The (Half-) Year in Recap!

OK...

Bad side, I have not had a chance to update this blog since August.  Therefore, I have a lot of back-writing to do.

Good side, time in the past four months has been tight in so many great ways!

Updates to follow!

One Ring...

Coinciding with my class' convocation from McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business MBA program, this past June, was the commencement of a new tradition that seeks to further define the identity of the DeGroote MBA, and what they stand for.

This tradition revolves around the gifting of a special, DeGroote MBA legacy ring to each successful graduate of the program.  The idea for this tradition first originated as a conversation between myself and two others (Mark Stewart, Derek Chan), while returning from an MBA Leadership conference in fall 2009.  Though the idea for such a project had been tossed  around in previous years, nothing had ever truly taken shape.  As we discussed the idea in the car, our conversation began to focus more on how to actually get it done, essentially, the steps needed to implement the program, and then the ways in which it could successfully be brought to fruition as a fully fledged tradition.

As such, between that fall 2009, and winter 2012, on the behalf of, and with the support and assistance of, the DeGroote MBA Association (particularly President, Geoff Reiner), I worked ensure that the idea became a reality.  This process included everything from the design of the ring's face, and the sourcing of the rings themselves, to designing a ring fee schedule that would be incorporated into each student's regular tuition, and then holding a student wide referendum to approve this schedule (and the effective launching of a continuous, self-fulfilling tradition).

Therefore, on the evening of June 12th, with the referendum successfully passed, rings ordered, and Graduation the following morning, the first-ever recipients of this DeGroote MBA Legacy Ring gathered at the McMaster University Alumni House, for the inaugural ring conferring ceremony.  This was both a casual affair, but also a significant one, as it marked the initiation of what is sure to be a long and fruitful tradition.

You can read more about this new tradition here.

And see below  for the statement of purpose, explaining the symbolism and motivations behind this initiative:

As the DeGroote School of Business’ MBA program enters a new era, with its new home at Burlington’s Ron Joyce Centre, the school is afforded a reinvigorated opportunity to continue to build upon its already renowned reputation, and the reputation of the degree that it confers.
To this end, the DeGroote MBAA has introduced a new tradition that will accompany each student’s completion of the DeGroote School of Business’ MBA program.  

This tradition is a symbolic token; a gift awarded to each student for their successful completion of the program.  Moreover, it is intended to be a reminder of their commitment to principles of ethics and integrity in all their future endeavours. 

This token is the DeGroote MBA signet ring.  In times past, when pressed in wax, a signet’s seal would serve as an individual’s mark of identity, representing the individual and their reputation on all official documents and correspondences that bore their name.  As such, the symbolism behind this project is that, as we as students move on in both our professional and personal lives, we carry with us the experience and education successfully attained at the DeGroote School of Business and ensure that in all our future actions we have “stamped and sealed” our commitment to integrity.  In other words we impress the lessons that the DeGroote School of Business has bestowed on us into the rest of our lives.

Gifted to each DeGroote MBA graduate, this tradition will be a proud and public showing of support for the DeGroote program, its significance, and the excellent reputation that it continues to build on our behalf.  This ring, with the corresponding DeGroote seal, though seemingly a mere token, will poetically represent the program, and the devotion that all DeGroote MBA graduates maintain upon their successful completion, towards the principles of ethics and integrity, both professionally and personally.  

At the Ceremony... Just a little proud of myself. (See ring on right index finger)

Hamilton Economic Summit 2012 - Hamilton HIVE Update

Each year the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce hosts a regional Economic Summit that seeks to encourage dialogue on regional development, and inspire new initiatives that both boost the profile of the Greater Hamilton Area, as well as the lifestyle of its citizens.

Being that the Hamilton HIVE was a project derived from the 2010 Hamilton Economic Summit, each year an update is presented on its work and progress to date.  This year, the update was presented as a video, filmed, and produced by Mindy Tweedle of Tweedle Productions, and featuring myself, speaking on the behalf of the Hamilton HIVE.

Hamilton Employment Crawl

In early April I had the pleasure of participating in the production of a video introduction for the Hamilton Employment Crawl, coordinated by McMaster University's Student Success Centre.  This was done both in my capacity as Chair of the Hamilton HIVE, and as a young McMaster alumni who has chosen to remain, and to live, work, and play in the Hamilton community.  

