Young Gamechangers Wrap Up First Meetings

Friday, April 29th, 2022

The 49 young professionals from across Georgia taking part in the Young Gamechangers program wrapped up their first meetings in Dalton on Friday. Over the next five months, they'll be working together to help the Dalton community develop strategies to meet some of its challenges as it moves into the future. 

At right: Dalton city administrator Andrew Parker leads a panel discussion Thursday afternoon with the group assigned to study the redevelopment challenge question

The program, sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association, brings together a group of professionals ages 24-40 each year to help solve the persistent challenges of one community in Georgia. This year, the program is focusing on Dalton. Each class does extensive research and works to generate big idea recommendations based on their host community’s specific needs. They will present their recommendations, along with a comprehensive report, at the end of their project in September. Their work will focus on four challenge questions selected by the Dalton host committee:

  • Destination Dalton - How do we leverage the uniqueness of our mult-cultural community, convenient location along I-75, outdoor recreational amenities, and natural beauty of the Northwest Georgia mountains to market Dalton as a destination for visitors, new residents, and businesses?
  • Redevelopment - The City of Dalton is devoting considerable resources to create a more vibrant community that attracts people (and/or especially families) to live, work, and play here. How can Dalton/Whitfield County improve its ability to support neighborhood based redevelopment in blighted or distressed areas?
  • Education - In 2019, 70% of Dalton-Whitfield County's K-12 students were considered economically disadvantaged. How can the community better support this student population to improve education outcomes and give them the tools they need to succeed?
  • Community Engagement - A significant percentage of our residents do not feel empowered or feel that their voices are being heard. The City of Dalton is a very diverse community where 50.8% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. Unfortunately, the majority of our Hispanic residents don't feel welcomed or included in the community. This reluctance is evident across all cultures, occupations, and socioeconomic levels. How can we engage all sectors of the community to bring everyone to the table?

A third of the Young Gamechangers are from the Dalton area. Another third of the group is from the metro Atlanta area and the other third is made up of people from across the state. The group is diverse in terms of backgrounds and interests. At the kickoff meeting Wednesday, organizers pointed out that the group includes two members pursuing doctorates, six honors graduates from their colleges, eighteen masters degrees, one Ph. D, a cyclist, a beer brewer, a homecoming queen, a Miss Georgia Southern University, a pastor, an Eagle scout, three bilingual members, a former college softball player, three Double Dawgs (undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia), three runners, a cyclist, among many other distinctions. More information about the group is available here

After meeting on Wednesday and Thursday morning to get to know each other and also to familiarize themselves with Dalton's history and community, on Thursday afternoon the group received the challenge questions and were divided into four study groups to work on each challenge. They began discussions and work on Thursday afternoon before heading home on Friday. They'll continue their work over the next five months.