Iowa's Statewide YPO was started in 2004 and aims to connect and engage young professionals in Iowa. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the Iowa Association of Business and Industry Foundation. The YPIowa Board is made up of 15 young leaders from around the state who meet quarterly. YPIowa works to address Iowa's declining workforce by creating programs like the Job Ambassadors program to connect young professionals with career opportunities and encourage them to stay in Iowa.

2. Iowa’s Statewide YPO
Started in 2004 with statewide conferences
Board and committee work started in 2007
Mission:
“To connect and engage young professional in
Iowa to take responsibility for the growth of
their community and state.”
YP = Young Professional
YPO = Young Professional Organization

3. Iowa is ahead of most states
• Only a handful of states have a statewide
organization (Florida, New Mexico, North
Dakota)
• Over 100 YPOs throughout the state of Iowa
Most states just see YP groups within metro
markets and not within the rural cities.

4. 501 ( c )( 3 ) organization
affiliated with the Iowa
Association of Business
and Industry Foundation.
YPIowa Board made up of
15 young leaders from
around the state of Iowa

5. Board meets 4 times a year monthly newsletter to YPs
throughout the state Blog Annual Leadership
YP Leader’s Academy assist with
Conference
start new YPOs (Le Mars, Iowa) advocates around
the state assist other Midwest YPOs
All resources can be found at
www.ypiowa.com

6. YPIowa was at the desk when the
Governor Culver signed bill to create
the 1st statewide YP commission in the
nation!
YPIowa encouraged YPs to sign-up for
the Generation Iowa Commission. He
had a pool of over 250 to choose from!
Generation Iowa Commission is a
commission under the Iowa
Department of Economic Development
and has access to statistics and also
the ear of legislators.

7. Working since 2007 to help Iowa’s
business, government and community
leaders stop this….

8. Out-migration leads to a projection of plunging workforce population
Iowa’s workforce is
peaking in size.
In 10 years, Iowa’s
workforce will lose
about 60,000 people
every 5 years.
(Equivalent to losing a
Principal, UIHC or
Rockwell Collins every
year.)

9. From 2005 to 2007, Iowa has moved up to second-to-last in the
Midwest in key wage metric.

10. In 2008, Generation Iowa surveyed 1000
Iowans about why they would leave.
Highest Priorities
1. Highest Paying Job in their Field of Study
Other “Tie-Breaker” Priorities
2. Demographic-Specific Amenities and Attractions
3. Options for Career Advancement & Mentoring
4. Cost-of-living + Student Debt repayment

11. Brain Drain is a symptom of a lack of jobs
for people with advanced degrees

12. • What does the world look like to a college graduate?
62% of Iowa’s high school graduates go to college
–
33% of “Next Generation” Iowans will get a Bachelor’s degree
–
24% of workforce aged Iowans already have a Bachelor’s degree
–
12.2% of currently available jobs require a BA or higher
–
• Iowa has relatively fewer career opportunities, without
concentrated industry clustering & New Economy capital-efficient
industries

13. State-Level Policy Recommendations
• More ambitious state Job Creation programs to better funnel
efforts toward high-skill jobs
• Next Generation members on state’s economic
development, education and quality-of-life boards
• Double IDED support of small business internships
• Increase education grant to AmeriCorps’ disaster volunteers

14. What are you seeing?
www.generationiowa.com

15. We need young, YPs want to
educated Iowan’s stay, but can’t
to secure find an
our future appropriate job
YPIowa created the
Job Ambassadors

16. YPIowa wanted to create a program that
• addresses the growing workforce needs of the state of
Iowa
• Creates a network for those who want to pursue job
opportunities within Iowa.
• Attracts and retains young professional in Iowa.

17. There are current gaps or perceived gaps in
career offerings for YPs throughout the state.
• YPs leave the state to pursue higher paying jobs.
Also, have trouble finding job opportunities when they
graduate college
• YPs then have trouble connecting to jobs when they
want to move back to their hometown

18. YPIowa recognized that in order to keep
young talent in the state and encourage
new young talent to move to Iowa, there
must be career opportunities for them.
They must have a means to enjoy the high
quality of life that Iowa can offer.

19. How did you find out about your current
employers job opportunities?
• Newspaper
• Online Posting
• Iowa Workforce
• Temp Agencies
• Networking
– Got recruited
– Told about the opening

20. I want to move
I’ve got a
back to my
position in IT
hometown in
open here at
IA. Do you
company XYZ.
know of any
Do you know of
opportunities
a YP making a
for someone
move within this
with an IT
field?
degree?

21. • Regional Advisors in Test Markets
– Oversees a Region
• Greg Hoffman, NW Iowa
• Quad Cities
• Des Moines
• Marshalltown
• Cedar Rapids
• Job Ambassadors
– Assist Regional Advisors within specific cities
– Connected to the Community
• Sioux City: Beth Trejo, Jon Murad, Virginia Anderson

22. • Act as a link between local and regional
statewide efforts
• Close any gaps in communication or resources
that act as barriers for both YPs and employers
• Resource for YPs interested in staying or moving
to the state to find the opportunities they need.
• Assist employers to get connected to young
qualified job candidates.

23. Who is all involved?
Did not want
• Statewide and local government
to recreate the
wheel initiatives / commissions
• Statewide workforce programs
such as IWD and IDED
• Local Chambers of Commerce
• Universities and
Found
Colleges, Technical and
partnerships
Community Colleges
throughout the
• Trades, Associations and Unions
communities
• Human Resource Organizations
• Civic Organizations
• Business Leaders

24. How does this benefit your company?
• These YPs have networked in order to find out about
this opportunity so they understand the power of
making connections.
• Access to YPs that are passionate about this area and
want to make this home.
• May come across a YP that you could “make room” for
within your company because of their experience
level.

25. How to utilize
jobs@ypiowa.com
Everything sent to this e-mail will be
forwarded to the Regional Advisors
where the job is located or where the YP
wishes to find their job opportunity.

26. Company with Jobs Individuals seeking Job
• • City wish to locate to
City position located
• • Type of position you are
Job description
looking for
• Specific requirements
• Resume
• Permission to promote
• Permission to forward
your position to YPs
resume to job
• We will send you the
opportunities
resume so you know they
come from this program.

27. Questions?
www.generationiowa.com
E-mail: communications@iowalifechanging.com
www.ypiowa.com
E-mail: jobs@ypiowa.com