This was a fantastic initiative.  A long overdue attempt to bridge the education that students receive at McMaster with the experiences, opportunities, careers, and life that they can then pursue in Hamilton, Ontario, following their studies.  Special thanks go to Gisela Oliveira and Kathy Woo.  

You can find more information about the video and employment crawl below, in the excerpt copied from the McMaster Youtube page.

On April 25th and 26th, a hundred and fifty students participated in the Hamilton Employment Crawl (HEC). Students and team leaders traveled to organizations around the city to uncover why Hamilton is their city to live, work and play. 

As a project of HEC, a video interview was conducted among employers and young professional in Hamilton. The video asks interviewees about their living and working experiences in the city, as well as their relationship with the community slogan, "You Can Do Anything in Hamilton".  

Thank you to the Student Life Enhancement Fund, Sponsors (The City of Hamilton, McMaster Innovation Park, CoBALT Connects and the Hamilton Police Services) and Strategic Focus Group members (Brent Kinnaird, Cyndi Ingle, Dave Mossman, Gina Robinson, Gisela Oliveira, Kathy Woo, Michael Marini, Ruth Liebersbach, Steph Seagram, Jeremy Freiburger, and Paul Berton) for making HEC possible.  

The video was directed, produced and edited by Kathy Woo     

Photo courtesy of Melissa Height, Bee Bodies courtesy of... We're still trying to figure that out

Tuesday, April 3 saw the publication of the second issue of the Hamilton Spectator's new monthly business magazine.  The headlining feature for April's issue was all about the swelling activity of Young Professionals, Leaders and Entrepreneurs in the city of Hamilton, with a specific focus on the groups that they maintain, connect, network, and seek to further various community agendas through.

Given this focus, a large portion of the feature discussed the Hamilton HIVE, and specifically profiled Melissa Height (Vice-Chair), Matt Terry (Secretary), and myself (Chair).

This feature was a very welcome sign of both recognition of, and encouragement to, continue to push forward with all thing incredible things that Young Leaders are making, building, developing, and doing in Hamilton, Ontario.

Congratulations to all my fellow Young Professional, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders, keep up the fantastic work!

The article can be read here. 

"Ryan Moran is chair of Hamilton Hive, the umbrella organization for the growing number of YP groups in the city and was one of a team of two who just won Canada's Next Top Ad Execs. He said these YP networks are encouraging young professionals to stay here and build careers. They have also encouraged others to move here from Toronto and other urban centres. 

'It's been about bolstering each other and encouraging each other at the same time, showing other YPs outside the city what's going on here.' "

Canada's Next Top Ad Exec - And the winner is...

Warning... small novel ahead.  Would have made it more of a blurb, but it wouldn't have given the moment justice.  Plus, with the communication strategy we presented now property of General Motors, I had to fill space with something...

After three months, gallons of coffee, plenty of pints, good times, cold stares, and a lot of work, the Canada's Next Top Exec journey came to a thrilling, and entirely surreal climax for Kailee and myself.

On Sunday, March 25th, Kailee and I ventured to Toronto, Ontario for the three-day Top Ad Exec finals, hosted at the Toronto centre Intercontinental Hotel.  On Sunday we met our amazing fellow contestants, took pictures, and had a group dinner.  Monday we went to advertising agency MacLaren McCann for a tour and internship interviews, except for Kailee, who soldiered back to Hamilton to write an exam, only to come back in time for the Ad Exec industry and alumni dinner (and announcement of our victorious Quest to Win challenge).

Our wreck of a room, the night before

Tuesday, of course, was the big, huge, important day.  As much as I would love to say that we had been prepared for ages, got a great night's sleep, and woke-up bright and early and first in the prep room to learn the order of the day's presentation, none of that would be quite true.  We were working on our presentation into the wee hours of the morning, when we finally decided to go to bed, and by go to bed I mean lay down in an anxious/sleepy haze.  That is of course until we were awoken by a phone call asking where we were, and why we weren't with everyone in the prep room, which we promptly arrived at in pajamas, to find everyone else in suits.

