By Michelle Salater
It’s an unusually brisk Autumn day and Bradley Bell, general manager for the Aiken Foxhounds professional baseball team is busy looking for next year’s new recruits in order to lure them to Aiken for the new season.
“Coming to Aiken and managing this new team is a move that I will never regret,” says the single young professional who moved to Aiken in 2006. “Coming from Myrtle Beach, I was pleasantly surprised with the nightlife in Aiken. I enjoy downtown because there is a wide variety of restaurants and other establishments where I can sit back and relax.”
Bell says the Aiken Foxhounds and the USCA Convocation Center, two new venues that have come to Aiken in the past year, are great entertainment settings for young people.
“My overall experience in Aiken has been very enjoyable,” says Bell. “There are always great networking opportunities, and I am always meeting new people and trying new places.”
So, what is it about Aiken that makes it a desirable location for young professionals? What kinds of young professionals choose to make Aiken their home? These were pertinent questions that the Chamber wanted to find out. With many cities across the country struggling to attract and maintain their younger population, the Chamber wanted to make sure Aiken was doing all it could to keep and attract more of this unique and diverse workforce.
To discover these answers, the Chamber’s board of directors created a Blue Ribbon Panel on Young Professionals to explore this emerging group’s needs. Headed by Dr. Thomas Hallman, chancellor of the University of South Carolina Aiken, the task force explored what cities, such as Greenville, South Carolina, and Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, are doing to attract the twenty-two to thirty-nine year olds.
The panel, which presented its findings to the Chamber board in August 2007, defines young professionals as “typically recent college graduates, looking for a first job or an advancement move that provides long-term career opportunities.”
The 10-person Blue Ribbon Panel compiled a list of 250 participants, 80 of whom were randomly selected to participate in a survey. The panel spent six months studying how to improve the attraction and retention of young professionals in the greater Aiken area.
Participants of the survey cited the friendly community and cultural factors as the top draw to Aiken. A short commute, the family-oriented community, and the community’s character were listed second, followed by economic factors, such as the low cost of living.
“Folks with young families find Aiken a comfortable place to call home,” says Dr. Hallman. “Aiken has numerous programs for children and churches with activities for families. The schools are very good, performing at or above state average.”
Dr. Bella Udani, a physician and partner at Primary Care of Aiken, moved to Aiken in April 2007. “Aiken is convenient because of all the amenities. It is easy to raise kids here because of the great schools and activities for everyone. Our family went to the Aiken’s Makin’ Arts and Crafts Festival, which is one of many festivals in the area, which was fun for the kids,” she says. “Aiken has the benefit of being a small town. It is a place where you can meet and know a lot of people and trust that you can rely on them.”
Joanna Nuñez, an on-site supervisor at Kelly Services, and her husband, Manuel, moved from Long Beach, California, for a better environment for their children.
“Aiken is an ideal place to raise a family,” says Nuñez. “There are many churches, which provide spiritual guidance, as well as Sunday school and Vacation Bible School. There are also different sports, clubs, and other recreational activities offered in Aiken. My oldest son is a member of the Aiken Boxing Club—hopefully one day he’ll become a great boxer.”
The study also found what first attracts young professionals to the Aiken area is the unprecedented quality of life. What keeps young professionals in Aiken are primarily economic factors. Other important factors that keep them here are the low cost of living, a good housing market, and career opportunities. Outside of work, young professionals seek diverse activities. They play in bands and sports leagues. They visit parks and ride bike trails. They seek places to meet new people, such as art galleries, coffeehouses, night clubs and cultural events. In short, young professionals desire areas that offer choices.
Andrea Haltiwanger, marketing manager for Security Federal Bank and its three subsidiaries, was thrilled by the opportunity to participate in the task force.
“I thought it was a great idea and something on which Aiken really needed to focus,” says Haltiwanger. “In order for future growth to continue in the community, there needs to be an equal balance of professionals of all ages.”
Raised in Aiken and now a young, married professional, Haltiwanger says the choice for her to live in Aiken was an easy decision.
“Aiken has so much charm, and the easy living of the area suits my lifestyle. The cost of living is reasonable, and there are great neighborhoods that make it easy to meet new people. So much of downtown Aiken has been revitalized, and new boutiques are continually opening in the area. The diversity here is unbelievable.”
Based on its findings, the Blue Ribbon Panel has recommended important actions the Chamber should take in order to continue to attract and retain more young professionals to the area. These include creating a networking association, establishing opportunities for young professionals to interact with the senior members of Aiken, and strengthening Chamber ties with businesses employing the younger population. Through such initiatives, the Chamber can lead the entire community in recognizing public policy issues affecting young professionals.
“We have to look for the things that will attract the best and brightest here,” says panel member Jim Little, president of Washington Safety Management Solutions. “It’s going to take understanding and collaboration. First, we have to understand what this young generation needs. We must communicate this opportunity to them. We have to hire these people, and we have to put the things in place that will retain them here. We don’t want them to come and go, so it’s important that the community establishes a way to coexist because young professionals have different needs. They’re going to be concerned about the quality of education for their children and concerned about continuing their own education.”
“We as a community need to recognize that young professionals also have a different value system,” says Little.
“We need to start thinking about our community in a different way—broader than a retirement community and broader than an equestrian community. How are we going to accommodate apartment complexes for young professionals? How are we going to accommodate having more restaurants and coffee shops and places for people to socialize in Aiken? It doesn’t mean we don’t have this, but we probably need to do more.”
Dr. Hallman is enthusiastic about the opportunity and the prospects Aiken has to offer young professionals.
“We have a wealth of talent,” says Hallman. We have so many people with a number of experiences from across the country—and the world—who bring their own experiences here.” He adds, “If there is any community in the country ready to take this on, it’s Aiken.”
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