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Building the Future

A Proposal for Fargo-Moorhead
Submitted to Megan Even
November 20, 2016

--------------------------------------Community Concepts---------------------------------------1435 18th St N, Fargo, ND 58102, (789)-456-1230

Young professionals will not only become the future movers and shakers of their fields, but will
also play a large part in determining the future of their communities. As the Midwestern
population ages, maintaining a sizeable population of young professionals in the FargoMoorhead area will become increasingly important. North Dakota State University, Minnesota
State University- Moorhead, and Concordia College draw thousands of young people to the area,
which presents a valuable opportunity, which is unfortunately not being capitalized.

OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SITUATION

Many college graduates from the Tri-College system move to large, metropolitan cities to begin
their careers. Minneapolis and St. Paul, especially, draw many area graduates because of their
urban environment and active social scene. This migration leaves the young professional
population of the Fargo-Moorhead stretched thin, which limits the hiring pool for local
employers and, in the long run, hinders the number of young families that call the area home.
According to the West Midland Family Center, these young professionals want to balance work,
life and community involvement. They watched their parents work all the time for a larger
paycheck and give up family time (Bortz, 2013). Unwilling to do the same, young professionals
today value time away from work, as to not get burnt out as their parents did. In addition they
believe that because of technology, they can work flexibly anytime, any place and are evaluated
on work-product and not how they got it done (West Midland Family Center). This leaves them
with more time and opportunities to participate in activities outside of work. Currently, young
professionals are flooding out of the Fargo-Moorhead area; action is required to transform the
local into a community that attracts the future generation.

OBJECTIVES
Supporting a large population of young professionals in the Fargo-Moorhead area will hinge
upon the communitys ability to provide the activities and culture commonly offered by larger
cities. The Fargo-Moorhead area provides a wide variety of opportunities for socialization, so
our priority will be enhancing the advertising presence of activities and destinations relevant to
the young professional demographic. We want to show everyone that there is something for them
in the area and allow them to meet other people with similar interests. This will be done by
asking the young professionals about what they want to see and be able to do. Along with that,
research of what already exists, we hope to meet the needs of all of our members. Getting people
involved in their hobbies will allow them to love the Fargo-Moorhead area and get them to stay.

METHODS
With these objectives in mind we have come up with three steps to achieve our goal. First we
need to survey young professionals to find out which activities are the most attractive. We will
perform a country-wide survey in order to hear from those that could move to the area in the
future. For the most part, surveys would be distributed to current college students and alumni.
Preliminary focus group and survey responses in the Fargo-Moorhead area have indicated that
most young adults know that activities are available, but arent compelled to leave college
campuses to utilize them; these surveys are shown in Appendices B & C. This initial research
indicates that there is not enough draw to garner significant participation, which may due to the
time, location, or subject of existing activities. Our surveys to be completed as the first step in
our proposed action plan will allow us to determine when and where to offer programs that
appeal most to the young professional demographic.
Once we understand the demand in the market, we will continue our research by analyzing which
advertising tactics are most successful among young professionals in the area. We will use
questionnaires to discover when and how participants learned about an activity and use
information to construct pie charts, revealing which mode of advertisement draws in the most
new participants, be it television commercials, websites, billboards, flyers, or any other
reasonably priced advertisement. This research will help us choose the most cost-effective and
successful way to advertise the many activities and programs available in the Fargo-Moorhead
area.
The last step is to work with these other businesses to allow us to promote them and get the
young professionals more involved in our community. Using reviews and surveys, we will
identify the activities that show the most potential participation, and then work with the
supporting organizations to design possible rewards programs or coupon campaigns to further
advertise the activity. Our promotion of these events will add revenue for our local businesses.
As the young professional population grows and creates families, the community will naturally
establish activities and programs for their children to participate in, which is a valuable soft
benefit of our intervention. Introducing these activities will encourage young professionals to
spend time outside of work we will continue to strengthen the Fargo-Moorhead community now
and in the future.

QUALIFICATIONS
Community Concepts has been a fixture in Fargo since 1949, which gives us special insight into
the social scene in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Our organization has hired many North Dakota
State University and Minnesota State University-Moorhead graduates over the past couple of
years, giving us a uniquely young and active workforce. The team leading the Building the
Future project consists of four successful North Dakota State University graduates:
Emily Leonard: After earning a Mathematics and Statistics undergraduate degree from
North Dakota State University, I went on to complete my Masters degree in Behavioral
Statistics. I have built experience assembling budgets during an internship with Marsh
and McLennan Companies in Minneapolis and my current position with Community
Concepts in Fargo. My experience with budgets enables me to build accurate and
flexible plans which we will use throughout our proposed project. I have called Fargo
home for over 8 years, and I look forward to using my talents to improve life in the
Fargo-Moorhead area for myself and other young professionals.
Hayley Sauber: Upon graduation from North Dakota State University with a Bachelors
degree in Marketing, I was hired by Community Concepts. Here I am applying skills
learned at my internship with The Borgen Project as a Public Relations/Marketing intern.
As someone who moved to Fargo for school, I know what its like to not know about
activities outside of work. I would like to change that for other young professionals in the
area and those that move here in the future.
Taylor Brantner: After earning my Bachelors degree in Management Communication
from North Dakota State University, I was hired by Community Concepts. I moved here
from the country and I can relate to other young professionals coming here and not
knowing what this great city has to offer outside of work and school. I plan on using the
skills and knowledge Ive acquired to help provide opportunities for all young
professionals who call Fargo their new home.
Travis Thelen: After earning a Master's degree in Communications, I went on to publish
multiple studies regarding millennial behavior and how they are affected by their work
environment. I came to the Fargo-Moorhead area for education and work and have
experienced very similar situations to current young professionals. My goal is to make
changes to the lives of millennials and improve the prosperity of the Fargo-Moorhead
area.

