Hi, I'm Jeff Rea your host for Economic Outlook.

Thanks for joining us.

Each week as we discuss the region's most important economic development initiatives with a panel of experts.

Communities across the country in a battle to attract and retain talent, especially those in the 21 to 39 age bracket.

Young professional networks have been an important tool in that effort.

We'll sit down with several young professionals today for a conversation about why they live in this region, and what ways our community is working to connect young professionals.

Communities are fighting to stem the outmigration of young talent where young, skilled individuals move away, often in search of better career opportunities, higher salaries, or a more desirable lifestyle.

Young people are often moving to bigger cities and warmer climates for those opportunities.

But in our region believes it has a lot to offer and has launched a number of young professional networks to help stop the brain drain.

Joining me today to talk more about those networks and the work they're doing are Jesse Wesley Ski, the experience manager at the South Bend Regional Chamber and the head of White Pen, South Bend.

Well, Gabe, project manager at New Way Construction and part of the Goshen Emerging Leaders program.

And Elena Mitchell, the director of development and community outreach at El Campo.

Welcome, guys.

Thank you for being here today.

Let's appreciate that.

Maybe just a quick introduction before we hop into this.

So, so will I mentioned you work in a new way.

Give us a quick will Gabe introduction.

Yeah.

So, I work a new way.

Project manager, been there for about four years, and got involved in the, Goshen Emerging Leaders program.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I went through the Goshen Chamber's leadership development program.

And then out of that, we kind of decided to revitalize the Goshen Wipe Goshen Emerging Leaders program, after Covid hit.

And so we have put on some events and, done some educational stuff, over the last few years were really pushing our educational, outreach right now.

So we plan quarterly educational lunch events where we bring people into the chamber, we bring a speaker in and kind of have a lunch workshop where you can learn about, different software, relevant topics.

Great, Elaina, that's come your way.

So a quick introduction.

Who's Elena Mitchell?

That's me.

Okay.

I'm the director of development and community outreach at El Computo Child Development Center.

I mostly am in charge of making sure people know who we are, where we are, and how we can help them and how they can help us do some really important work.

Thank you for being here today.

And Jesse, tell us about your position.

Yeah.

So I my name is Jesse.

I am, with the South Bend Regional Chamber.

I'm the experience manager at the chamber and also the white pin lead.

So I plan and facilitate all chamber events, and then also I plan and facilitate white pin events.

Young professionals network, and any program to do with white pen.

Yeah.

Great.

Okay, so let's get into this white pen.

You know, it's a little bit in the opener about, you know, committees across the country or fighting to get young talent.

Everybody's focused on this 21 to 39, demographic.

They're trying to stem the brain drain.

When you look at the best places to live, sometimes LA and Chicago and Seattle and Nashville all rank on this list, but, but but but each of you are from this region have made the decision to stay here.

Let's talk a little bit, Elena.

Come your way first.

So.

So you grew up here, and other communities want you to come, but you've decided to stay here.

Tell us why you stay here.

Well, on a more personal note, my husband and I, when we first got married, we decided we were going to travel the United States and see where felt like home to us.

So we got to go to, like, the West coast, the East coast.

We went down south.

We did the the middle ends.

We went down to New Orleans like all over the place.

And there were really only three places that felt like home to both of us.

And South Bend was our number one for both of us too.

And both of our families are here.

It just makes sense.

And like the climate is ambivalent to.

But we get all the seasons here.

It doesn't matter what kind of weather you like.

You'll get it at some point.

Yeah, yeah.

So JC same question.

So talk about you again.

You grew up here and have decided to, to stay here.

What what what's keeping you here in Indiana.

Yeah.

So growing up in Washington, which is very close to here, I mean, I always wanted to sort of get away from that small town, the small town mindset.

But coming to South Bend, growing up, always felt like an escape in some ways.

I went to Indiana University, South Bend, and I commuted.

So I would go back home at the end of the night, and I was just craving that sense of community that I found and the unique culture that South Bend has, compared to other towns.

