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New Young Professionals group to hold first event Aug. 31
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
If Charleston is going to retain its young professionals, more has to be done to help them network and become part of major community efforts, like implementing the recommendations of the AngelouEconomics report, accord to Tom Hood, chairman of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce.
To that end, the chamber has formed Charleston Young Professionals, a membership organization holding its first event at the Gibbs Museum of Art on August 31.
Membership in the organization is open to any career-minded individual, age 22 to 39, living in or relocating to Charleston who wants to be involved in advancing their community along with their career, the chamber’s official organizational announcement said.
“During the research phase of the AngelouEconomics study, opportunities for young professionals was one area we consistently saw as lacking,” Hood said. “As a result, and to be quite honest, I think we’re late in starting on this initiative.”
While under the umbrella of the chamber, the Charleston Young Professionals is considered an independent organization. Hood has been pleasantly surprised, he said, by the overwhelming response the initiative has received solely based on word of mouth.
“We’ve had at least 200 people, and by now likely many more, that have indicated a desire to join the young professionals group,” Hood said. “That’s a tremendous response, and I think it suggests something very important about our young people here in Charleston.
“They are interested in doing something that is going to be good for the place that they live, and they’re very collaborative, the very kind of mindset we need to promote in the region if our hoped-for clusters are going to come to fruition.”
The undertaking reminded Hood of a concern voiced by Maj. Gen. James Alexander Grimsley Jr., president of The Citadel from 1980 to 1989.
“Alex Grimsley believed that one of the biggest challenges a community has is the development of its future leaders,” said Hood, who graduated from The Citadel with a degree in business administration in 1972.
“I think the leadership that Grimsley talked about is actually all around us here in Charleston,” he said. “I think it will be young people coming together though this organization, some of whom will then step forward as community leaders, who will ultimately make the AngelouEconomics report’s clusters happen.”
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