Serena Galleshaw at TEDxDirigo Generate
A speaker recounts discovering a new perspective on community in her hometown of Berwick, leading her and a group of Millennials to create "The Graduate house," a collaborative housing model designed to foster self-directed work and combat "brain drain." The success of this experiment has already allowed the community to establish various local initiatives, proving that collective passion can drive local economic revitalization.
## Speakers & Context
- Speaker returns to her hometown, Berwick, after college, initially expecting to follow the "millennial brain drain" pattern.
- Described Berwick as a "small main towns with two stop lights old abandoned farms and way too many used car dealerships."
- Attended her first-ever Civic meeting, sitting in the Town Hall for a Downtown Vision committee meeting.
- Initiated a project with a group of Millennials who were dissatisfied with the status quo.
## Theses & Positions
- The town hall is not just a government building; it is *"the product of real people's sweat."*
- To fight "brain drain," the community must create its own reason to stay through collaborative, self-directed missions.
- A housing model, "The Graduate house," is proposed as a solution: it connects like-minded people with diverse skill sets into a house to work on a self-directed mission.
- Working on something that is personally passionate about leads to observable positive outcomes, summarized by the phrase *"when we work on what we're passionate about magic happens."*
- The project benefits not only the individuals involved but the entire community structure.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **The Graduate house:** Defined as *"collaborative housing for 20s somethings"* that is replicable. Its core function is connecting people to work on a self-directed mission, functioning *"like a startup."*
- **Brain Drain:** The expected migration of educated, young people out of the hometown/region.
- **Civic meeting:** The speaker's initial experience in a local Town Hall committee.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **The Graduate house mechanism:** Replaces traditional internships, allowing residents to work on their own passionate projects within the shared living/working space.
- **Community Building:** Used to generate local economic and civic activity that anchors young people in the area.
## Named Entities
- **Berwick:** The speaker's hometown.
- **Serena:** The speaker's mother.
## Numbers & Data
- The committee meeting was the speaker's *first ever Civic meeting*.
- The housing model is designed for *"20s somethings"*.
- The group managed to host an entrepreneurial showcase and start a sustainability committee in *"the past few months."*
## Examples & Cases
- **Personal realization:** The speaker's perspective shift occurred after attending the Town Hall meeting, seeing the hall as a product of human effort rather than just a building.
- **The "Internship" critique:** Internships are characterized as being *"suck[ing]"* because the work performed is *"working on someone else's project."*
- **Successful immediate outputs:** In the last few months, the group has:
* Opened a beer and bread house.
* Created a 100 member Art Association.
* Started a sustainability committee.
* Hosted an entrepreneurial showcase.
* Run for Town Council.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- None mentioned beyond the general concept of the "house."
## References Cited
- None.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **The Graduate house vs. Internships:** The alternative is working on one's own passion project rather than someone else's pre-defined project.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Encountered parental skepticism, represented by the comment: *"this is great you caring about the community and all but when are you moving out of this house you can't live here forever."*
## Methodology
- **Observation/Participation:** Attending and becoming involved in the local Downtown Vision committee meeting.
- **Experimentation:** Implementing the collaborative housing and mission-driven model ("The Graduate house") in the local community.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The primary strategy to fight local "brain drain" is to proactively create local opportunities derived from shared passion and skill sets.
- The speaker concludes with a direct statement of purpose: *"that's how you fight brain drain."*
## Implications & Consequences
- Establishing local, passion-driven infrastructure (like the beer and bread house) can create tangible anchors that encourage young people to stay.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"it's one of those small main towns with two stop lights old abandoned farms and way too many used car dealerships"*
- *"the town hall was not just the town hall it was the product of real people's sweat"*
- *"I was the vice chair of the committee"*
- *"The Graduate house"*
- *"it's not just about people getting together to split rent and chores it's about connecting like-minded people with diverse skill sets into a house to work on a self-directed mission"*
- *"It replaces The Internship internships suck they suck"*
- *"when we work on what we're passionate about magic happens"*
- *"yeah yeah so we created our own reason to stay and that's how you fight brain drain"*