But also just having that big city feel, but also knowing that I can always go home to my rural roots.

So that's sort of why I have decided to move to South Bend and stay here.

Great.

And well, some of the some of the question you you grew up in the Goshen area are still in the Goshen area.

Talk about what what what is it that made you to do?

Not like some young people doing flee.

Flee to the big city, but decide to stay here?

Yeah.

I have always been astonished at how much output Elkhart County does.

Or Michigan, the administrative region, does.

Not just RVs, but I mean, you know, getting to work in commercial construction.

I'm kind of exposed to a bunch of different businesses around here and get to see, what we produce.

And I feel like at least once a week, I hear of, you know, some business around here that does some huge thing that I've always known about.

And I never knew that it was in Elkhart County.

And so I think that that's a really cool aspect of living here, is that we have a lot of, a lot of opportunity, no matter what you want to pursue.

There's so much I mean, manufacturing is obviously a big thing.

But I yeah, I've just always been astonished at how, how productive we are around here.

Yeah.

And I think a lot.

And we'll get a little bit more into and a lot to do.

Want to come your way for a second to Lena.

So, you know, so there's this conventional wisdom sometimes that, people are going to pick the communities first that they want to live in and then worry about a job later.

There's also kind of the older school wisdom that says, nope, they're going to find a job first and and worry about the community second.

In which is is what your experience was the, the maybe the equal combination of both.

Did one or the other lead you to stay here more?

So, for me it's always been Elkin Peto.

I well, I grew up here.

I went to Ball State for my undergrad, and, I knew I was going to need an internship, and I asked my advisor if there was an internship near home so that I could live in my mom's basement and not have to pay rent as an intern.

And I also wanted to, do my internship in a place where I could focus on both major Spanish and child development, and my advisor said that she had just met the director at Elkin PTO at our state conference.

So, she hooked up a meeting with her for me over that spring break, and, I applied for an internship, and she was basically like, when can you start?

So I interned at Elkin PTO.

Immediately after they offered me a job, and then I just kept getting promoted, and here we are.

So now I've been there ten years because I had one great opportunity from a chance meeting from my advisor to Laura Jensen, who was the director at the time.

So, it it's El Campo and my family is here as well.

It's it's a no brainer.

Yeah, we'll talk about that.

Just this balance of the the job that keeps you here, the community that keeps you here a little bit.

A combination of both.

Yeah.

I, both my wife and I are from this area.

And we, we both really like the, the active community that we get in Goshen.

We we love First Fridays.

We love, the how lively our downtown is.

Having a small town downtown that's actually alive and has events and has, you know, open stores and stuff that you can go when we really enjoy.

And also work.

I think that we have, a really unique, kind of culture.

And I, I don't often find myself in rooms with people that I don't get along with.

And so that's, that's pretty big.

So, yeah, I think between between those two, it's pretty hard to hard to beat it for me.

Yeah.

Let me stick with you for a second.

So let's think about New Way for a second.

Because because part of New ways challenge like all employers, is to, to attract and keep young people like here.

What what is new way do that sort of helps, make that a great place for you to work.

Yeah.

So it's funny you say that I was actually just having the same conversation with, we had a subcontractor come in and just do kind of a meet and greet.

And New way specifically, is pretty big on, kind of employee perks.

So we have a, a 32ft camper and a truck that anyone can check out at any time and go camping, whatever they want.

We have a pickleball court in our shop that we play pickleball in all the time.

We, bought a Cybertruck.

And any employee you can take that, whatever they want.

So it's it's really fun to work for people who are.

So, I mean, you can tell and the and the honor to owners and the leadership and it it's it's fun because it like it makes them happy to see you happy and to like be able to give you those opportunities.

And so I would say stuff like that, along with, I, I have a ton of flexibility in my schedule.

They're very, you know, no one's breathing down my neck or anything.

As long as I'm performing as I should and getting my work done, then they're they're happy and I'm happy.