We returned to the room, knowing that we were presenting 4th (roughly around 11:00am), got ready, had breakfast, and kept plugging away, practicing and refining our presentation.  We did one final practice, and proceeded to the presentation room, feeling both as prepared as we would ever be, and ready to be done with it all.

Upon setting up, we were waiting nervously to get started in a room of 23 academic, marketing, auto, and consumer packaged goods industry judges, when one of the judges, Mike Speranzini, Director of Advertising and Communication at General Motors, casually started chatting with us, he told us that he also went to McMaster University, and wished us luck.  Days after the presentation, we emailed him to thank him for everything, particularly for that casual chat, because it really helped to calm us down and restore some confidence prior to presenting.  He, modestly, said that it was nothing, and that we were obviously well prepared and ready to make an amazing presentation, and also said that he had been in similar positions in the past, and that he knows the value of that sort of calming, casual connection, and to be sure to pay it forward whenever we might be on "the other side of the room," so to speak.

Of everything that we might of learned throughout the entire contest, we both agreed that this was one of the most important.

Pre-presentation chat

The presentation went off amazingly well and we left the room feeling that we had done the absolute best that we could have done given everything that we had prepared, and were prepared for.  Essentially, we were satisfied.

Not being allowed to see the other presentations, we had lunch, and went out for a post-presentation, afternoon drink.

In the late-afternoon/early-evening, we re-suited up and went the pre-Gala reception being held in the lower level of hotel.  It was a blur of conversations with judges, photo-ops, and commiserating with our fellow contestants over the day's presentations.  Eventually, the Gala room opened and we were invited to take our seat for dinner.

Between well wishes and reassurances of the quality of our presentation, conspiracy theories on our seating location, and the sense that some of the judges kept indicating in our direction, Kailee and I began to get a good feeling that we could possibly end up in the top three.  Although, of course, every time either of us suggested this to the other, it was quickly returned with a "SHHH!  I don't even want to think about it!!"

After dinner, the mixture of anxiety, wine and water at the table reminded us how much we had each neglected to visit a washroom in the past few hours, and the only thoughts on our minds were, "could we possibly make it before they announce the top three?"  Of course, it was at this point that the MC invited up the presenter who would announce the top three, Mike Speranzini, the judge that chatted with us before our presentation.  At this point, any thoughts of a bathroom break left our minds for what would be another long time.

As I said, we received many reassurances of the quality of our presentation throughout the day.  However, I don't suppose you ever really expect someone to tell you that you sucked.  We had also heard that both a team from Queen's University, and the team from University of British Columbia had also really done a great job, and so, we had a chance of at least making third place.

The announcement started.  "Third place is..."

Internally, "us... us.. us.."

"The Team from UBC, Christopher Larryant and Veronica Yeung!"

In my ear, Mark Scattalon, a previous first place winner from McMaster University, a great help to us, and seated directly beside me, kept excitedly repeating, "you guys are going to be second, maybe first!"

Kailee and I could only give each other wide-eyed, nervous glances, gasping for air as though we were fighting for the last remaining traces of it in the room.

"Second place is..."

Internally, "us... us... us..."

"Queen's University's Emily Dimytosh and Elizabeth Harris!"

"You guys have just won the contest!" shouted Mark, elatedly.

"Shut up!  You'll jinx it!"  I nervously stammered back.  Kailee and I were no longer breathing, the room could have just been sealed air-tight and we would not have known otherwise.

"And the winners of Canada's Next Top Ad Exec 2012, are from my Alma Mater..."

That Alma Mater is McMaster University... if you didn't catch that

If the pre-Gala reception passed like a blur, then we might as well have been absent of all senses in the hour that followed next.  A steady stream of congratulations, hand-shakes, hugs, pictures, applause, trophies, keys, impromptu speeches, misunderstood jokes used in impromptu speeches, interviews, and returned keys (as they were just for the show of it, production had yet to even start on the cars we just won), poured forth.

When it was all done, after we called those important to us, and after we had finally gone to the bathroom, we proceeded back up to our room, popped some champagne, laughed, listened to music, jumped, and sighed incredulously for at least a solid hour, and then re-joined the festivities of the finale.

