New Group Plans for a Better Place

 

Area’s need for more activities for young people prompts forming of organization

By Jeff Bunn
Capital journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, Mar 06, 2008 - 06:05:46 am CST

PIERRE — With the city abuzz with discussion about a new software company’s plan to come to town and bring a couple hundred young employees to the area, many believe the young generation may not stick around for lack of entertainment. But a new group forming may be able to help.

The Pierre Young Professionals, a group that will meet for the first time from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Painters Palette, hopes to make Pierre a better place for young, successful people to live.

Following Eagle Creek Software Service’s announcement last week that the company would be opening an office in Pierre and hiring approximately 200 people, many of them in their 20s, the forming of the group reveals what some felt was missing in Pierre.

Jeff Bunn - Capital Journal Sarah Van Berkum works in the lieutenant governor’s office Wednesday afternoon. Van Berkum is a planner of the new group Pierre Young Professionals. The group meets from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Painters Palette. The informal gathering is open to anyone who feels that they are a young professional.

Sarah Van Berkum, in her mid-20s, who is a policy analyst in the Governor’s Office and is one of the five planners of the group, began living and working in Pierre right after college when she took a job with the state.

“I wondered how you bust into the social scene,” Van Berkum, also on the Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce board, said. “Hopefully this will be the answer for that.”

The group has yet to decide if it will be civic-oriented and no one has been appointed to official positions, but Van Berkum said the group’s mission is clear.

“It’s driven by young people for young people,” Van Berkum said. “There is interest in going civic and having a bigger purpose, at the same time keeping a focus on the fact that we need to have fun.”

As Thursday’s meeting is sponsored by the Pierre Area Chamber of Commerce and PEDCO is supportive of the group, Van Berkum said the need to make Pierre attractive to young people has been a priority for community members for some time and PYP would have been formed despite Eagle Creek’s announcement.

“I’m on the board of directors of the Chamber, and at our board retreat we all determined young people as a major priority,” Van Berkum said. “So I think it’s been simmering for a lot of people for a long time.”

The group does not receive state funding, but Van Berkum said it realizes the importance of keeping young people in Pierre as many are brought in as pages or interns during session.  

A major employer of young people in Pierre, the state has been talking about this generation. The Millennials are a live-first, work-second generation, and so the state has a vested interest in making Pierre a good place to recruit.

“I think it’s a natural fit because the state is another employer in Pierre, and I think all employers should be interested in ways to make sure their employees are happy,” said Van Berkum.

Van Berkum cites outdoor activities as a positive part of living in Pierre but said coordination among the young has been absent. 

“I think once you’re in Pierre and get plugged in, it’s a great place,” she said. “I compare my situation to my friends’ in Sioux Falls and I think there are more social opportunities in a setting like this with the state constantly bringing in young people. And you make more of an effort to make sure you have something to do on a Friday night versus taking it for granted.”

Two of the group’s coordinators are state employees and three are private sector employees. Van Berkum said the group has received positive feedback from interested people.

Van Berkum believes the Web site, www.pierreyoungprofessionals.com, will be a good centerpiece for young people on the move and a place members can discuss creating book clubs, getting together for dinner or keeping tabs on what’s going on around town.