Meeting Community Needs - NextGen: Men & Women

In 2022, ASAE created Meeting Community Needs, an initiative working in partnership with host cities to impact positive change based on the needs of the local community. The host committee cities selected workforce as the common issue to show how associations and their destination partners can do well by doing good in the host cities where we meet.

For the 2023 Annual Meeting, ASAE has partnered with the Atlanta CVB and the nonprofit Next Gen Men and Women, a local charitable organization. Next Gen partners with under-resourced high schools to create student cohorts, led by teachers and mentored by college students, to connect student interests to the world, visit local colleges and companies, and execute a plan for success after high school.

In March, ASAE hosted a workshop with students from NextGen to highlight careers in associations and hospitality. The event was co-hosted with the Atlanta CVB, the Georgia Society of Association Executives, and the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC). The program included a “back of the house” tour of the GWCC, a panel with Georgia association and hospitality professionals, and an interactive exercise for the students to plan their own conference. We will invite those students to the ASAE Annual Meeting in August as apprentices.