The funny thing, is that you typically assume such achievement-related elation to come from something that you have toiled over, have sweat over, have fought over, and have put every ounce of your effort into.  And although I can easily say that Kailee and I, undoubtedly, did each and every one of those things, I am much more happy to say that at no point, did it ever feel that way.  Kailee was a wonder to work with, we are better friends for it, I would work with her again in a heartbeat, and I look forward to racing our Chevrolet Sparks.  As for the project itself, even though it was a campaign for "just a mini-car," if I can find as much fun in my career as I did in this competition, I'd likely be found a skeleton, suited up, and still seated at a desk in some agency, copy and sketches in front of me, and a 1/5 full tumbler of scotch clutched in my bone-fingers, still trying to pull off my best Don Draper.

This was an incredible experience, thank you to the judges, thank you to everyone that helped along the way, and of course, thank you Kailee Jamieson.

Canada's Next Top Ad Execs 2012, Kailee Jamieson and myself

The Glass Menagerie

Me as Tom Wingfield

As I mention at some other point on this site (I believe in the About Me and Resume sections), being a Theatre and Film undergraduate, I do enjoy taking part in community theatre productions, typically in an acting capacity.

Generally, I try to do one or two plays a year.  Theatre is a fantastic creative outlet, I have always found the combination of working so intimately with a group of people, the inventiveness of staging a show, and the rush of being on stage before an audience, to be an exhilarating experience that I do not like to go long without.

As such, back in December, I was cast a Tom Wingfield in a Black Box Fire production of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.  This production was directed by Lauren Repei, and jointly stage managed by Stephanie Yantsis and Danielle Dean-Alton.  Also appearing in the production was Gail Edwards as Amanda Wingfield, Andrea Adcock as Laura Wingfield, and Michael Anania as Jim O'Connor.

Having worked with a number of these great people in prior productions, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do so again.  The production ran with 10 shows, from March 16th until March 30th.

The show was also reviewed by both The View (local free paper), and The Hamilton Spectator (municipal newspaper).  While the former was actually quite glowing, the latter proved less so.  Regardless, this was a fantastic experience and I look forward to the next production I might get the opportunity to participate in!

Canada's Next Top Ad Exec - Top 10!

Right as March kicked off, well, near enough, (March 6), Kailee Jamieson and I successfully made it to the top ten of Canada's Next Top Ad Exec!  For more background on this contest see this post, or, enjoy this clip of Kailee and I being interviewed on CH Morning Live, a morning news program in the Hamilton, Ontario area.

  http://www.chch.com/index.php/morning-live-blog/item/7349-canadas-next-top-ad-exec 

This was both an incredible honour and a daunting challenge for us, as we now needed to look towards turning our successful 15-page strategy document from phase 2, into a full out 30 minute presentation, to be made to a room full of industry judges, for phase 3!  Adding a bit more pressure to this, was that we were also now the only team representing McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business  

Our Branded "Quest to Win" Title

Yet just as with phases 1 and 2, I was sure there would be no way we would not have fun with this.  In fact, it is quite safe to say that this fun was both had, and well documented.  In addition to the challenge of creating a communication strategy for the Chevrolet Spark, all the top ten teams were presented with a side challenge of creating a customer-based social media campaign for Canadian Tire.

Our Team Honey Badger mascot

The "Quest to Win Challenge," as it was called, was focused on generating a community around each team's story of how Canadian Tire products help them survive the tough times leading up to the phase 3 presentation day.  Armed with Canadian Tire gift cards, Kailee and I came up with our own unique story under the blog and banner of "Team Honey Badger in 24 Thousand," based on the number of minutes between when we launched the blog and when we would have to present our phase 3 submission.  We also had a Team Honey Badger branded Facebook business page and Twitter account.

There were two awards from this challenge, that were presented the evening before the phase 3 presentations at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto Centre, Most Creative Strategy and Most Engaging Strategy.  As a wonderful boost of confidence the day before our presentation, I am glad to say that Kailee and I won the Most Creative Strategy award!

Kailee and Ryan, Team Honey Badger

Dropped Between the Lamb and Lion

They say that March comes in like a lamb and out like a lion.  I do not think that I have ever so thoroughly experienced that phrase to its most resoundingly metaphorical extents.

Oddly, "Lamb Lion" pictures are surprisingly abundant on Google  Images.

