Helping cities tell their story
The Sought-after City program helps cities attract & retain residents by Deepening understanding and connection.
People can work from literally anywhere these days. It’s no wonder cities of all sizes and locations are focused on one question: How can we attract AND retain residents and businesses? How can we become a Sought-After City?
Whether you’re a 60,000 person town with a great historic main street like Pontiac, MI; a 200,000 person city that saw its peak population in the mid-20th century like Akron, OH or even a large growing city that wants newcomers to feel engaged enough they decide to stay like Portland, OR, there is always an opportunity to get more people living, working and CONNECTING with your city.
This program helps cities tell their story so people can have a better understanding & appreciation of where they live and work. It also builds a stronger sense of community, promotes local businesses and organizations, increases the number of engaged and informed residents, encourages collaboration & inclusion and gets people to feel connected to their city.
Through presentations, workshops and on-the-ground support we provide the tools and resources for civic leaders to develop experiences that can tell their city’s story to its own residents and stakeholders. We’ll help you find and highlight the unique people, places and projects in your community beyond the traditional tourist attractions. That includes the small businesses, community projects and civic events that are what truly make people love their community. The Sought-After City Program will help your city tell its story to its residents and workers, elected officials, students, funders...anyone that can benefit from truly understanding, connecting with, and loving their community.
“City Institute helped inspire the Akron team to not only think differently about the way we tell our “Akron” story within each of our organizations, but the experience led us to think about how we can collectively work to tell those stories in a more impactful and experiential way.””
Hearing the story of MACC Development, a community development corporation committed the holistic revitalization of Detroit’s 48214 community, block by block, neighbor by neighbor.
SOme Clients we’ve worked with
- Baltimore Metropolitan Council - State of Oregon
- Downtown Akron Partnership - Downtown Las Vegas Alliance
- City of Chicago - Greater Portland Leadership
- Michigan Main Street Alliance - City of Graz, (Austria)
- City of Windsor (Canada) - City of Sterling Heights
- Economy League of Philadelphia - Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
- City of Pontiac
