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Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana (YLNI) has announced its 2020 Vision Program, made possible with the support of the Lincoln Financial Corporation. The goal of the program is to pull together insight from area young adults in an effort to prepare Northeast Indiana’s young leaders for the decade to come. YLNI’s 2020 Vision consists of three phases: Engage – Empower – Execute. With the above-mentioned funding, phase one will begin immediately with the remaining phases slated to commence by the summer of 2010.
Baby boomers are looking to younger generations to lead the community as they head into retirement or otherwise wind down their professional careers and rigorous community involvement. Although members of their generation are already beginning to retire there will be a significant increase from 2010-2020. While the next ten years mark the winding down of the baby boomer generation, that period also marks the “formative” years of the YLNI demographic – “formative” in the sense that the next ten years will likely define their generation and help shape the future of Northeast Indiana.
Michael Barranda, YLNI Director at Large, stresses “Many people today don’t necessarily understand how much quality of place matters to young people. According to recent studies conducted by CEO for Cities and Yankelovich, Inc., two-thirds of college-educated, young adults consider 'place' first when choosing locations, while job opportunities are secondary. YLNI wants to lead the charge in bridging that gap between workforce development and quality of place.” While the saying goes that hindsight is 20/20, if young people are serious about making Northeast Indiana a vibrant and viable place to live, work and play, they must exercise foresight, collaborate with community leaders and share their own “2020 vision” so that by the year 2020 that vision has become a reality.
The Engage phase will focus on research in order to provide a true representation of Northeast Indiana’s Generation Y and to identify new visionaries of the community. Next, the Empower phase will involve educating YLNI members and the community regarding its research and cultivating the future leaders of the area. Lastly, the Execute phase will be the implementation of the various visions identified and developed from the initiative.
“My Story/My Vision” is the catalyst of the Engage phase, in which YLNI will petition its demographic to share personal stories about why they choose to live in Northeast Indiana, followed by an expression of their own visions for the region. With their permission, the stories of these individuals will be published to the community through print and online media. By collecting these stories, YLNI believes that it will effectively identify the visionaries and leaders of the community, and inspire others to accept the challenge of helping make Northeast Indiana a truly better place to live, work and play.
YLNI announces board of directors
The following people were elected to serve as officers of YLNI: President, Heather Schoegler, Parkview Foundation; Vice President, Mike King, Aptera Software; Secretary, Wendy Stein, Stein Advertising; Treasurer, Lisa Updike, Barnes and Thornburg, LLP.
The following individuals were selected to serve on the Board of Directors: V.P. of Community Involvement, Sam Graves, Strahm Group; V.P. of Marketing, Amy Johnson, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network; V.P. of Membership, Tamesha Fikes, Salin Bank; V.P. of Programming, Katy Silliman, Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership; V.P. of Social Programming, Emily McCabe, Vera Bradley; Director at Large, Michael Barranda, Miller Murphy LLP; Director at Large, Beth Bobay, Lincoln Printing; Director at Large, Michael Kanning, PHD, Inc.; Director at Large, Andrew Thomas, Ridge NAPA Auto Parts.
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