Seeing as my last post was March 1st, and here we are now at April 22, it can be inferred that I have been busy.  With what?  Well, in the coming days I will try to catch up chronologically...

In other words, wait and see.

Youth Strategy Report Publication

In summer 2011 I was contracted by Workforce Planning Hamilton (formerly the Hamilton Training Advisory Board) to conduct a landscape assessment of groups, reports, research, and any other stakeholders/items that should be taken into account in the potential compilation of a Youth Strategy for Hamilton, Ontario.  Big thanks go out to Judy Travis and Cyndi Ingle at WPH for providing me with this opportunity, and for the support in its development!  

The project was initiated in May 2011, and the final draft was produced by October.  This work was resultant from a a number of initiatives, including a report on Youth Retention and Attraction in Hamilton, that I had prepared for the 2010 Hamilton Economic Development Strategy.  

This landscape assessment, essentially, looks to highlight and "kick-off" all the work that needs to be done in support of making Hamilton, Ontario a destination for young people, of which there is much.  However, in the meantime, I am simply happy to say that all over 40 pages of the report have now been officially published and can be accessed here.

To peak your interest, below is the executive summary:

Executive Summary

As Canada braces for large-scale shifts in its workforce demographics, its cities must prepare themselves to be places of opportunity and prosperity in order to attract the most skilled talent to fill the best jobs.  In looking at creating such a base of skilled, talented citizens, cities must take into account how the differences in age, culture, ethnicity, and education affect their workforce development strategies.

The goal of this report is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive Youth Strategy in Hamilton, a strategy that will contribute to the development and expansion of the city's skilled workforce and prepare us for future challenges.  This report identifies four objectives of a made-in-Hamilton youth strategy: attraction, retention, engagement, and development.   Through use of a local environmental scan of written and organizational resources, the report identifies strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in knowledge around these four objectives.  It also names stakeholders and community partners that should be involved in the development and delivery of such a strategy.   An environmental scan of youth strategy resources outside Hamilton is also included.  Following this, the report identifies key issues that Hamilton faces and identifies opportunities in place to move forward.  

Factor[e] Design Initiative!

On Tuesday, February 21st I started at Factor[e] Design Initiative, located on Locke St. south in Hamilton, Ontario.  This graphic design and web development agency is... awesome.  Really, I am enjoying being here to the point of a complete lack of appropriate descriptiveness.


My official title is Marketing Communications Specialist, and my job revolves around strategic communication planning and execution, both for Factor[e] clients, and for Factor[e] itself.  This includes much in the way of online communication and community building techniques, as well as creative campaigns, which is perfect and "right up my alley."


Everyone here is great, and the space is incredible; open-concept, hardwood floors, gigantic windows, and located directly above the Locke Street Starbucks.  I very much look forward to my excessively caffeinated days ahead here.  Below is their blog entry from my first day:

The very cool Factor[e], 162 Locke Street South

"Ryan Moran Joins Factor[e] 

Today marks Ryan Moran's first day on the job here at Factor[e] Design Initiative!  Ryan comes to us in the role of Marketing Communications Specialist and hot on the heels of his completion of an MBA in Strategic Market Leadership from McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business. 

Ryan is a life-long West-Hamilton resident who previously completed a Combined Honours BA in Political Science and Theatre & Film at McMaster University.  Subsequently he worked as the VP Administration and the President and CEO of the McMaster Students Union, as a Commercial Account Representative at ArcelorMittal Dofasco, and as an independent strategy consultant, developing youth audience related strategies for the City of Hamilton and Workforce Planning Hamilton. 

Ryan arrives here with an ideal working knowledge of the elements of effective marketing strategy development, but also with a strong community interest.  Ryan enjoys participating in community theatre productions, long distance/adventure running, and is currently the Chair of Hamilton's young professional networking group, Hamilton HIVE. 

Ryan and a partner, Kailee Jamieson, also recently placed in the top 25 (out of approximately 200) of the nationwide contest "Canada's Next Top Ad Exec."  They are currently on pins and needles, waiting to hear the results of their round two, top ten submission. 

Ryan is thrilled to be here and we are equally thrilled to welcome him aboard!"

