City to City: Minneapolis 2022

The Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce plans a trip to a different city each year to introduce business and community leaders to innovative projects and principles that can be adapted and implemented in our own community. This year, the Chamber community is in Minneapolis to learn how the city is utilizing community dashboarding, collaborative partnerships, economic development, tourism and performing arts.

Welcome to Minneapolis - Setting a Vision

Peter Frosch, CEO of Greater MSP, details how their regional approach gives Minneapolis a competitive edge.

Minneapolis is smaller than it looks. The city's population is around 450,000 people, making it comparable to Wichita. But when you expand past the metropolitan area, it gets much bigger, much faster. The Greater Minneapolis Area, which makes up 15 counties, expands to a population of about 3.6 million. Tapping into that cohesive regional structure is what makes Minneapolis successful, said Peter Frosch, CEO of Greater MSP.

Frosch kicked off City to City with the first session of the trip, helping set a vision for Wichita's future economic development based off data Greater MSP has collected in Minneapolis.

Let's take a look at the numbers.

The Greater MSP region has 16 Fortune 500 companies and 35 companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion. Those businesses are diversified, with leading companies in health insurance, financial services, biology and medical device manufacturing.

"Seeing is believing," Frosch said. 

Minneapolis also invests in its young professionals. Greater MSP has a pipeline of 36 colleges and universities. Forty percent of the population 25-and-older have a bachelor's degree or higher. Eighty percent of college grads stay in the regional after graduation. Affordability keeps them in Minneapolis and gives the regional a competitive edge over major cities across the U.S., Frosch said.

They have a strong Young Professional program, with more than 1,500 members. The ages range from 22 to 40 years old and anyone is allowed to join. They host three-to-four events a month with a marketing stragedy based entirely on social media. A monthly membership is about the same price as a cup of coffee. The idea is to grow through inclusivity.

"Young is a mindset here," said Lana Truong, President of Young Professionals of Minneapolis.  

The Business of Minneapolis - Working as a Region

Jonathan Weinhagen, CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, says many organizations fight for the same funding. 

Minneapolis leaders stress the importance of regional partnerships, saying nearly every project is a collaboration between public and private entities. But with a such a large region, many similar organizations are fighting for the same funding, said Jonathan Weinhagen, CEO of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. The region has more than 30 chambers of commerce alone, and hundreds of other non-profits and other organizations. 

"We can trip over each other. We can have three organizations ask for $1 each, and then collectively turn that $3 in to $1.50," he said.

There's a shared vision of where Minneapolis should go, but no two mission statements are exactly the same. He said the best path forward for Minneapolis is consolidation and working smarter with the region's resources.

After that, it's about being different from other metro areas. In a post-pandemic world, that means being open to change and getting rid of what no longer works. 

"Normal is a really dangerous thing," he said.

Visiting Minneapolis - Travel and Tourism

Minneapolis spends $10 million annually on upgrades to its convention center.

The first thing you notice when you arrive at Minneapolis' downtown convention center is its size. At 1.2 million square feet, the scale of the building feels massive. Inside, it has several ballrooms, a permanent stages, lecture halls, exhibit space and a bar and coffee shop. Built 30 years ago, the city spends $10 million a year on upgrades, saying that building alone brings in a large percentage of visitors from outside the metro area. Minneapolis' travel and tourism tops 30 million annually. 

Minneapolis is a finalist for The World's Fair, the first on U.S. soil in 30 years. The city recently hosted the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four. They have five professional sports teams, including a new e-sports franchise. Most of this is located in the metro area, where nearly 80 buildings are connected by a second-floor skywalk system that allows pedestrians to walk nearly anywhere in downtown Minneapolis without ever stepping foot outside in an area where winter can be long and the conditions snowy and bitterly cold. The walkways connect more than just entertainment. Churches, downtown grocery stores, salons and apartments are all part of the skywalk system. If you like the outdoors, Minneapolis has more than 130 parks in the metro area. You can reach all of them on bike or foot without ever crossing a street.