So I think, I mean, all those things combined to make a a really good work environment.

Yeah, just kind of similar thinking.

This, job versus the community kind of thing.

There's, there's one way heavier than another.

Or are they both sort of equally important to your decision to stay here?

I would definitely say equally, important, obviously, when it came to staying in South Bend, cost of living was a factor, a less competitive job market compared to larger cities.

But the community is just so rich, I would say, and not even only because I went to school here.

I would just say all of the programs that we have here, like White Pine, but also the work that El Camino is doing, just different programs, related to that and just community development.

Also keep me here.

You know, it's interesting, you know, historically, like, told the story of white peace many times that the Des Moines, Iowa was like the number one place in the country for young people.

And it's not a city that you would, guess, but, you know, but but it had, you know, sort of size and scale similar to here.

It was easy to get connected with other people.

People found they could really thrive there and little easier than they can in the Chicago or Seattle or Nashville or something like that.

So I love that here, that, that, that pretty quickly here.

You could sort of get on about anybody's, calendar that you want to hear.

And I think that's an important piece.

Jesse, let's let's dive a little deeper into why why PM a little bit.

So so you have have the task of kind of being the lead for young professionals Network South then give us a little bit of a, you know, kind of maybe some history and a little bit of sort of, purpose.

Why it why it exists.

Yeah.

So White Pan was established in 2005.

We're celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.

So for the past two decades, White Plains Mission has been to develop, connect and empower young professionals in the area.

So through various, educational programs, just like the Goshen emerging leaders, we have some power lunches, executive conversations where white peace can directly speak to local leaders, just to empower them.

Just something that they can relate to, a story that can inspire them.

But also we have just general, networking social hours, where you can not only connect with local young professionals, but you also get to see some new spaces in the area that you might not be exposed to as a white, until further on in your career.

So those are that sort of the mission of White Pine Lane.

I want to talk to you for a second because like, I think this like, I'm really old, as you all know.

But I also but I think when I was a young person that, you know, I didn't know anybody in these workplaces, you know, talk about just the maybe the importance of making connections and meeting other young people and how that impacts kind of your, your quality of life here.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, when I first got into my position, I was coming from the classroom and I really did not feel like a professional because I had spent my days on the floor playing Play-Doh, you know, and I, I decided for the first year or so that I was just going to say yes to everything, and then, the chips would fall into place as far as, I would, like, kind of feel out where I wanted to be as far as, like, where I like, felt like I should be.

And white then was one of those places.

I was like, this is this is a place for me.

This is a place where I can meet other professionals in a, you know, a more casual setting than like, hey, would you like to have a business meeting with me?

It's like, an opportunity to, you know, share my organization, but also, like, hear about what's going on in the community.

And, like she was saying, getting into new spaces.

There's been plenty of times I have like, oh, there's a white P at five there.

I haven't been there yet.

I need to go to that one.

So it's it's really just a great opportunity, to get yourself out there and then meet others as they get themselves out there.

We'll build on that a little bit.

Talk about just the connections that happened at events at the Goshen Virgin leaders, how important that connection is with other people.

Yeah, it's super important.

One of the cool things that I've been able to watch over the last three years is we've kind of built up, post-Covid has been to see, recurring faces coming back and back and again to the same events.

And you go from the first event that we put on after Covid, when we were starting to get our feet under us, where you all kind of stand around and no one really knows what to do.

No one really knows anyone.

To now where you have people coming and saying, hey, good to see you again, you know, and you have, you know, people, talking.

And then those conversations, whether now we're down the road will inevitably lead to some opportunities or some, new business partnerships or friendships or whatever they lead to.

But I think, community is huge.

And whatever we can do to try to grow that is huge.

I do think when I'm, you know, talking to business leaders sometimes this is some glue.

Like how?

Like this feeling like there's a little glue or a chance to keep you here if you know other people and interact with other people here.

