My friend Jackie has a compelling post about the term “young professional” or “YP,” for short, as it relates to Cincinnati. I typically read her blog often but have been busy lately and just am getting around to reading some of the older posts, including the post in question.
The post addresses this whole YP thing, how it might actually be named incorrectly, thus forcing our collective selves down a path we don’t want. Instead of inclusiveness, it might actually foster exclusivity. That is not we need as we build a town for everyone, for all of Cincinnati and to keep and attract all sorts of young people. In fact, Jackie has taken to calling this group of people “all sorts” instead.
The comments on this post are interesting. People have strong opinions about this. I tend to agree with Jackie. And this is not to knock anything going on already. We have Mayor Mark Mallory’s YP Kitchen Cabinet, we have YPCincy.com and YP This and YP That. All of them, in and of themselves, are great, wonderful ideas.
But maybe we ought to think this over. It’s time to self-examine and figure how we can bring more people into the fold and make it more about bringing up the whole community of young people interested in being active in their community. I think the time is right…maybe a feeling in the air. I bet others feel it, too?
Will others be open to this idea or will they circle the wagons?
Leave a Reply