Six years ago, young professional organization 40 Below held its first annual summit, sparking a discussion among more than 600 community members about what needed to be changed in Syracuse, and how to do it.
By the time last year’s summit rolled around — the fifth annual congregation the group had organized — not only were people continuing the dialogue, there was tangible, well-publicized evidence that 40 Below had been committing sweat equity to Syracuse.
In 2006, the 40 Below Marketing and Communications committee sparked an in-your-face guerilla marketing campaign and launched the “Live it. Love it. It’s all here.” branding effort. 40 Belowers created Lipe Art Park from an abandoned train yard and began cleaning out the city-owned Wilson Building in the hopes of sparking a movement.
But this year, for the first time since 2004, 40 Below did not hold a summit. The group’s website offers outdated and incorrect contact information for many leaders. By the end of August, the art park was overgrown and riddled with litter, and three years into the Wilson Building project and the building is still uninhabitable.
Yet the same issues identified at that first summit remain, “brain drain” and an overall lack of pride in Syracuse,among them.
So, whatever happened to 40 Below?
‘Healthier than ever’
The group was founded in 2004, but underwent major reorganization in 2007. By then, 40 Below’s presence was being felt throughout the city. An inaugural group of up-and-comers had been selected for the It’s All Here Street Team, charged with promoting 40 Below and Syracuse throughout the community. The branding campaign of the same name was underway, and each of the four task forces, which cover public arts, civic engagement, marketing and communications and adaptive re-use, had spearheaded a list of projects; the adaptive re-use task force inspired another non-profit spin-off, Adapt CNY.
But by this summer, 40 Below was running somewhat under the radar. It’s sole staffer left the group for graduate school, and there was no annual summit.
On the surface, it seemed 40 Below had given up.
“Unfortunately, we get that a lot,” said Dominic Robinson, a member and former chair of the steering committee. “One of our challenges is that we are almost entirely a volunteer organzation. We don’t do a very good job all the time of translating that into an official marketing package. So there’s still a lot of activity, but it’s not always reflected.”
But a new partnership with Centerstate CEO will be putting new staffers on the 40 Below roster, and Robinson said a totally revamped website will go live within three to five months, signaling (another) renewal for 40 Below.
“It’s an ebb and flow; it’s a constant process of rebirth,” Robinson said. “I feel it’s in as healthy a place as its ever been.”
Re-energized and ready
In a way, 40 Below is all over the map. Between members of the steering committee and the chairs of its four task forces, the organization has roots in many projects and companies in Syracuse and CNY.
Like any other non-profits, 40 Below is powered by professionals with ties to countless other companies, businesses and corporations. While those connections foster partnership opportunities, most of those projects don’t bear the 40 Below name, at least not on the surface, which makes it easy to miss the group’s involvement.
To date, 40 Below has partnered with, sponsored or otherwise supported a litany of organizations, including NY Creative Core, Adapt CNY, ArtsWeek, the Urban Video Project, and the upcoming PARK(ing) Day.
But the group has its share of self-start events and projects, too.
The Civic Engagement Task Force, co-chaired by Kelly Bayne and Josh Shear, is currently nailing down details for its sixth bi-annual Involvment Fair, tentatively planned for the 2010-11 winter season.
Along with the fairs, which aim to make it easy for interested would-be volunteers to find the “right” organization to work with, Bayne said the civic engagement task force has recently begun informal monthly networking meet-ups.
“There is definitely a need and desire for young professionals in Syracuse to just have a chance to talk and network,” Bayne said. The social networking events are held at 5:30 p.m. the third Monday of the month at different locations throughout the city.
For the adaptive re-use task force and Adapt CNY, 2010 finally saw the pay-off of years of volunteer efforts to clean up the Wilson Building on South Salina Street, when the Wilson, Chamberlin, Witherhill and Bond buildings were selected for renovation by VIP Development as the Pike Block project.
The Public Arts Task Force, by nature, has had the most visible impact on the community, beginning with the once-barren train yard on West Fayette Street now known as Lipe Art Park. The park’s newest installation, Brendan Rose’s “Art Shark,” was unveiled this summer.
The PATF, which developed its own crest-like logo, also sponsored a pop-up art gallery and the 5 and Dime art sale and the third annual Mp3 experiment during ArtsWeek in July, as well as the Concrete Jungle Jam in August.
Briana Kohlbrenner, who co-chairs the PATF with Vanessa Rose, said a design-a-bike-rack competition is in the works for next summer.
As the overall group has redefined itself through the years, the task forces have narrowed their focus we well.
“Since spring of this year we reorganized our mission and became a collective group of people who would present public art ideas to each other, vote on what we as a group are interested in investing our time in and then collaborate to produce these ideas,” said Kohlbrenner.
As if to prove it, the 40 Below summit will return in 2011, with a vengence.
Still in the planning stages, the March event will be a statewide join summit between 40 Below, the Southern Tier’s Pipeline for Progress and We Live NY, formerly the Young Leaders Congress.
“All across the region young adults are doing innovative and entrepreneurial things,” said Benjamin Sio, 40 Below staff director. “We are developing our own public art installations, we are opening our own coffee shops, we are rehabbing commercial buildings and houses, and we are running for, and winning, political offices. These are the true indicators of 40 Below’s impact throughout the community.”
{Q}Want to get involved?
1. Go to 40belowsummit.com
2. Decide which Public Task Force is right for you: Adaptive Re-use, Civic Engagement, Public Arts or Marketing and Communications
3. Reach out via e-mail or attend a monthly meeting{Q}
