INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business

NONPROFIT
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI
Urban League of Greater New Orleans Young Professionals members include, from left, Michelle Craig, Peter Hamilton, Jason Burns, Jade Brown Russell and Jared Brossett.
Urban League of Greater New
Orleans Young Professionals
Key innovation: providing a hub of resources for
young professionals ages 21 to 44 to network and
refine their skills
Biggest clients: professionals ages 21 to 44
Where they’re based: New Orleans
Top executive: Jade Brown Russell and Michelle Craig,
co-founders
Year introduced: 2008
”BRAIN DRAIN” IS A TERM employers in New Orleans
know too well — as Hurricane Katrina’s waters began to
subside, the city’s work force went right along with them.
Two attorneys from Adams and Reese law firm are
doing their part to fill what they, and many others, saw as
a void in post-Katrina New Orleans: a young, invigorated
work force to revive the city.
Jade Brown Russell and Michelle Craig started the
Young Professionals chapter of the Urban League of
Greater New Orleans to cater to professionals ages 21 to
44. The chapter is a hub of resources for these people, giving
them an opportunity to network, refine their skills and
extend their knowledge to the community.
“We know that we had a deep need for young professionals
in our demographic to step up and take a hold of the
city’s recovery on a professional level,” said Russell, who is
also president of the chapter. “Our main focus is building
and refining young professionals, coupled with … caring
for the mission of the larger (Urban League) organization,
which is to address the needs of the community.”
The two launched the chapter in 2008 with a kick-off
event at the New Orleans Museum of Art. It only had 10
members but has grown to more than 100.
Besides having social and networking events, seminars
and hosting professional speakers, the nonprofit uses its
funds for community initiatives. The upcoming Young
Professionals University program will have members coaching
disadvantaged 11th- and 12th-graders on job skills. In
conjunction with Coca-Cola, the Young Professionals will
sponsor the Rebuild and Refresh Community School Tour,
where they will tour New Orleans high schools and educate
students on professionalism.
Russell gauges the chapter’s success through the number
of members it has and the number of programs it sponsors
— both of which are growing. As an organization that
focuses on the New Orleans community, its needs will
determine the future of the Young Professionals.
“We’ll grow as the community grows, and address the
needs for the community as they present themselves,” she
said. “New Orleans is on the cusp, really. It is a unique
time, a great opportunity as young professionals to step in
and play a part in the city recovering.”•
— Katie Urbaszewski
50A 2008 Innovator of the Year