The next generation of the workforce
Kootenai County Young Professionals members enjoy a recent collaboration lunch meeting with Spokane Young Professionals. KCYP is focused on collaborating with other local nonprofits and charities that line up with KCYP’s goals and focus to help connect young professionals with resources they need to grow as professionals and to give back to their communities. From left: Abbey Parsons, president SYP; Trent Grandstaff, social media director KCYP; Stephen Brown, vice president SYP; Adrian Folsom, tech chair and vice president of sales and marketing SYP; Ashley Yates, secretary KCYP; and Jam…
Kootenai County Young Professionals membership director Kelsey Moen, standing, speaks to her peers during a recent Monthly Morning Meeting in the Kroc Center. These meetings are held the first Tuesday of every month at 7 a.m. to help start the month off right with networking, getting involved with charities needing volunteers and hearing about what KCYP is doing that month and the following months. (Photo by TRENT GRANDSTAFF/KCYP)
Photo illustration by TRENT GRANDSTAFF/KCYP Kootenai County Young Professionals members discuss how to gather new members together and receive their feedback on KCYP, and where they want it to go in the future, during a meeting in late 2017. Standing up in the gray sweatshirt is KCYP president James Perkinson speaking with member Octavian Rivas.
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
You've graduated, you've started your family, you've spent some time blazing your path into the workforce.
Maybe you're finishing college and looking to get connected with other like-minded young professionals and find volunteer opportunities.
Where do you go to lay the foundation of your professional future?
"I’ve been here since ’92 and I really wasn’t connected with anybody in this town," said Kootenai County Young Professionals social media director and entrepreneur Trent Grandstaff, 32. "I saw KCYP as an opportunity to get connected, to learn who the leaders are of the city."
Kootenai County Young Professionals is a nonprofit organization that welcomes anyone 18 and older who is seeking to expand his or her social and professional worlds. It started in 2007 and just in the past year has grown from about 10 members to nearly 80.
"Being a young professional can be really overwhelming to know where to go or even what you want to do," said Ashley Yates, 27, a bank branch manager who serves as KCYP's secretary. "You know you want to get involved, you know you need to get involved, but you don’t know where you should be getting involved or what’s going to make you passionate, what’s going to fulfill you."
Yates said she was drawn to KCYP because "it’s not just a single-mind focus."
"It really is all about connecting, helping you maybe find what other nonprofits and places you can tap into."
KCYP operates with the goal of connecting young professionals within the community through education, leadership, philanthropy, networking and social events. It hosts several activities each month, such as the Monthly Morning Meeting, a volunteer fair in the spring, the KCYP Summer Social and presentations by guest speakers.
In December, KCYP members "adopted" a family for Christmas. They raised funds and bought items to fill some of the family's needs and had a wrapping session to prepare the gifts before they were delivered to brighten the family's holiday season.
This month's morning meeting focused on how to make 2018 the best year possible, and in February members will enjoy a "speed networking" event, similar to speed dating, when they will spend a few minutes getting to know each other in a fun, fast-paced environment.
"I really enjoy the fact that we are providing a resource for young professionals and giving to young professionals what I didn’t get when I was starting out,” Grandstaff said. "Giving back to the community and reviving something that has strong roots and bringing it back to life has been pretty cool."
KCYP treasurer Jess Johnson, 26, is a commercial credit analyst who joined the group last June. As someone who was born and raised in North Idaho, he said he loves the community service aspect.
He said KCYP is also a great way to prepare for future community involvement and is a tool for fostering important professional relationships.
"It teaches you when do go to those chamber (of commerce) events what kind of things they’ll be asking," he said. "It trains you up for the big leagues, but it’s more of a casual setting and a fun time, too."
KCYP members can be from any industry. They just have to fill out an application, pay the $50 or $55 yearly fee and have a desire to be more engaged in their community.
"We wanted an open door. Everyone’s welcome,” Yates said. “Our entire hope is to connect people, and to connect people you have to have people. You can be a member who just comes to the monthly meetings, you can be a member who just comes to the big events, you can be a member who’s on every committee and helps with everything. You get to choose your involvement."
KCYP is hosting a debut event, Elevate 2018, to recognize the accomplishments of 30 young professionals under 40 while serving as "North Idaho’s premier formal networking event." Speakers will include Idaho Rep. Luke Malek (R), who was one of the original KCYP members; Katie Hunt, who is active with the Coeur d'Alene Chamber board of directors, Coeur d'Alene Rotary and more; and Knudtsen Chevrolet Co. president Eve Knudtsen.
Elevate 2018 will be at the Hagadone Event Center at 7 p.m. Friday. Tickets range from $40 for members and $55 for non-members to $425 for a table of eight.
“This is really the 'proof of concept' year to really make it a great time and every year going forward have it be known as the formal networking evening to celebrate not only young professionals, but everybody in the business community,” said KCYP president James Perkinson, 27.
For tickets or information, visit www.kycp.org.