After expanding to the entire state of Wisconsin in 2018, Milwaukee social architecture firm NEWaukee is expanding its YP Week on a national scale in 2019.
The weeklong slate of events targeted to young professionals will be held April 19 to 27 across Wisconsin, and also in Chicago, Atlanta, Louisville and Salt Lake City. NEWaukee also hopes to bring on additional cities, said Angela Damiani, chief executive officer of NEWaukee.
“The program itself has been replicated in other places since we started it in 2012, and we’ve had people actually reach out to us or visit us in Milwaukee during YP Week to learn how to do it,” Damiani said.
As NEWaukee celebrates its 10th anniversary, she said it makes sense to disseminate the best practices the group has learned to help other communities.
In October, NEWaukee trained leaders living in the new cities, generally employees of chambers of commerce or economic development organizations, on how to host the programming.
“We want someone who lives there and knows the players and can do something that’s really meaningful,” Damiani said.
NEWaukee has seen increased collaboration around issues like development, infrastructure needs and the next-generation workforce among Wisconsin cities as a result of its in-state expansion, she said. One of the goals of YP Week is to engage young professionals and help them build a network, and at the same time aid employers in talent retention.
“We’re ready to have a national conversation,” Damiani said. “Secondarily, we’re also curious to see how this translates to some of the larger markets. In some of the larger places, it’s really hard to get started and to find people and meet people.”
