibiting an influence that is driving new business models that are revolutionizing the relationship between companies and their customers.“
GCG resembles the CBS hit TV show, “The Amazing Race,” in which teams are sent all over the world, following clues, to win a prize. In Got* City GAME! Cleveland (GCGC), participants will be sent all over Greater Cleveland to compete in zany challenges and answer trivia questions about Cleveland and the region as they vie for the grand prize – a year’s free residence at the newly renovated Tremont Place Lofts. The prize includes everything that makes downtown living appealing — free tickets and passes to concerts, museums, restaurants, and sporting events.
The combination of competing in fast-paced challenges and answering “did-ya-know” questions gives team members a good overview of the many aspects of the city.
Visitors to www.gotcitygame.tv can follow the teams through a series of webisodes. Similar to “American Idol,” viewers can vote for the team they think has the most “city game,” or the team that knows the most about the city. People from all over the world will be able to vote online, making them eligible to win scholarships that they can use themselves or “gift” to someone.
GCGC will launch on the Web in November. Thus far Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) and Hiram College have signed up as team sponsors, which means they’ll each have a two-person team participating. Oney and Champion are seeking two more team sponsors.
Both colleges view GCGC as an opportunity for their students. According to Bob Bryan, Tri-C’s executive director of TV and video services, GCGC will help enhance the school’s video production curriculum. The school has launched two production classes tied to the show, and students, some receiving internship stipends, will be the production crew for GCGC.
“Part of our educational philosophy is to place our students in real-world experiences,” Bryan says. “About 25 of our students in media arts and studies, television production, and recording arts technology will participate in the video production of the webisodes of the teams’ activities. Our students will learn from area professionals and will work as videographers, audio engineers, non-linear editors, and in other production related areas. This is a great opportunity for our students to gain knowledge and skills beyond the classroom.”
Hiram College President Tom Chema says that GCGC will draw much-needed attention to the culture, arts, entertainment, and other offerings of Northeast Ohio. “This will be a wonderful opportunity for our students,” he says. “They’ll enjoy the experience and engage with parts of the Northeast Ohio community that weren’t previously known to them.”
A host of activities is planned for the teams. The program will be videotaped in multiple locations in downtown Cleveland, Ohio City, Tremont, University Circle, and Little Italy.
Oney and Champion are scouting interesting businesses, architecture, sights, and events for each of these areas. The teams will be directed to specific destinations at each of these locations and will be required to complete a challenge. Interwoven with the location challenges, teams will be texted “did-ya-know” questions about Cleveland. They will have to submit their answers quickly and will earn points for every question they correctly answer.
Because of the impact the project will have on talent attraction in Northeast Ohio, the Employers Resource Council named Oney and Champion “Heroes.”
For more information: www.gotcitygame.tv