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Night of the Roundtable

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Call it offline networking, version 2.0.

Nearly 30 representatives from 18 area young professional groups met Monday night at a Homewood restaurant to drink, to discuss, to deliberate. This Civic Organization Roundtable has been in the works for some time, a way to unite and coordinate Birmingham’s bloc of up-and-comers.

It’s the first step of many in the improving upon the slow, steady progress for our hometown. Feel free to join in at any time.

roundtable

André Natta, right, kicks off the Roundtable. Photo by Curtis Palmer.

The groups represented include:

Many groups missed out because of scheduling conflicts or other reasons, including Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham Urban League, Birmingham’s Young Real Estate Professionals, Downtown Business Association, First Chair, Friends of the Railroad District, Girls Inc., Glenwood Inc., Hands on Birmingham, Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, Magic Moments, National Society of Black Engineers Central Alabama Chapter, 100 Black Men of Birmingham Inc., Young Professionals of Birmingham and Young Women’s Connection.

So much for roll call.

André Natta convened this session after a year of planning and networking. He’s involved in making Birmingham a better place, both in his day job and his after-work activities.

After a flurry of e-mails, we gathered in the early evening at Jackson’s Bar and Bistro in Homewood’s Soho Square.

The networking was loud and all too brief. The discussion was barely audible.

Each of us told the group about ourselves and our organizations. The range of interests and the diversity of participants were impressive.

Some want to recruit. Some want to network. Some want to brainstorm. All want to move forward. But how?

Some want to assert control. Some want an unstructured organization. Hoo boy.

This is actually where it gets interesting, the detail work. How do you corral or coerce a bunch of Type A personalities with noble intentions and different tactics?

André said he didn’t want another group, and with so many groups present, it’s hard to argue. Yet, like it or not, it’s another group. Call it an umbrella organization. That’s not a bad thing. Nor is structure, even if leadership rotates among all.

I like to think a curiosity runs among all of us, of what’s going on in our community and with our fellow citizens. I want to know what the groups are up to, and how I can help.

The next steps are more feedback and more meetings. It could be dull. It could be drudge work.

Or it could be the renewal of effort by YPs to shape the agenda for the 21st century.

The Civic Organization Roundtable brought 29 go-getters together for an hour. It’s time to get going.

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Posted: Tuesday, October 24, 2006, 10:51 pm, in B'ham, Commerce, Culture.
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  1. Wade on Birmingham
    Thursday, June 21, 2007, 8:04 am
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    Heads up: Transformers, the expo

    YP Expo offers new opportunities to young professionals
    …

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