communities + millennials

Communities are defined by the people living in them. What those people do, where those people go, and who those people connect with. People want to meet others, be around people, and evolve with the other people in their community, no matter how alike or different they may be.

And so too do “we.” We are a blossoming community of young people who are exiting one phase of their life and entering into the next one. Millennials, Generation Y, Echoboomers, the Internet Generation. The nomenclature does not matter, but we are a budding group that is trying to define ourselves in our world, in our state, in our city, in our community.

We are a misperceived bunch, one not defined by the clichés that our parents’ generation uses to characterize us; a generation that might be under our parents’ wings longer than in previous times, but one that realizes that wing casts a huge shadow. We are a bunch going through a collective quarter-life crisis. We are not leeches, we do not expect handouts, but neither do we think we can simply pull ourselves up by our bootstraps--that doesn’t work. Our reality is different than the generations before it, not wrong, not with less wanting or longing for success or definition, but different.

We want to be part of a community and we are. We live here, we do stuff, we go places, we connect with people like us, and we connect people who are different from us. Embrace us, don’t disregard us. We exist, and in our own way we play a huge part in defining our community.