What We Do

Experience Tallahassee

kcci-2017-sept7-12

Years: 2018

This team improved University and Community Connectivity. They also created a community culture that embraces college students, and positions Tallahassee as their home-away-from-home, paving the way for them to build relationships with residents and plant roots here long before they graduate.

The KCCI team opted to utilize the “Experience Tallahassee” event as a platform to facilitate these connections.

Experience Tallahassee had previously been a partnership between FSU, TCC and FAMU to welcome students into the community. KCCI’s “Experience Tallahassee Team” worked in conjunction with them to vastly expand the event to include the local community, and highlight why Tallahassee is a great place to Live, Work and Play, while showcasing Tallahassee’s offerings.

As a result, it was a record breaking event. Over 3,000 people checked in at the festival–residents and students alike. Numerous organizations promoted the event and were present. The event was also covered by multiple media outlets: WCTV, FSView & Florida Flambeau, FSU News, WTXL (article one and article two), WFSU, The FAMUAN and WJCT.

The Experience Tallahassee event in Cascades Park include:

  • A “mini pre-event” in SOMO to showcase the area’s offerings. Via bicycle students and community members were connect by guiding the students to a variety of different assets along Gaines Street all the way to the SOMO area.
  • Live, Work and Play sections, including a career-focused area for students to network with local business owners and talk with the universities’ Career Centers and Access Tallahassee.
  • Performances by local organizations, and a concluding movie in the park.
  • “Taste of Tallahassee,” featuring a wide variety of local eats and samples from more than 20 local restaurants.
  • Experiences from Tallahassee events and attractions.

As an additional component of the project, the Experience Tallahassee class also created “Tallahassee’s Top 50” – a list of fifty experiences that students and residents alike can enjoy. The map was distributed to new and transfer students and their families, and has been extremely popular on social media channels with students and locals alike. The team incorporated the illustrated map of the city, created by previous catalyst class “See Tallahassee,” and included experiences within each of the identified Districts.

Special thank you to the Experience Tallahassee event sponsors.

  • North American Properties
  • Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare
  • Arbor Properties
  • Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend
  • CareerSource Capital Region
  • FSU College of Business
  • FSU School of Teacher Education
  • NAI Talcor
  • Northwestern Mutual
  • Structure
  • Ajax Building Corporation
  • Front Street
  • The Office of Economic Vitality
  • Hancock Whitney
  • Innovation Park
  • Southern Standard Construction
  • Tallahassee- Leon County Planning Department
  • AIGA
  • Selfie Tally

Find out more on the Experience Tallahassee Facebook page.

 


Community Catalysts

These are the people who helped make this project possible.

  • Bryson Bard
  • Long Chen
  • Elizabeth Emmanuel
  • Blair Gregg
  • Mary Lee Kiracofe
  • Lindsey Magura
  • Heather Mayo
  • Slaton Murray
  • Doug Saunders
  • Rose Skepple
  • Daniel Wagnon
  • Marcia Warfel