ImaginePittsburghNow, the blog of the Allegheny Conference, welcomes the 1,000+ delegates to the One Young World summit with this short video “flipbook” of some of the people and places that we love about our ‘burgh.
While Pittsburgh is composed of 88 distinctive, vibrant neighborhoods, this three-minute video highlights just a few that OYW delegates might find themselves in: Downtown (aka the Golden Triangle or the Cultural District); Oakland, home to several of our region’s 36 universities; and the South Side, a mecca of restaurants, clubs, vintage clothing and record stores, and more. (Other neighborhoods not far from the clean, green David L. Lawrence Convention Center include the Strip District, Lawrenceville and Polish Hill.)
It’s less than two weeks until more than 1,000 emerging leaders from around the world gather in Pittsburgh for the first One Young World summit to hit U.S. shores. Ages 18 through 30, these delegates will spend Oct. 18-22 tackling issues around education, public health and the role that businesses can play in fostering sustainable development and social justice.
Designed for OYW 2012 by Pittsburgh-educated Burton Morris
As the region gears up to host these guests, it’s worth remembering that Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center has already hosted more than 10,000 bright young people from around the globe in 2012. That includes more than 8,500 engineers and student members of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and the world’s largest pre-college science research competition.
That gathering, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), showcased cutting-edge research and inventions by more than 1,500 students from 70 countries. Among those who earned a place at the competition were seven Pittsburgh area students. ImaginePittsburghNow caught up with four of them during the fair. You can watch video interviews here or below with Natalie Nash of Vincentian Academy in the North Hills, Chareeni Kurukulasuriya of Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, Robert Vaerewyck of St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, and Andrew Lingenfelter of Seneca Valley Intermediate High School in Harmony.
It’s not just young visitors who are finding their way here. Increasingly educated newcomers – and boomerangers — in their 20s and 30s are building their careers, making their homes and building their lives in what used to be one of the oldest population centers in America. Pittsburgh has jobs, and is a place big enough to have fun, but small enough to be affordable and to allow you to feel like you’re making a difference – in innovation, business, research, the arts and more. To stay abreast of what’s happening, sign up to get our blogposts directly into your email via RSS feed, find us at Facebook.com/PittsburghRegion and follow us on Twitter.com/ImaginePgh.
Natalie Nash of Vincentian Academy in the North Hills
Andrew Lingenfelter of Seneca Valley Intermediate High School in Harmony
Chareeni Kurukulasuriya of Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill
Robert Vaerewyck of St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights
Former President Bill Clinton, Huffington Post Founder and CEO Arianna Huffington and celebrity chef and nutrition advocate Jamie Oliver are amongst the global heavy-hitters who will be in Pittsburgh this October for the One Young Word summit. More than 1,500 young leaders from 190 countries will be joining them to discuss, debate and devise solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Steven Sokol, president and CEO of the World Affairs Council — Pittsburgh, Rebecca Lucore, executive director of the Bayer USA Foundation and Neil Karls, a finance staff associate with UPMC Mercy and a delegate at this year’s summit discuss the value that One Young World brings to those in attendance.
An Opportunity for Global Engagement at One Young World in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh had the largest American delegation at last year’s One Young World summit in Zurich, Switzerland. That level of interest and engagement couldn’t have hurt when summit organizers — who ultimately chose Pittsburgh — were deciding where to hold the 2012 summit. Leigh Halverson, special assistant to the president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation, Abe Taleb, co-founder and managing partner of ReWork and Ryan Cain, project team manager for Grow Up Great at PNC were delegates at last year’s summit and are helping to make this year’s One Young World in Pittsburgh an even more valuable experience for the more than 1,500 international delegates expected to attend.
YPE-Pittsburgh: Engaging the Region’s Young Professionals in Energy
For the first time in decades, the younger population in Pittsburgh is growing faster than the national average. Pittsburgh’s chapter of Young Professionals in Energy (YPE-Pittsburgh) wants to help continue this momentum by bringing together the region’s energy young professions for educational and networking opportunities. Josh Hickman, founder and chairman of YPE-Pittsburgh discusses how the region’s diverse energy industry has led YPE-Pittsburgh to be one of the largest and most active local chapters of this global organization.
Our Region’s Businessairs Sundays at 11 a.m. on WPXI-TV. Hosted by the Allegheny Conference’s Bill Flanagan, the 30-minute business affairs program is co-produced with Cox Broadcasting. The program is rebroadcast on PCNC-TV at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, and at 3:30 p.m. Mondays. It also airs Sundays on WJAC-TV (Johnstown-Altoona) at 6 a.m. and WTOV-TV (Wheeling-Steubenville) at 6:30 a.m.
Clinton, who works to improve global health, strengthen economies and protect the environment through his William J. Clinton Foundation, will join an expected 1,500 delegates in their 20s. Participants will hear from speakers on subjects including education, sustainable development, global health, social business and youth unemployment. Pittsburgh corporations Alcoa, Bayer, Google, Heinz and PNC are among those sending delegates.
Bob Geldof and Desmond Tutu at One Young World Summit, Zurich 2011 / Photo by Amanda Sennert
Founded by Kate Robertson and David Jones, heads of (respectively) marketing firm Euro RSCG’s UK office and French advertising agency Havas, the summit aims to “give delegates the kind of media platform and forum afforded ordinarily only to those who lead countries and corporations… tell(ing) the world what the leaders of tomorrow think and feel — and what they demand of the leaders of today.”
Other speakers include online media mogul Arianna Huffington, Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Pakistani writer Fatima Bhutto, Indian parliamentarian Rahul Gandhi, British singer Joss Stone and Russian model/philanthropist Natalia Vodianova.
