Community Building Barriers: Part 4 of 4

A key finding of our 2002-2003 focus groups is the more engaged young talent are in the community, the longer they plan to stay. In fact, there's a direct correlation between the talent who say they feel "involved" in their community and those who plan to stay 5 years, 10 years, or for life.

How do you involve young talent in your community – and stem brain drain – when young talent may not yet have the cash, clout or connections you need on your boards, committees, and taskforces? It starts with your acknowledgement that involving young talent is a community sustainability strategy. If you're not ready to do that, close this email now.

If you're ready, here are three ways to engage young talent: There may be others – email us what's working for you.

THE ALL CALL. Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and the Quad Cities have all taken this approach, with darn good results. To do an "All Call" in your community:

1. Find a community sponsor who will underwrite/sponsor a series of events for young professionals. Chambers of Commerce, Econ Dev groups, or other Community Building groups will fit the bill. Staff must be loaned or assigned to this effort.

2. Email invitations to a wide net of businesses, service groups, and the general public. Plaster the All Call on community websites. One or two in-kind newspaper ads may be in order to get the ball rolling.

3. Pick venues that are new, emerging or just plain cool.

4. Serve provocative topics as the main course; social time should bookend the event.

THE TOKEN. Some community builders want to test the waters by putting just one young professional on a board. This approach is a safe and sane first step at introducing established Heavyweights to young talent. It's the equivalent of saving money by putting it under a mattress. If this is your approach, choose your YP (young professional) wisely, because a lot is riding on their ability to work with your board. You'll want someone with board experience, who knows many of your board members already. Your board may have recommendations but be careful; Heavyweights sometimes feel that anyone under 50 is a young professional.

THE DRIVE THRU. A great way to engage young talent in your community building efforts is to ask them for short, concentrated effort to attack a single project. Wiring a school, planting a public space, developing a web strategy, cleaning litter from downtown. I call these "drive thru" events because they're short in duration (2-5 hours) and require limited commitment. Drive thru events are a perfect way to introduce your community to the impact that engaged, young talent can make.

Before I go, here's a question I'm frequently asked: How young is "young"? Here's a standard guideline: Young Professionals of Milwaukee is open to anyone under 35...or the young at heart.

NEWS: Every community is facing issues of "brain drain." A new census report in California says that between 1995 and 2000, more than 600,000 CA residents moved away.

This is part 4 of a 4-part series on Community Building Barriers. To view the other articles, click on the links below:

Part 1: My Board Doesn't Get It

Part 2: Where Should I Start?

Part 3: Working with Community Heavyweights

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