Canada's Next Top Ad Exec - Top 25!

The results came in this past Monday, February 6^th, the powerhouse team consisting of Kailee Jamieson (B.Comm) and myself (MBA), had our “elevator pitch” selected from roughly 200 entries, submitted from all across Canada, to be in the top 25 for Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec!

Both students from the DeGroote School of Business, Kailee and I are among five groups representing McMaster University in the top 25 of this nationwide marketing communication strategy development contest.  Essentially, what being in this category means, is that we have a lot of hard, but fun and exciting work ahead of us!  The “elevator pitch” (two pages, with three pages appendices) was phase one of three.  As we look towards the phase two deadline of February 20^th, we will be expanding on this pitch by developing a full, 15 page maximum communication strategy document.

Up and coming captain of industry, Kailee Jamieson.

Each bringing specific skills to this dynamic duo, Kailee Jamieson, an analytical, personable and problem-solving guru, is a Kingston, Ontario native and Dean’s Honour List student in her fourth and final year of the commerce undergraduate program.  With a specific interest in sales and marketing, Kailee already has a sales job lined up for September 2012 at a small, relatively unknown company called PepsiCo, in their Frito-Lay division.  Currently, Kailee is also competing in the DeGroote School of Business’ MARS Apprentice program on Team Synapse.

Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec is a national marketing communication strategy contest open to teams of both business undergrads and MBA students.  After five fantastic years, the contest has proven to operate as an outstanding link between academic learning and industry experience.  Primarily sponsored by Chevrolet, the contest typically focuses on the development of a communication strategy for an upcoming Chevrolet release, and must be executable in Canadian urban centres.  The focus of this year’s contest is the Chevrolet Spark, a vibrant entrant to the mini-car market segment.  First place contest winners each get to take home a Spark, additional prizes include internships, and scholarships (see official CNTAE press release here).  

The Chevrolet Spark in Action!

   

Hamilton Hive 2012 Exec Committee

The excerpt below is from the official "Buzz" blog of the Hamilton HIVE.  The HIVE is a young-professional and young-leaders collective based in Hamilton, Ontario.  It works to unite the existing young-professional, leader and entrepreneur groups in Hamilton, making stronger connections and establishing better networks to truly empower them as a community.  In January 2012, I assumed the role as the Chair of the HIVE, this blog entry was the official  announcement of the complete executive committee, this looks to be an exciting year for the Hamilton HIVE and I look forward to working with these great people!

Chair - Ryan Moran

Vice-Chair - Melissa Height

Secretary - Matt Terry

Past-Chair - Michael Marini

"Congratulations and welcome aboard to Matt Terry! Matt has been ratified as the 2012 Secretary for the Hamilton Hive. You can view the full Hamilton HIVE 2012 Executive Committee here. 

Matt Terry currently works for the Office of Public Relations at McMaster University and also a member of theArt Gallery of Hamilton’s CLiC group. Matt joins Vice-Chair Melissa Height, of Serious Monkey and member of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce’s YEP committee, and Chair Ryan Moran, independent consultant and also a member of CLiC, as the 2012 Executive Committee of the Hamilton HIVE. 

Michael Marini, of the City of Hamilton, will also be returning to the Executive Committee in the role of Past-Chair, and all members of the HIVE committee and community would like to offer the most sincerest of thanks to 2011 HIVE secretary, Brooke Gordon. 

Thank you to everyone for your interest in these roles! The 2012 Hamilton HIVE Executive Committee very much looks forward to working with all Hamilton’s amazing young professionals and leaders in enhancing this great city."

The Youth are Starting to Change (Part 2)

This article, appearing in the January 2012 edition of Urbanicity, is the continuation of the piece that appeared in the December 2011 edition, which is also posted on this blog under the date of December 6, 2011.

In the last issue of Urbanicity, I discussed the challenges Hamilton faces in regards to maintaining young population demographics. To recap, Youth was defined as being between late-Generation X, Generation Y (Millenials), and any group thereafter (roughly 15-40 years of age.) To summarize the challenges, these included a trending net-out migration of youth, a significant decline in the amount of Hamilton post-secondary institution graduates remaining in the Golden-Horseshoe region, and, as a result, a continually increasing average age of Hamilton’s population (which is already above the provincial average).