Also on hand will be speakers from the 2011 summit in Zurich: anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Irish rocker and anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof; celebrity chef Jamie Oliver; and Mohammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist whose work in micro-lending earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Click here to read previous ImaginePittsburghNow.com coverage of One Young World, and here to check out photos by IPN correspondent Amanda Sennert from last year’s summit in Zurch.
We’re almost halfway through our “Best of the World” year (as so designated by National Geographic Traveler), and the Allegheny Conference, Allegheny County, the city of Pittsburgh and VisitPittsburgh are celebrating worldwide with a special section on our region in the June edition of Delta Air Lines’ Sky Magazine. The series of articles is entitled “Comeback City: The reinvented steel town has jobs, a healthy real estate market, lots of public and private innovation – and billions of dollars of natural gas.” In addition to appearing in seatback pockets on Delta flights worldwide throughout June — reaching a readership of about 5 million — a digital version of the supplement will be available on the Sky website for the next 12 months.
The partnership with Sky is a centerpiece of our strategy to reach visitors to the region while they’re here and en route. Working with VisitPittsburgh, VibrantPittsburgh and numerous partners, and thanks to support from Lamar, Pittsburgh Magazine, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and WQED-TV, we targeted delegates to the National Society of Black Engineers convention in March and competitors here for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May. Next up is the National Association of Counties (NACo) conference in July and the One Young World Summit in October. Our objective is not just to show these visitors a good time but to send them home as ambassadors who can plant the seeds about our region as a dynamic place to invest, work, go to school, visit or play.
You may be interested in two upcoming opportunities to roll up your sleeves and welcome the nation and the world to our region. First, the local host committee for NACo, led by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, is looking for several hundred volunteers to help with that event from July 13-17. NACo will bring thousands of county officials to our region from across the country, and will feature such speakers as retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and humorist Dave Barry. If you’re interested in helping, please email Paulette Zanotti (pzpz1 AT comcast DOT net), whom you may have met during the G-20 when she volunteered in our media welcome center.
After NACo we’ll be gearing up to welcome the world again – a somewhat younger version of it – for the One Young World Summit in October. I’m told there are still opportunities to send delegates. The One Young World Pittsburgh Partnership, co-chaired by Greg Babe of Bayer Corp. and Sy Holzer of PNC Bank, is asking local companies with national and global operations to consider sponsoring delegates, using the summit to introduce high potential employees to Pittsburgh as well as to fellow emerging leaders. Talk about a way to build a global network of contacts!
In the meantime, pick up a copy of Sky next time you board the Delta trip to Paris. You are, of course, using this nonstop flight as your gateway to Europe and the world beyond, aren’t you? Delta has resumed five-day-a-week service through the busy summer travel months. Since there’s no longer any public or private sector guarantee supporting the flight, it’s up to the market to make it work. If we want continued and enhanced nonstop transatlantic air service, it’s critically important that business and leisure travelers support this flight when it makes sense for them. You can learn more at www.flypittsburgh.com.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett kicks of Pittsburgh's "Best of the World" campaign at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh’s arts and cultural organizations and businesses are pulling together with the city, county and state to focus attention on what’s “world best” about Pittsburgh in 2012. The initiative – dubbed the “Best of the World Pittsburgh Partnership” – aims to increase visits and economic investments to the region by leveraging attention brought by a National Geographic Traveler article that named Pittsburgh among the world’s 20 must-see places to visit in 2012.
The initiative begins in March and runs through October, as the region welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world for a series of conferences, events and programs highlighting innovation in the arts and industry. Among this year’s major conventions are the National Society of Black Engineers (March 28 – April 1), the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (May 13 – 18), National Association of Counties (July 13 – 17) and the One Young World Summit (October 18 – 22). The Allegheny Conference on Community Development and VisitPittsburgh are collaborating as part of the partnership to encourage attendees to consider seeking career or business investment opportunities in the region.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett kicked off the campaign in a community event March 9 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center by recognizing the unique collaboration as he prepares for first international business mission as governor. He will lead a delegation of Pennsylvania business leaders to France and Germany to help businesses abroad imagine their opportunity here. France and Germany combined represent the state’s fourth largest export market, and leading in foreign direct investors in the state.
“The Commonwealth in general and Pittsburgh in particular deliver a high quality of life and enormous economic opportunity,” Corbett said. On his trip he will emphasize Pittsburgh and the state’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, financial and business services, health care and life sciences, information and communications technology, with a special focus on and energy.
Greg Babe, vice chairman of the Allegheny Conference and president and CEO of Bayer Corporation USA, noted that the Pittsburgh region consistently ranks in the top 10 in business expansions and relocations. “Through this new initiative we are encouraging business leaders and talented professionals coming to Pittsburgh this year to consider our region as a place with plentiful – and outstanding – opportunities for careers and business investment,” Babe said.
Doris Carson Williams, chairman of the board of VisitPittsburgh and president of the African American Chamber of Commerce, said VisitPittsburgh will leverage its presence inside the convention center to highlight the National Geographic listing and encourage visitors to consider Pittsburgh as a place to live and invest.
“Each year, as many as 10 million people visit, attend a convention, conference or meeting here,” she said. “This partnership ‘Best of the World Pittsburgh Partnership’ will present the region in the best possible light, as well as advance the region’s economic development competitiveness and help to fill its workforce pipeline with highly talented and skilled individuals.”
The “Best of the World” effort will also reach out worldwide, including placement of a five-minute in-flight video showcasing the Pittsburgh region to Delta Air Lines’ passengers, beginning in May. Also, a special Pittsburgh region report will be published in the June issue of Delta’s in-flight magazine, Sky. The region will be featured in fDi in the fall. In addition, Pittsburgh will be showcased as “Best of the World” during press tours of the city with national and international journalists in conjunction with the opening of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens’ Center for Sustainable Landscapes in May.
