Is there an age limit for people who want to join IGNITE?
IGNITE is run by a steering committee of young(er) professionals and our activities are geared towards younger residents, but we welcome anyone who supports young professionals and their advancement and involvement in the community as new members, regardless of their age.
What are the benefits of joining IGNITE and how much is membership?
By becoming a member of IGNITE you not only help shape Cayuga Couny’s Young Professionals Agenda and get to meet interesting people, you also receive tangible benefits. For an annual membership of $25 you receive your very own “IGNITE Card,” which entitles you to various discounts at local participating businesses.
How do I join IGNITE?
There are several ways how to get in touch with us. You can sign up on our website, send us an email at info@ignite-cny.org, contact us via facebook or call the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce at 315-252-7291. Either way, one of our recruitment team members will follow up with you and send an application and information package with further instructions.
What if I want to become more involved with IGNITE?
We truly appreciate active members who come to our social gatherings, join in on our facebook conversations and give us frequent feedback and ideas for future activities and projects. If you actually want to have a say in where IGNITE is headed and how to get there, you can always approach us about a steering committee position.
What do steering committee members do?
Our steering committee consists of 15 young professionals that live and/or work in Cayuga County. Towards the end of the year, we usually meet for a planning session regarding the upcoming year. The outcome of that meeting is an action plan that provides guidance for the following year’s goals and objectives. We meet monthly to discuss current issues and plan our next activities. We established teams to work on our social events, communications, recruitment, R&D and our project of the year. This way, things can get done faster in smaller groups without having to involve the entire steering committee in every little detail. Every month, each team leader gives an update about what happened since the last meeting.
Does IGNITE do anything fun or is it just work?
We do put a lot of “work” time into our initiatives, but we make it a point to set aside some time for “play” as well. We reserve every 2nd Tuesday of the month for our “social gatherings”, where we invite young professionals to meet us at a local hotspot to catch up and mingle, while maybe even learning something new about the hosting organization or business. We were able to offer an inside look into one of the Logan Park Lofts and we got to chat with the Bartolotta brothers about that and future development projects. We visited the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, where young professional could discover their artsy side with their children in an ad hoc arts project. We also got an inside look into the Auburn Fire Department and got to chat with a relative of Harriet Tubman. We try to find interesting venues, where people normally wouldn’t have access or would have to pay to get in. Something that sparks people’s interest and makes them want to come out and check us out.
What is IGNITE focusing on in 2011?
2011 is all about “IGNITE the Vote!”. We are working on raising political awareness and civic engagement in our community. We have mayor and city councilor elections coming up, which could potentially mix up the political playing field in Auburn significantly. The same goes for county elections. It is a known fact that political engagement in general and voting in particular is not a big topic for many young individuals. IGNITE wants to remind them that they have a stake in this community’s future and a right to cast a vote to help shape it. IGNITE even received a matching grant for this campaign, which we are very proud of.
Besides voting, there are many other ways that young people can get involved and have their voices and opinions heard – by serving on local boards and volunteering for various organizations. Most of our steering committee members serve on at least one other local board and we plan on informing young professionals about how to get on boards and what it entails. Sometimes you have to make elected officials aware that you are there and ready to serve. This is what happened with the city manager situation that developed earlier in the year, which made us start this initiative sooner than planned. Our plea before city council for a more diverse city manager search committee didn’t change anything initially, but soon thereafter we were considered for a spot and we are very pleased that we could recommend a very qualified candidate. Jessica Kolodzie works as a human resource manager at Cayuga Home for Children, was a past IGNITE Chair and serves currently on our steering committee.
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