Group aims to connect young professionals with community

When Jennifer Dooley, 31, graduated from college and started her career in the Kenosha area eight years ago, it was a difficult transition.

“There really wasn’t a way for me as a young person to get engaged in the community. I was one of those people who in college was ultra-active,” said Dooley, owner of Dooley and Associates, a marketing firm in Twin Lakes. “I went through a sad transition from being in college into the real world and not having an outlet to get engaged as a young person.”

Today, young professionals have Y-Link, Kenosha’s newest network geared toward the young and the young at heart.

Y-Link is a non-profit, professional, civic and social organization, poised to cultivate Kenosha’s future leaders.

The organization’s new president, Dan Antonneau, 36, of Kenosha said Y-Link is a joint project of the United Way, the Kenosha Area Business Alliance and the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce.

Antonneau, who is co-owner of David Insurance in Kenosha, explained the group was first organized through the United Way, but it fizzled out. In its resurrected form, the group expanded from a sole purpose of community involvement into one that included professional and career development.

The overriding factor, Antonneau said, is to not only attract young professionals to the area, but also help maintain this bank of young talent in the community.

“If they can’t feel like this is home, they aren’t going to stay,” he said. “And you have to have an easy way to find their peers here.”

Y-Link is working on two or three events, including the upcoming Holiday Happy Hour.

The group is also in the planning stages of a mentoring program to have local business professionals mentor college-age students.

“When I moved to town, it would have been great to have somebody to bounce ideas off of,” Antonneau recalled.

What makes the group different from other young professional groups in the area, Antonneau said, is the group’s willingness to participate in other organization’s events.

For Melissa Rowley, 39, of Kenosha, it’s the inclusion of a community service element that attracted her.

Rowley, an executive assistant at Platinum Systems, a computer networking company, said one of the organization’s goals is to keep young professionals involved in their community.

“For me it’s a mixture (of community involvement and professional and career development.) I really enjoy being part of the community and helping out,” Rowley said.

Through its connection with the United Way, the group learned of the Sharing Center in Paddock Lake, a food pantry and clothing distribution center west of I-94, and has made the Sharing Center the recipient of goods collected at Y-Link’s upcoming event on Dec. 9.

Antonneau agreed on the importance of local philanthropic involvement.

“If you can’t find ways to give back to your community, it’s going to be hard to make it feel like home,” he said, adding that young people, who tend to be very mobile, need to put down roots. “If you don’t, you’re always going to be looking for the next place.”

For more information on Y-link or to register for membership, visit .www.ylinkenosha.com