Emerge Tampa: YP Group Gets Makeover
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Voice, Connect, Grow and Interact. This is the mantra of Emerge Tampa, a young professional group, that with fresh leadership is attempting to pump new energy into its organization, reports the St. Petersburg Times.
The Times sat down with the group's co-leaders, 23-year-old Carissa Caricato and 33-year-old Ryan Freking, to discuss their plans for revitalizing Emerge Tampa. They touched on their rebranding ideas, the difficulties in appealing to a group of people whose ages range from 21 to 35 and their goal to encourage the group to play a role in local politics, including a 'get out the vote' campaign.
"[I]f we are going to get people engaged here and effective in Tampa Bay, they have to know what is going on and coming up on the horizon. There are a lot of decisions being made now that will affect us 20 and 30 years down the road," Caricato told the Times.
(Photo by Sonny SideUp; C.C. 2.0)
Comments
No makeover yet
A couple of bar meets, a Press release, no changes and no activity from the Emerge Tampa Bay group. Another six months of the same old do nothing plan. Again we will be told, well next year things will happen, and afer enough years we will all be to old to participuate and they can con a whole new generation while we move away.
Makeover bust
You raise some really great points. One of our goals here at YPNation is to encourage a dialogue on exactly what you are talking about--the brain drain, the high unemployment levels among young professionals--and other issues you didn't touch on, such as the low numbers of YPs who carry even basic health insurance. And to turn that dialogue into action...
Another Makeover?
They have to do a makeover every other year, meanwhile every year unemployment of Tampa Bay YPs rises, more YPs move out town, and the Chamber once again gears up a new media image for their faiulure. Yipee!
Real questions and adgenda that they skipepd over - what to do about the exodus of YPs from Tampa Bay, what to do about unemployment, what to do about their decimated membership numbers and inability to fill eladership roles?
Instead we get a fluffy press release about how they plan on sucking up any Chamber goal and adgenda without admitting to real issues that need to be adressed. Another fluffed empty PR stunt.