Community action: "I Will Stay If..."

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - What will make residents stay in Northeast Indiana? That’s the question at the Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana (YLNI) and Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE) monthly “Hot Spot” networking event on Thursday, August 19, 2010.

The conversation will ask: what makes a region sustainable, the continuing issues and challenges facing the region and what residents can do to put Northeast Indiana on the map.

The event will be at Club Soda in downtown Fort Wayne from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Attendees will be asked to finish the statement “I will stay if…” by writing their statements on dry erase white boards and posing for photographs with their answers.

YLNI and GLUE will be documenting the answers through a photographic exhibit that will travel the Great Lakes region. Eventually, GLUE will use the photographs as a non-traditional data set to share with policy makers.

Organizers say “I Will Stay If” events aim to bring together a diverse crowd of people in a GLUE city to participate in a vital conversation.

Courtney Tritch, 2020 Vision committee member and YLNI Director at Large, said. “We can’t fault our communities’ leadership for a lack of change if our generation is not actively expressing our views on where improvement is needed and following up with action. This event allows us to expand the impact of our recent 2020 Vision survey and become a part of a larger multi-state effort. Ultimately, we want to do more than just talk; we want to be a catalyst for positive change in our communities.”