It’s September in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and I’m at the YP (now Next Leaders) Summit, which touts itself as the only forum in the world committed to developing the skills of future leaders to create better cities and workplaces. I’m preparing to listen to a keynote speech by Rebecca Ryan, head of Next Generation Consulting and renowned author and speaker on all things YP. Suddenly, a gentleman with a Green Bay name tag approaches me and says, “I’ve been reading about this YPKC Cincinnati has – that’s really awesome, how does it work?” About an hour later in a breakout session, a woman remarks, “you have 60 young professional organizations? WOW. In Phoenix, we’re setting up our first!” It occurs to me that maybe, just maybe, Cincinnati had not only arrived to the national YP table, but was one of the communities planning the menu.
That’s a far cry from the city I moved to seven years ago. Downtown was in “healing mode” in 2002, struggling to figure out what its identity should be in an aftermath of distrust and fear. While established organizations like Enjoy the Arts had already been around for a decade, the ones we now call “veterans” like Give Back Cincinnati and CincyUpdate were just getting their feet wet. My initial reasons for getting involved were admittedly self-serving – I knew absolutely no one and wanted to find people with similar interests. Contemplating a career and venue change years later, this sense of community and potential for creating an impact are what would keep me here.
I don’t know if anyone can actually pinpoint the moment where Cincinnati’s YP community turned the corner. Maybe it was when Bill Donabedian, speaking on a panel at a Chamber forum, charged that “if you see a need in the community, don’t just talk about it – go out there and fill it!” Maybe it was at the first Bold Fusion, where attendees told Forbes where they could stick their city rankings by smashing a piñata shaped like the magazine. Or the revitalizations of Fountain Square and OTR, which gave YPs urban meeting places in which to cultivate their ideas. Something gradually awakened young professionals to the notion that we didn’t have to settle for what previous generations had proposed for us. Five organizations in 2004 became 40 in 2006 became 60 in 2008. The business community took notice, seeing the sponsorship of YP events and programs as part of a sound marketing strategy, and the Mayor assembled his YPKC, the first young professional organization in the world created to support a city official.
Shortly before leaving for Cocoa Beach, I received a call from a radio reporter in Munich wanting to do a story on Cincinnati’s dynamic community of 20 and 30-somethings. The secret was out – Cincinnati was a place where YPs had a voice, and the Summit provided the perfect opportunity to share that voice with the rest of the country.
Clara answers the question "Why Cincinnati?" on Wednesday.