But if you feel like you're the you're the only one here, you may not be as inclined to stay here.

So GC talk a little bit, just maybe the, the makeup, the, the, a little bit of, you know, have people from like all industries, all ages give us a feel for like the participants as people are watching or thinking, I want to come to this, talk to us about, who comes to these and kind of get them excited about coming to an event.

Yeah.

So you really meet so many diverse walks of life, so many diverse career, paths from, industries in healthcare, manufacturing, communications, just so many different industries all packed into white, especially on our ambassador team.

Like Elaina is one of our ambassadors for white Pine.

Just all different industries.

So we're really trying to stray away from that standard idea of a young professionals network where you need to show up in a suit and tie or a blazer, and if you're in manufacturing and you come in, just wearing your dirty clothes from the workday, that's totally fine.

No one's going to bat an eye.

Same thing with health care.

If you come in in your scrubs.

Just respecting and also staying away from that.

Just sort of groupthink mindset of having it only be your typical business professionals.

There's really all walks of life, at white PM, I love it, and I know it's interesting in my early days being a pre white Pan Am that old, but but but it was that chance to like through the chamber to meet some other folks.

I think when I was first there, sometimes felt like I was 20 years younger than anybody else.

And I wasn't sure if I fit in there.

And I think it's been really neat to see, you know, kind of it emerge and, and in for programing in such to be what the whips want, you know.

And I think that's great.

And, and so talk about you know that for a little bit.

This is you talk about kind of the programing.

This is kind of VIP's sort of drive it, pick it, decide, you know, what they want to tell us all about your success there.

Yeah.

So we when we first started out, we had four pillars.

So we focused on networking, education, mentorship and education.

And our original goal was to have an event focused around one of those pillars every quarter.

And what we found out through a lot of trial and error is that, at least in our experience, people right now don't really, see the value in just a networking event where you just kind of show up and meet people.

But people really see the value in an educational event where if you have a topic or you have a speaker, you have some structure, then they'll show up for that.

So what we've done is we kind of have a hybrid approach now.

So we have kind of an hour and a half to two hour block.

The first half an hour would be kind of a structured networking.

So, we'll have either like some icebreaker games or, you know, something like that to get people out of their shell, get people talking not just to the people that they know.

And then for the next hour after that, it's the speakers workshop time.

So, whether that's just a presentation or an interactive workshop, we've done, negotiating skills.

We've done.

Oh, goodness.

On the spot now, we've got one coming up at the end of this month on, emotional intelligence and leadership.

So that'll be, workshop that we have.

But whatever it is, one of the things that I'm always really happy to see is that we always run over on time because after the speaker's done, then people are talking.

Still, people are interacting.

People have questions.

And so that always makes me feel really good, to see that level of engagement and involvement from the people that show up the GC build on that and talk a little bit about just examples of programing, whether it be kind of speakers or topics or events.

Some of that that maybe a few of the highlights.

Right.

So our largest event that we have, in the year is our WIP summit.

Just our annual professional development half day conference, that we host, and it entails two different, breakout sessions with three breakout options within those sessions and then a keynote speaker.

So that's sort of our overall event that we work towards.

It's usually always towards the end of the year.

This year it's going to be on September 25th.

And just something that we can come to, to feel empowered.

But we also obviously have our, smaller, educational events like our power lunches and our executive conversations, where we can connect with business leaders.

But I think it's interesting, how, you mentioned that there's not really an appeal to the sort of networking social hours, because I find that those do really well for white people.

And I think a vital aspect of that is our ambassador team.

Because our team of ambassadors, is there to welcome any new VIP's.

They're always willing to shake a hand to introduce them to other people, in their industry.

Even so, I think our ambassador team is really the driving force of wiki.

And yeah, great.

I love it though, because it is a little like it's like your first day of school sometimes or your first day, you know, trying to get folks to be comfortable.

So so talk about why you why you spend your free time, helping do stuff like that.

Why why is that so important?

I mean, as an extrovert, I love to make friends.

