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Saturday, October 12, 2002

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

For the first time in its history, the venerable Allegheny Conference on Community Development is preparing a multipronged strategy to solve the region's high-profile problem of attracting and retaining young people.

Its preliminary recommendations, compiled by a task force led by Chatham College's Esther Barazzone, include creation of a roundtable of local chief executives to address diversity; the ongoing collection of the views of young people through surveys and data; the building of coordinated partnerships with colleges and universities; the development of more coordinated marketing and recruitment techniques; the reviewing of existing development projects through a "youth lens"; and the establishment of a "regional youth project" that involves people from the worlds of media, politics, business, education and culture.

Some of these recommendations, which will be debated Monday evening at the Buhl Science Building on Chatham's Squirrel Hill campus, may be included in a report presented at the Allegheny Conference's annual meeting on Nov. 14.

The conference, one of the region's most influential public policy organizations spawned out of Pittsburgh's initial Renaissance effort, last year decided to tackle the young people issue in a large, coordinated way through a task force headed by Barazzone. Members include many of the region's youth-oriented organizations such as the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project, Pittsburgh's Next, Ground Zero Action Network and the Onyx Alliance.

When asked about the conference's youth strategy, PUMP Executive Director Kristin Szymkowiak said the conference "is headed in the right direction." The real test, she said, is when and if the recommendations result in action. "If their action agenda is not forthcoming, you will see the young professional groups up in arms," she said.