Iowa City Takes Aim at Younger Generation

While larger cities across the nation have invested in luring younger generations to boost the labor force and strengthen their economic future, Iowa City already is a hot spot for the young and ambitious.

"The biggest attraction to that age group is the University of Iowa," Iowa City Mayor Ernie Lehman said. "I'm not sure there is anything the city could even do that would compare with the university."

According to 2000 U.S. Census data, there are 14,872 people between age 20 and 24 in Iowa City and 10,218 people age 25 to 34. Those two groups are the city's largest, more than doubling most other age groups.

In an effort to retain younger generations and entice newcomers, cities have been playing host to conferences to discuss youth-attracting strategies. One of the most recent, Richard Florida's Memphis Manifesto, was put on last spring in Tennessee and assembled residents of 40 cities, including several representatives from Iowa City.

Eight members of The James Gang, an Iowa City-based volunteer organization fostering community development, attended the summit after host Richard Florida personally invited them.

Further proof that the community is a hot spot for the young and ambitious came in June when a study christened the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids area as the coolest place in Iowa for people born between 1961 and 1981.



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