A $10 million Milwaukee Residency Program that would attract startup founders to the city from out of state was among many recommendations from the city of Milwaukee's Millennial Task Force, according to the group's final report published last month.
The Common Council created the task force in 2019 to investigate "brain drain" — the phenomenon of students and educated workers leaving the city — and to provide solutions to attract and retain millennials, defined as people born between 1981 and 1996.
The task force's recommendations were related to infrastructure and transportation, employment and economic development, racial and criminal justice, health and wellness, education, and marketing and storytelling.
Some of the recommendations could be implemented in the short term, while other ideas — including the startup residency program — would take more time, said Milwaukee Ald. Cavalier Johnson, who sponsored the task force.
The residency program would award $50,000 grants to innovative, job-creating startups that agree to establish their business headquarters in Milwaukee for at least one year in exchange for access to a network of resources here, according to the report.
The idea is modeled after the Arch Grants program in St. Louis, said Jeremy Fojut, co-founder of Newaukee and a member of the task force's economic development workgroup. That program has funded more than 170 companies that have created more than 2,300 jobs and raised $355 million in follow-on capital, according to the Arch Grants website.
Some of Milwaukee's most successful startups — including Bright Cellars, Fiveable and Washbnb — were created by out-of-state founders who moved to the city, Fojut said. However, he said he's skeptical that the startup residency idea will move forward in Milwaukee.
"I think the city is too risk-averse to do this," Fojut said. "We have a moment in time here with the CARES Act funding to take a little bit more risk than we have in the past, and this is the moment to do it."
The Milwaukee Common Council accepted the task force's report on Tuesday. The next step is for council members to work with the task force and various city agencies to review the recommendations and discuss implementation, Johnson said.
Funding for any of the recommended initiatives would need to be allocated through the city's budgeting process, Johnson said. However, he added that some of the recommendations — such as eliminating jaywalking as a city offense and creating a city Department of Transformation that would act as a "modern-day suggestion box" — do not require funding.
Johnson added that other stakeholders — including Milwaukee County, the state of Wisconsin, Milwaukee Public Schools, and local nonprofits and private companies — should consider the recommendations, too.
"This is something for every sector in Milwaukee to look at because there really is something in there for everybody," Johnson said. "All of us want to have a growing and welcoming community for these young, talented individuals who are highly mobile to settle in."
The task force was chaired by Marquayla Ellison, a graphic designer and owner of Elastic Designs LLC, and the president of Social X MKE, a young professional diversity and inclusion consulting group.
Other task force members included representatives from Northwestern Mutual, the Milwaukee Urban League, Greater Milwaukee Committee, Wheel & Sprocket, the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce and the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, among others.
More information is available on the Milwaukee Millennial Task Force website.