As a forward thinking company, Community Concepts has a stake in the sustainability of the
Fargo-Moorhead area population. We rely on the young professionals in the area to propel our
company in the coming years, which fuels our vested interest in creating an engaging community
scene to attract and retain young professionals.

COSTS
Costs will depend upon the results of further research of the Fargo-Moorhead area, including
analysis of the most effective advertising methods and an inventory of the areas activities and
amenities. A comprehensive budget is presented in Appendix A.

BENEFITS
Keeping educated young adults in the area after graduation will pave the way for economic
growth, more families, and cultural development in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
A hard benefit of retaining young professionals in the FM area is economic growth. More people
living in the city means there will be an increase in cash flow boosting economy. The growth can
be evident from new businesses coming to the area and more land development. If the young
professionals do stay in the area and start a family they will have to make more purchases such
as a house, food, clothing, for their family. Eventually, their children will grow up, work for a
paycheck, and start a family of their own; restarting the cycle leading to increased growth.
However, these benefits rely on the people staying in the area, which makes our proposal critical
to the Fargo-Moorhead area (Ova, 2016).
Young professionals, while generally waiting longer to get married and have children, generally
settle down and start families once their careers are established. These families, in turn, grow
and support markets for child-care, youth organizations, and other necessities. These families not
only fuel the local economy, but establish the future of the area by creating the next generation of
young professionals that already call the Fargo-Moorhead area home.
The presence of young professionals and, eventually, their families also molds the culture of a
community by promoting family friendly ventures including schools and sports teams. This can
draw other young professionals to the area by offering a safe, supportive community for more
and more families.
Jumpstarting the young professional population in the Fargo-Moorhead area will not only help
the current community but will also prepare the next generation to fuel the area economy cultural
environment. We at Community Concepts care deeply about the wellbeing of our community,

and are excited by the prospect of helping the Fargo-Moorhead improve. We greatly appreciate
your consideration of this proposal and await your response. Feel free to contact Emily Leonard
at (789)-456-1230 with any questions, comments, or concerns. We look forward to this
meaningful opportunity.

References
Allen, Renee. (n.d.) Generational Differences Chart. West Midland Family Center. Retrieved
from http://www.wmfc.org/uploads/GenerationalDifferencesChart.pdf.
Bortz, Daniel. (2013, September 4). 7 Ways Boomers and Millenials Differ at Work. The Fiscal
Times. Retrieved from http://www. thefiscaltimes.com/ Articles/2013/09/04/7-WaysBoomers-and-Millennials-Differ-Work.
Ova, D. (2016). Advantages & Disadvantages of Population Growth.
Peopleof.oureverydaylife.com. Retrieved 20 November 2016, from
http://peopleof.oureverydaylife.com/advantages-disadvantages-population-growth7677.html

Appendix A: Budget
(budget)

Appendix B: Focus Group Questionnaire

1.

Do you feel its important for young professionals in the job force to have other activities
to participate in besides work? Why?

2.

What do you believe attracts people to the FM area besides job opportunities?

3.

In your opinion, how important would job security/satisfaction be for someone to stay in
the area?

4.

What kind of activities, that are not here already, would you like to see in the area?

5.

Do you participate in any other activities outside of work or school?

6.

In your opinion, do you think there is a wide range of activities outside of work/school to
participate in? Elaborate.

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Appendix C: Survey Questionnaire

SURVEY
Do you participate in any non-work related activities?
Yes
or
No
What type of activities do you enjoy? (select all that apply)

Social
Independent
Physical
Mental
Competitive
Leisurely (low-stress, low-competition)
Other (please specify)

Have you had a full or part time job in the past?

Yes
or
No
If yes, did you feel dissatisfied with the job?
Yes
or
No
Diversity in activities outside of work/school is important to me. (Circle one)
Strongly
Disagree

Somewhat
Disagree

Neutral

Somewhat
Agree

Open-Ended Questions
Do you participate in any other activities outside of work or school?
In your opinion, do you think there is a wide range of activities outside of work/school to
participate in? (Elaborate)

Strongly
Agree