Creative class needs recruits By Monique Balas News-Chronicle There's a new class in town, and it's one that might please some Green Bay employers. A "creative future cafe" hosted by Employers Workforce Development Network's Young Professional Network Thursday is designed to bring together members of Brown County's creative class - even if they don't know they're part of it yet. "The point of it is to mix young professionals with everybody else," said Wendy Seronko, executive director of Employers Workforce Development Network, which formed the Young Professionals Network in July. "There's a lot of networking, mentoring, idea exchange." Through a specialized format of discussion rounds, business and community leaders will have the opportunity to interact with young people who represent Northeast Wisconsin's workforce, in what is now being called the "creative class." "The creative class is people who are used to offering their ideas and being part of the planning and involvement of their home life, their community and their work life, their career," Seronko said. Essentially, it's anyone who has an idea and knows how to present it, she said. The Creative Future event follows a Sept. 18 event by the network, which featured Richard Florida, an economic development professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Florida addressed the importance of a strong talent base with creativity and productivity to attract more businesses to an area. He pointed out that "the more open a community is to all types of people, the more ... they'll see your community as a place where their company can grow and compete in the local economy," Seronko said. But at that event, Seronko realized only 4 percent of participants were young people. "Everybody said, 'Wow, we don't have the people here who are our future," Seronko said. That's why her group wanted to focus on younger people to attend Thursday's event. The event is open to "anybody who cares about our economic and community future," including all ages and occupations, Seronko said. FYI: Creative Future Cafe, a networking event for young professionals, will be held 5:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the SC Grand, 1250 Mid-Valley Drive, De Pere. Registration, due today, is $5 for YPN or Pulse members and $7 for non-members. Food, beverages and meeting costs are included. Register online at www.acreativefuture.com. Call Sue Gerrits at 435-4540 Ext. 102 or e-mail her at [email protected] for more information.