Well, we’ve talked about it for several months (submitted it here), actually for nearly a year. As alluded to last week, the first meeting of a young professional/civic organization roundtable for Birmingham, Alabama (and the first of any type of collection of clubs of this type in years) happened last night. I was not quite sure what to expect last night in terms of the number of people to expect or whether or not it would be a successful event.Twenty-nine (29) people representing 13 young professional and young civic organizations and the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham convened upstairs in Jackson’s Bar & Bistro in Soho Square to begin a dialogue and begin to do their part to move our community forward.
Those in attendance were asked what they would like to be known for aside from their mission and vision statements. In the process, participants were able to find out information about groups that they previously did not know existed. Others got a better understanding of organizations that they’d heard about but did not fully know the scope of what they sought to accomplish.
The power that communication has is indescribable. By encouraging communication among these groups and others that were not able to attend, the hope is that it will become easier for organizations to accomplish their goals, work with each other on similar projects and in the process, make others aware of the opportunities that exist for them to be involved.
The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Catalyst and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce are among those that have lent a commitment to spearheading an effort to keep this dialogue moving. Perhaps this somewhat unique grouping of organizations can demonstrate to our region the importance and the opportunities associated with encouraging our young professionals, now and always, in getting their voices heard.
Attendees were encouraged to do several things:
– Consider posting their meeting information to activeculture.info in hopes of creating a one-stop shop for general information.
– Contact Alison Howell with the Chamber to provide her suggestions and feedback about the creation of a website that provides information.
– Contact me with additional feedback about comments from last night, comments about future topics/issues for discussion at future meetings.
– Help us continue to expand the list of organizations that are known to exist in the greater Birmingham community. Click here as the civic organizations list is updated in the coming days to include additional organizations in the greater Birmingham region. Let us know if anyone is missing. (NOTE: There are some that attended last night’s meeting that are not posted as of yet. They will be at lunchtime today.)
The following is a list of those that attended the meeting on Monday evening. The list will be updated to show what organizations they represented later on today has been updated to include the organizations represented. Those names with asterisks next to them have volunteered to help organize the next meeting. If there is anyone else that attended that is interested in participating in that group, please let me know before the end of the week.
Anthony Smith – City of Homewood, Young Advisory Bd. of Big Brothers, Big Sisters
Betts Johnson – United Way Young Leaders Society
Molly Watson – Young Advisory Board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters
John McDonald – Young Supporters Board, Comp. Cancer Ctr., UAB
Kimberly Kirklin – ASC Social Club
Brian Murphy* – United Way Young Leaders Society
Matt Stiles – Birmingham Museum of Art Junior Patrons
Cherie Fields* – Catalyst
Josh Westerhold – United Way Young Leaders Society
Chris Wilson – Birmingham Change Fund
Kristy Jaska – Young Leadership Board, Ronald McDonald House
Jackie Wuska – Friends of the Literacy Council
Zandile Moyo – Young Supporters Board, Comp. Cancer Ctr., UAB
Wade Kwon – Young Advisory Board of Big Brothers, Big Sisters
Deidra Perry – BRCC, Friends of the Literacy Council
Josh Till – Young Supporters Board, Comp. Cancer Ctr., UAB
Charles Lewis – Birmingham Change Fund, Catalyst
Sarah Pilgreen* – Birmingham Jaycees
Lee Ann Petty – Birmingham Museum of Art Junior Patrons
Eizabeth Dotts – Catalyst, YWCA Junior Board
Ali Louis – Rotaract, YWCA Junior Board
Jessica Simpson – ASC Social Club
Rich Campbell – The Phoenix Club
Blair Liggins – Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BRCC)
Alison Howell* – BRCC
Curtis Palmer – Catalyst
Emily Rushing – The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham
Lyord Watson, Jr. – Birmingham Change Fund
Andre Natta – Birmingham Jaycees, Catalyst, PARCA Roundtable, Friends of Ruffner Mtn. (new org)
I’d like to thank all of you for coming out and sharing your time and comments. We hope to collect the additional comments by the end of the week to distribute for review. The first part is finished. Now the hard work begins, but the reward is sweet: a better Birmingham.
Enjoy the day.
Cheers.
Night of the Roundtable
Call it offline networking, version 2.0.
Nearly 30 representatives from 18 area young professional groups met Monday night at a Homewood restaurant to drink, to discuss, to deliberate. This Civic Organization Roundtable has been in the works for some …