Discussion surrounding these challenges has occurred largely throughout the past decade, but in recognition of certain trends, has been particularly heightened in the last five years.

Such discussions have revolved around various research, reports, demographic assessments and studies of specific youth cohorts – Students, At-Risk-Youth, etc. – that have been assembled by various agencies and stakeholders in the Hamilton community. Among the most recent, was a landscape assessment, compiled by Workforce-Planning Hamilton (WPH, formerly the Hamilton Training Advisory Board, HTAB) that aimed at identifying the various informational resources, and community partners, present in the Hamilton area. An additional goal of this report was to serve as a foundation to support the potential construction of a comprehensive Hamilton youth strategy.

This WPH report was defined by four principles that functioned as mutually inclusive categories under which the identified reports and partners were grouped.

The first, Attraction, implies positioning Hamilton as a destination of choice for youth through the active refinement of message and effective execution of communications necessary to attract youth to Hamilton.

Retention implies the maintenance of youth demographics in Hamilton, whether home-grown, transplant or boomerang. Though this item is primarily related to job creation and job communication, it also touches upon ensuring that youth have a positive experience in their interaction(s) with the city, and that the city offers comfortable, yet vibrant lifestyle opportunities.

Engagement implies the assurance that youth feel actively involved in the city, whether through democratic processes, civic volunteerism, or other opportunities to be directly involved in the development of the city’s communities.

Lastly, Development concerns defining and creating opportunities along a continuum of youth skill growth. This recognizes the importance and interconnectedness of everything from At-Risk Youth educational attainment to networking and mentor/protégé relationships for Young Professionals.

To clarify, many existing, Google-able, Youth Strategies are pillared solely by Attraction and Retention. In squaring this off, with the addition of Engagement and Development, the intention was to acknowledge that though attracting and retaining skilled youth is important, there are fundamental social issues in Hamilton, and ensuring the healthy development and active engagement of all youth are equally important.

Despite the work done to date, and the knowledge that has been amassed, there has been a disproportionate amount of co-ordinated and large-scale cooperative action. This is, of course, aside from disparate items put forth by various identified partners. Such examples include October 2011’s Hamilton HIVE: Hive X conference, Hamilton’s first conference for Young Professionals, or the continuous work performed by those looking to open opportunities for At-Risk Youth.

It should be said that this is not due to the absence of a desire to take such actionable steps. Rather, this is more correctly a result of equally, the absence of both available resources to carry out projects related to these topics, and the absence of an existing point-person or office, clarifying the vision, and tying all the strings (resources and partners) in Hamilton’s potential youth strategy community together.

A cursory glance at the various implemented Youth Retention and Attraction Strategies across Canada illustrates that, without such a point-person/team, the potential for success is greatly reduced. Creating a Province of Choice: A Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy for Newfoundland and Labrador, arguably one of the world’s most comprehensive and effectively coordinated strategies, was fully funded and overseen by the Government of Newfoundland, with the directive for its development coming directly from then Premier Danny Williams.

Much closer to home, the Niagara Workforce-Planning Board has also established its own Youth Strategy development project and office, Next Niagara, with leadership on the project coming from full-time coordinator Vanessa Bilenduke.

It is precisely this that is required to pull such a strategy together and then follow through on its execution, top-down leadership, operating in a much more horizontal, and grassroots capacity. A person or office fully enabled with the resources and financial capabilities necessary to carry out both the research and actionable steps required to produce the most direly needed results.
Moreover, such an office should have direct ties to the City of Hamilton, if not exist directly under its auspices, with appropriate arms length capacities. Such moves are crucial in ensuring both the department’s capabilities, and in symbolically showing that Hamilton, and its leaders, are forward-thinking and dedicated to ensuring a flourishing future, by making correct decisions for the youth here and now.

Complacency in comprehensive youth strategy development is currently the norm among municipalities in both Canada and most western developed nations. To view it as an item that is subordinate to other, more common economic development focuses, is to myopically view the world and ignore its undeniable interconnectedness. If ensuring economic prosperity is like composing a symphony, then the assurance of a large pool of engaged, and well-developed youth is the tempo upon which the instruments of industry, opportunity, and lifestyle rely.