a visit to Gluespace

Now here's a site that addresses an urgent need -- tapping and articulating the wisdom, knowledge and yearnings of the rising Great Lakes generation of young professionals and others in urban areas. Listening to these voices (and heeding their message) will yield both hope and insights for the future.

Much has been said about the future of the Great Lakes region by academics and traditional stakeholders in public policy. Yet rarely have 18-40 year olds, the target of scores of ‘brain drain’ research and attraction and retention efforts, been asked as a demographic what they envision, or how their day-to-day experiences in “declining” post-industrial cities inform that vision.

“The economic potential of the Great Lakes region will not be fully realized unless water protection is paired with inclusive and innovative reinvestment in cities like Milwaukee, Erie, and Youngstown,” said Pittsburgh native Abby Wilson, Co-Founder of GLUE. “The shared potential of our region’s environmental and human capital is truly extraordinary, but untapped – partly because our cities are struggling. The region’s cities must be the laboratory, the nucleus, and the expression of that possibility.”