BusinessTN

Brain Drain. Though it may work as a convenient rhyme, the phrase falls short in conveying the seriousness of a problem afflicting small towns everywhere: the loss of bright college graduates who choose to settle in larger metropolitan areas rather than return to the small towns they once called home.

But Tennessee businessman and philanthropist Scott Niswonger thinks he can change that—first in Greeneville, the town where he lives, and then, perhaps, in others like it—with a plan that at least one national economic development consultant calls the most progressive of its kind. Coincidentally, even the plan has been given a neat, catchy rhyme—it's based on an economic model that Niswonger calls "Learn, Earn and Return." The idea, as boiled down in the project's promotional materials, is fairly simple—"Invest in your young people. Give them the tools they need to succeed anywhere in the country and world. And finally, convince them to come home and give back."

Like the problem it's trying to solve, however, the "Learn, Earn and Return" process is a bit more involved. In fact, though Niswonger only recently coined the name for his model, it's best understood as a multi-pronged approach that he set in motion several years ago.

Perhaps one might even say it truly began when he co-founded Landair Transport, a private transportation, warehousing and logistics company, in Greeneville in 1981. After all, he made his fortune through that company and later through Forward Air, which moves air cargo over land. As a result, in 2001, he was able to lay the groundwork for the "Learn" portion of the economic model when he established the Niswonger Foundation with a $25 million investment. The Foundation's partnership program provides Northeast Tennessee schools with the resources and expertise necessary to overcome economic difficulties, leadership issues and low student performance. Since the program's inception, the foundation has partnered with about 15 schools (for three years each) on projects involving e-learning, mathematics, reading and more.

As Oliver "Buzz" Thomas, executive director of the Niswonger Foundation, demonstrates with success story after success story, the results are impressive. Five years ago, for example, the foundation partnered with Grassy Fork, a Cocke County school that had mostly D's on its state report card. Today, it's ranked in the top 10% of Tennessee schools, and it received seven A's and one B (missing the last A by one point) on its 2007 report card.

"It's exciting to see some of the neediest communities in our state begin to perform at the level of Oak Ridge, Maryville and other elite school districts," Thomas says.

And then there's the foundation's scholarship and leading training program, which has awarded 44 scholarships to high school seniors in 17 Northeast Tennessee school districts. Students attend the school of their choice anywhere in the nation, but there's a catch that serves as a key element in Niswonger's plan to get students to return to their roots and give back. Scholarship recipients are not only required to participate in community-building activities and leadership training, but they also agree to return to Tennessee's First Congressional District within seven years after graduation. In those seven years, students can attend graduate school or gain experience working elsewhere.

"One kid just went to work for Goldman Sachs in New York," Niswonger says. "We want him to get that experience working for Goldman in downtown New York before he comes back."

However, Niswonger explains, should a student choose a profession or path that takes him or her away from the First Congressional District, the scholarship is converted to an interest-free loan. Those who do return also stand to benefit from the next phase of Niswonger's plan—providing venture capital help for local and relocating entrepreneurs looking to create businesses in this region.

"We fund a new business for the first two or three years until a traditional bank would have enough history to bank them in a traditional sense," Niswonger says of the venture capital fund, which was established about a year ago.

Once the fund was in place, the question became: Where will these businesses operate? Niswonger had an answer for that, too—the Niswonger Enterprise Center on Main Street in downtown Greeneville.

"It's a five-story office building that will be an incubator space for folks to get a start." Niswonger says. "Four of the floors will have movable walls and partitions, so if a business only needed 1,200 square feet, but it grew and needed 2,500 square feet, the walls would be movable."

It didn't take long before plans for the Enterprise Center led to a discussion of a downtown revitalization effort.

"Companies don't want to see a downtown in decay—that indicates it's not a place they want to be," Niswonger says. "But if it's uplifting, it's probably a place they wouldn't mind having executives live."

So, in 2007, Niswonger launched Rediscover Greeneville. Since then, he and others have been working with architects, urban planners, businesses and residents throughout the community to transform the city's downtown to a place that will attract college graduates and young families, as well as retirees with disposable income. In addition to the Enterprise Center, which involves the renovation of two buildings, the group's plans include the renovation of 10 buildings that will represent 60,000 square feet of retail and loft apartments. Bob Cantler, general manager of the Morgan Square Development group that is heading the revitalization effort, says both projects are in the design phase, and he hopes construction will begin early next year. Though the response from the community has largely been positive, he says he has encountered skeptics who wonder whether all this is "really going to happen."

But Cantler only has to point to Niswonger's previous efforts to improve quality of life in Greeneville. Niswonger contributed $5.5 million to a $2.5 million building project at Greeneville High School to build a state-of-the-art performing arts center for both high school and community use. And when Greeneville's Tusculum College needed to upgrade its baseball facility for Division II play, the businessman saw to the construction of a $5 million, 2,400-seat stadium that's also home to the Greeneville Astros, the Appalachian League Rookie Squad of the Houston Astros.

"So," Cantler says, "If history is any indication..."

All told, Niswonger estimates that his efforts to improve quality of life and bring back the region's best and brightest will amount to a $100 million investment. And while the investment is certainly significant, it was the overall plan that impressed Chuck D'Aprix, principal of Economic Development Visions and the Downtown Entrepreneurship Project.

"To hear about a program like this is astounding," says D'Aprix, who has 27 years of experience as an economic development consultant working with about 150 communities in 44 states across the country. "I've visited countless downtowns around the country, and that's a pretty progressive approach. The fact that this gentleman is going forward to get students to return after college and coupling it with downtown revitalization is creative and almost unheard of."

D'Aprix says Niswonger is smart to invest in the people, not just the buildings.

"When you start to invest in people and develop a talent pool for the long haul, that can have ramifications beyond the initial group of people," D'Aprix says. "It will extend to their children's children. It's economic legacy building."

Cantler says that's part of the plan. Decades from now, the hope is that scholars who have returned will be contributing to the community much in the way Niswonger is. The "Learn, Earn and Return" model, then, perpetuates itself.

"That would be the ultimate goal, but that's not one we're going to see in our lifetime," Cantler says.

In the meantime, though, Cantler and Niswonger say they'll know if they are succeeding when the lofts, retail space and office building are occupied.

"That will be a key factor," Cantler says. "Once you build residential, how quickly can you fill it up? As soon as you develop retail spaces, how soon can you get stores in those? We're building a 50,000-square-foot building and seeking organizations that want to move in and be a part of the program."

They'd also like to share their approach with other communities across the country as a model of economic sustainability for small-town America.

"Once you've learned this, if you can save others that training wheel step, then we're all for that, particularly if it will help our neighbors in Tennessee," Niswonger says.

There's a piece of trivia that says there's a Greenville in every state. That's not quite true—33 states have one (and Tennessee's Greeneville is the only one spelled with that third "e")—but if Niswonger has his way, there may someday be the equivalent of a "Learn, Earn, and Return" plan in all fifty.