Challenging Brain Drain in NW Pennsylvania By Gabrielle Bradshaw, AmeriCorps VISTA Project Director According to CityLab, an online platform that focuses on covering the biggest ideas and most pressing issues facing the world’s metro areas and neighborhoods: Over the past decade or so, cities and metros across the United States have greatly increased their efforts to retain college graduates. College grads are a key driver of innovation and At Allegheny, graduating seniors have the opportunity to challenge retention norms by extending their time living in Crawford County and committing to a year of postgraduate service through the Lake Effect Leaders AmeriCorps VISTA Project. Lake Effect Leaders, or LEL, is a multi-county intermediary AmeriCorps VISTA Program Grant that serves as a pipeline for nonprofit leadership development. Led by a partnership consisting of Allegheny College, Gannon University, and Mercyhurst University, the program professionally equips
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10 ENGAGED | Fall 2019
economic development, and are closely connected to the wealth and affluence of cities and metros according to a large number of studies. But Americans are much more likely to move in their mid-to-late twenties, so it’s the metros that hang on to more of their college grads that stand to gain a long-run advantage.
VISTA members to serve critical capacity-building functions in nonprofit organizations in order to eliminate poverty in northwestern Pennsylvania. Since its inception in 2003, 77 Allegheny College alumni have served one year or more with the Lake Effect Leaders. Recent data shows that roughly five to seven Allegheny College graduates serve with Lake Effect Leaders every year. In fact, Allegheny grads make up roughly one-fourth of each cohort, regardless of size (Table 1 below).
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Even more impressive is the dedication of Allegheny graduates to the Meadville community. In 2014, Allegheny graduates filled four out of the seven open Crawford County AmeriCorps VISTA positions. In 2015, they filled four out of eight open positions, and in 2016 they filled three out of five openings. Over the past three years, Allegheny graduates have filled all of the openings. This is an accomplishment that could not have been achieved without the support of the Allegheny Gateway's Career Education Office. Table 2 shows that
