The first Thursday of June, and Rotarians Zoomed once again. President Michelle Buria started it out by asking people to share their mottos. Jeff Iisakka gave us his Rotary Reflection on how important it is to find ways to connect with service organizations. His focus was to find something you care about. The vision will pull you so that you do not have to push yourself.
Forty Rotarians Sharing on Zoom
With that members began to chime in with self-reports. Bill Gronseth is going to be a grandparent for the first time. Barb Perrella wrote a piece in the newspaper about pasta at Sammy’s Pizza. President Michelle Buria mentioned that today would have been her father’s 69th birthday.
Scott Van Daele from CHUM was introduced and was awarded a grant of $2,500 for their transformational food shelf program. In another piece of fundraising news, the CHILD Mental Health Campaign is going very well. The final day for contributions is Thursday June 11. This year’s grant recipient is the Boys and Girls Club Mental Health Initiative. A $25,000 grant will be awarded this year.
Chair of the Day, Paul Helstrom, introduced Nate LaCoursiere a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, Superior in their Legal Studies and Criminal Justice program. His presentation was entitled “Thawing the Resistance: Engaging Generations Y and Z in your Civic Organization”.
Speaker Nate LaCoursiere
When Nate was a Duluth city attorney he was involved in a public nuisance action against the Last Place on Earth. He learned several things that helped him engage with the younger generations. First, to affect real change it takes coordinated teamwork and second, it cannot be done from behind a desk. You have to get in front of business owners and work directly with law enforcement. He has taken these lessons and applied them in the educational setting.
Why do the younger generations show resistance to civic engagement? Nate has found that students show anxiety at the outset. What causes this anxiety? One issue is time. Students have a lot of responsibilities on their shoulders and finding time can be an issue. Also, younger generations do not always feel welcome. Often they feel that their voices are not heard. Sometimes they are told that they do not know what they are talking about. So we need to be respectful of their time and engage them in meaningful projects. We must go to them instead of expecting them to come to us. Rotaract can help with this.
By 2025, millennials in the United States will be the majority of the workforce and be the largest voter block. We need Generations Y and Z to be represented in Rotary. The number one issue for millennials is climate change and the third most important issue is social inequality. In the 2018 midterm elections Baby Boomers were outvoted by Generations Y and Z. Even with this voting power, the younger generations believe they are not being heard or consulted. It is time to pay attention and focus on the things they care about most.
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