Kindergarten style.

Like, hi, I'm Elaina, do you want to be friends?

I mean, it it also helps me build great connections.

Like, oh, you're looking for someone to do financial literacy.

You need to meet my friend over here.

That was just telling me that she's looking for someone to do financial literacy.

And I've been able to facilitate all kinds of cool stuff like that, simply because I've gotten to know people and ask questions.

And, I mean, it really is empowering to be able to make those kind of connections.

And it's like, affirming.

Like, I am a professional, even though I am young and not, you know, don't have as much experience as some other people.

It's, it's a wonderful experience.

And, you know, even if I don't end up making any connections that day, you guys always have great food.

So.

Yeah.

So I'm going I just a quick follow up with you.

So because you've had a chance to sort of be at, the summit or come to a different event if, if, if you were recommended in somebody that they come to one thing to sort of get started, what would you recommend to them?

Number one is the summit.

That's what got me into it in the first place.

A friend invited me to the summit and then she got sick.

So I ended up going by myself.

And after that, I was hooked.

If you're going to do just one thing, do the summit will is where, you know, start to get near the end of our time.

I want to so help make the pitch to someone in Elkhart County, Goshen area, give them the elevator speech.

Why they should come to Goshen, emerging leaders and experience that.

Absolutely.

I really liked what you said earlier.

That community is like the glue that can keep people here.

And I think that there's a lot of truth in that.

If you if you don't have community or you don't have peers, you don't have professional peers, even, that you get along with or that you, have a type of relationship with that it is pretty tough to see all the benefits that we have to offer in this area.

So first and foremost, I mean, if if you're someone that's looking for that.

Absolutely.

We have that to offer.

Right now, I think we have around 30 people registered for our next event.

So there's plenty of new faces that'll be there for you to meet.

And I would hope to double that if we can.

We'll pack as many people into that room as we can fit.

But, I mean, every, every event that I'm that I'm at for our, for Joe, there's always a ton of energy in the room.

Everyone's happy to be there.

Everyone is, talking.

We do have some pretty good food, too, so, for what that's worth.

But, yeah, I mean, I would say community number one.

And then obviously the skills you're going to get from the workshop, we get we have really good speakers that come in and give their time and give their give their knowledge to the young professionals that are trying to make themselves better.

So great.

Jake did similar.

Give us a minute or so a pitch as to why somebody had to come experience.

Why something?

Yeah.

So why PM South Bend?

One of our direct missions is to empower.

Because without community, I don't think anyone can feel empowered.

So just to come to White Pine to make those professional connections, not only with your peers, but also with local business leaders, and most of our educational programing, well, we also uplift, local other white PS our most recent power lunch is, highlighting another white P in the area that has a very inspiring story.

But you also just get to meet so many business leaders, and that's one of my favorite aspects of it is just getting to hear these stories, that just inspire you and motivate you to stay in South Bend, because you have to see why they have stayed and how it's benefited them.

Yeah.

Well, one important just for our viewers that even though it's called White South Bend, if you're in Mishawaka and Roseland or Walker.

Exactly.

Or you're welcome and similar if you're in Elkhart or Goshen or Middlebury or whatever, you're welcome.

The geography doesn't, isn't exclusive there.

So make sure folks go, Allen, in our last minute, make the pitch to somebody, a young person not living here as to why they should come live in the South Bend Mishawaka area.

First of all, it's super fun all the time.

We we have every season and we have every type of environment that you could expect.

There's a documentary about South Bend.

Big enough, small enough.

It's small enough for small town feels and big enough for big city feels.

And really, you you get you get everything without having to go anywhere.

And it's.

I mean, it's more bang for your buck.

Yeah.

Guys, thank you so much for being here today and talking about thanks for good work you're doing to try to keep young professionals in the area.

You guys are having some great success and I'm glad we got a chance to highlight it today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it for our show today.

Thank you for joining us.

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I'm Jeff Rea I'll see you next time.

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