Are you interested in getting involved with Young Adult Professionals?        

Here are some ways to start:

YAP is a growing group of dynamic dedicated young adult professionals who believe that networking among peers is especially important to attract and retain young professionals in our community.

The YAP Action Committee links community resources and opportunities in order to support the growth, advancement, and success of our community’s young professionals. And, YAP is a great way to connect young professionals to substantive and fun interactive local events.

YAP offers an annual "Glow Golf Outing" in August, an annual wine festival "For the Love of Grapes" in November, and casual monthly networking gatherings at various locations throughout the year. And, there are many YAP sub-committees that serve and benefit young professionals too.

The great news is that in order to get connected and involved is both easy and free!  For more information, contact us at info@richmondyap.com

 Simply add your e-mail address to the section "Stay Informed" (located in the lower left side of this page) and hit the "subscribe" button to be notified about future YAP events.  Thanks!

Message on the value of YAP from Chamber President Dennis Andrews:

Wayne County Area Chamber of Commerce Young Adult Professionals (YAP)

There are many reasons why you should join and support the Chamber of Commerce and Young Adult Professionals!

Who among us would not prefer our children and grandchildren to enjoy a great quality of life while living and working nearby?  Increasingly our bright young professionals find that they need to locate to larger more metropolitan areas where greater numbers of professional opportunities exist. 

So how do we create an environment to retain and attract young professionals?  Answering and aggressively responding to this one question is also perhaps the single most direct way we can dramatically improve our local and regional economy.    

The answer and the response to this important question requires more than cultural amenities and social networking that appeal to young people, although cultural and social amenities many of which we have are unquestionably important. 

Attractive affordable housing, safe communities, good schools, and other similar community attributes are also important to young professionals with young families.   But most evident and most important is our need for a greater number of entry and mid level professional career opportunities.  

In other words, in order to have Bright Futures Together, in order to have our bright young professionals live nearby, we have to have the jobs.  Said still another way, “We have to create the environment where professional opportunities flourish.”

Largely due to our demographic and largely thanks to Reid Hospital and Health Care Services, we have experienced an increase in demand for young professionals in the health care field.  What we need next is to strengthen our environment as an entrepreneurial hub to attract more innovators in agribusiness, life sciences, technology, education, and the arts. 

Sound too lofty?  We don’t think so.  In fact, we think we have the community resources to pull it off….

These are reasons why the Chamber of Commerce now has a young professional staff position and a young adult professional action committee.  These are reasons why West End Bank is our 2009 YAP sponsor and why we have created the Chamber Center for Excellence.

We know in order to have bright futures together we must become an entrepreneurial center and hub to retain and attract our young bright professionals.   We also know it will be great to have our children and grandchildren nearby!    

Young professionals represent more than an action committee of the Chamber of Commerce.  They represent an essential constituency of Bright Futures Together.  

Call us at 962-1511 and get involved with the Chamber of Commerce and YAP today!   

Dennis Andrews Ed.D.

Chamber President and CEO