There is more than you think.

Suzanne Morse has a wonderful blog on her work with the Pew Partnership (and now Virginia Tech) and her book Smart Communities.

Today, she had a good post on retaining and attracting young adults and cited the NY Times article from last week. 

The City of Roanoke is hosting a Holiday Career and Lifestyle Fair at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall on Thursday, December 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This fair is catered to native sons and daughters who grew up in the region and live elsewhere, but return home for the holidays to visit family members. Fifty exhibitors will be in attendance ranging from employers, lifestyle organizations and entrepreneurial service providers.

The reason for the mix is 75% of young people under the age of 28 are picking location first, then the job. Therefore, lifestyle organizations like Center in the Square and Downtown Roanoke Inc. will be showcasing the social opportunities in the City of Roanoke.

Those thinking about working for themselves instead of for someone else, will have the opportunity to talk to various groups about how they can start their own business. (We all have been to a job fair, but when was the last time you saw an entrepreneurship fair?) We hope people will begin to think more entrepreneurial cause the region needs it.

We hope this event will appeal to the intended audience and others will also plan to attend.

Please share with others who would like to stay or return to the area and will be in the region over the holidays.

Thanks to Eric for sending the link of the ABC News series on Generation Debt. As college and housing costs rise, coupled with consumerism at its highest,  you are seeing more and more young people turn to credit card debt, live at home with parents, and delay starting families. This trend is disturbing. Take a minute to view some of the videos on this important topic.

Inc. Magazine has a Top 30 under 30 list of entrepreneurs. The list is impressive, but when looking at the credentials, our own region has its home-grown list deserving recognition.

Cameron Johnson - Started 12 businesses and is only 21 years old. His book "You Call the Shots" offering secrets to entrepreneurs comes out in January. 

Pat Matthews - CEO of Webmail.us and is a wonderful advocate for young adults in the region

Tom Markiewicz - CEO of Evolve Point specializing in RSS feed technologies

Jamal Millner - CEO of M3Grafix who specializes in animation

Do you have a suggestion for a super entrepreneur under the age of 30 from our region? If yes, then make a post.

Last week the New York Times contacted the City of Roanoke for an article that ran in today’s edition on attracting and retaining young adults. Unfortunately, we did not make the final cut.

Richard Florida, Joe Cortright, Steven Pedigo were all contacted and quoted for the article. All of these individuals have been instrumental in the "creative class" movement.

It would have been nice national exposure for the City of Roanoke. however, we are appreciative for whoever recommended our initiatives to the NY Times reporter.   

Thanks to Greg Esposito for blogging about this unique artice in the NY Times about college administrators who are beginning to blog about a variety of topics to student audiences.

In a meeting today, folks commented on wanting to get more young people to serve on boards and committees in the City of Roanoke. Often young adults do not know what is available and Boomers do not know how to communicate the opportunities to Generation X and Y. It’s the common communication barrier between generations - "no one has asked and no one is interested".

However, we know from readers of this blog there are young people who are interested and now someone is asking you to serve.

The City of Roanoke has a number of vacancies on their citizen-appointed boards. The Roanoke Arts Commission (1 spot), the Roanoke Civic Center Commission (2 spots), the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority (2 spots), the Youth Services Citizen Board (3 spots), and the City Planning Commission (1 spot) all have opportunities to serve and shape Roanoke.

If you are a resident of the City of Roanoke and would like to serve, then please complete the form.

If you do not live in the City of Roanoke, but would like to serve in other ways, then please email me.

This unique blog and resource may be helpful for you in your job search. It is quite detailed and offers a lot of current thinking on the topic of job searching and using the right technology to get the right job for you.

As a follow up to yesterday’s post, young people seem to want "things to do" to be already done for them, so all they have to do is buy a ticket and show up.

There is a lot more to making an event than just showing up.

A host of organizations are recruiting young adults to serve as volunteers and / or board members to help shape their plans and agendas. I have a half dozen organizations who are looking for such young adults in the region.

If you are interested in making something happen to create things to do, then send me an email and I will give you the contact names.