YPC Engages Young Professionals in the Political Scene

Young Professionals Connection (YPC) has had a history with presidential elections and being recognized on a national scale; this past Wednesday night was no different.  On September 16, 2015 the world watched on as the GOP’s parade of top ten candidates trumpeted their stances on foreign policy, immigration and even each other, among other hot topic issues. 

YPC and Lucca partnered to host a debate watch party for this event, where over 50 young professionals (YPs) turned out to brush up on the GOP’s candidates’ platforms. 

The New York Times in Greater Des Moines (DSM)

In addition to young professionals, the New York Times (NYT) also made an appearance. The NYT was looking for interesting watch parties to track live during the debate. When they contacted the Greater Des Moines Partnership and YPC, we were more than happy to include them in the event. The Times were great attendees and collaborating with them furthered our mission of not only politically engaging our members, but those outside our organization as well. The Times posted several photos of the YPC Des Moines Watch Party live throughout the night as well as several other watch parties simultaneously occurring across the nation. Following this, they also included a photo of the event in an article published by the Times.

The atmosphere was electric as attendees filtered into the upstairs entertaining space of Lucca. There was a palpable buzz among eager YPs as the beginning of the debate approached and as Lucca echoed with the voices of CNN reporters. Immediately once opening remarks began, the entire room felt silent, without even the slightest murmur among attendees. Although some extremely serious issues were being debated on television that evening, there was little to no debate going on at this very casual bi-partisan event.

YPC will continue to be devoted to providing young professionals opportunities to become politically engaged in their community as well as education on not only the platforms, but also the presidential election process here in Iowa as well. YPC and Lucca will continue their partnership for the next Democratic Debate by hosting another Debate Watch Party on October 13 (check the event calendar for more details soon). 

Rich Booms