20 Years of Celebrating Young Talent in Akron. But Did They Stay?

Six hundred young professionals. Twenty years of recognition. And one question the Greater Akron Chamber has never answered: where are they now?

The Chamber announced its 2026 cohort of 30 for the Future honorees on June 30, marking the program's 20th anniversary. Since 2007, the program has recognized 30 young professionals aged 25-39 annually for leadership and regional impact, totaling approximately 600 honorees over two decades. But while the Chamber celebrated, Akron shrank—the city's population declined from approximately 210,000 in 2004 to 189,664 in 2024, a decrease of roughly 10-11% over the same two decades the program promised to retain talent.

The Chamber won't say where those 600 honorees ended up. Because it doesn't know. Because it never bothered to track them.

The Promise

Steve Millard, the Chamber's President and CEO, calls 30 for the Future "a strategic initiative designed to attract and retain talent in the region, with honorees already making a significant impact within their companies and across the broader community." These young leaders, the Chamber insists, "possess the energy, vision, and commitment needed to carry Greater Akron into the future, driving innovation and redefining leadership" with "leadership inspires confidence in the road ahead."

The selection looks rigorous enough. An independent committee chooses 30 finalists from over 125 nominated leaders submitted by Chamber members and regional organizations. And the theory makes sense: research shows that professional recognition programs can help retain young talent by strengthening local pipelines and creating opportunities for growth, civic engagement, and networking.

The implicit promise: by spotlighting rising leaders, the program would create deeper community ties and professional networks that would keep talented young people from leaving for bigger cities.

Sounds good at a luncheon. But does it work?

The Gap

The program functions as a one-time recognition event, not a longitudinal initiative with follow-up data on whether honorees remain in the region. This lack of tracking is not unique to Akron—regional chambers generally report only on broader trends and individual success stories. But "everybody does it this way" is a thin defense when your city is hemorrhaging population.

Economic development experts identify the lack of measurable objectives and outcomes as a "great weakness" of most recognition programs. Without tracking, recognition awards risk becoming unsubstantiated and may fail to demonstrate the benefits they promise, with accountability and data standardization necessary to prove return on public investment. When measurement is impossible, experts recommend establishing performance benchmarks to estimate impact, treating it as a "performance guarantee" where programs continue only if milestones are met—and when measurement is impossible, experts advise ending the program.

The Chamber has chosen celebration over accountability. That leaves Akron residents with no way to judge whether their economic development dollars are working or wasted.

The Questions We Should Be Asking

The 2026 cohort includes professionals from organizations such as PNC Bank, Huntington Bank, Towpath Credit Union, Akron Children's Museum, Summit County Juvenile Court, City of Akron Mayor's Office, and Avient Corporation. Specific honorees include Forrest Boggs (Towpath Credit Union), Jason Brunn (PNC Bank), Kate Calla (Summit County Juvenile Court), Darnell D. Davis Jr. (Business Volunteers Unlimited), Nicole Dumont (NRDesign.Arch), Joy Edwards (Akron Children's Museum), Alexis King (City of Akron Mayor's Office), and Alison Matas Smith (Schauer Group, Inc.), among others. Talented people doing important work.

But the critical questions for past honorees remain unasked: Are you still in Akron? If you stayed, was it because of the program's networking and visibility, or because of a specific job, family ties, or housing affordability? If you left, what would have kept you?

The silence matters, because we know what actually drives young professionals away. National surveys of 766 employers in Northeast Ohio reveal that young professionals ages 18-30 are the hardest group to recruit and retain, with the primary reasons employees quit being toxic work environments, burnout, and work/life balance issues—not lack of recognition. Eighty percent of employers in Northeast Ohio face a talent shortage, with 18-30-year-olds identified as the most elusive age group. Forty-three percent of workers in that age group view work as less of a priority post-pandemic, with many opting for the gig economy for its freedom. Workers increasingly demand better company culture, flexible policies, and hybrid work options—raising wages alone is often insufficient in Akron's polymer and advanced manufacturing sectors experiencing intense hiring pressure.

Recognition plaques don't pay rent. They don't fix toxic bosses.

What Other Cities Are Doing

Columbus ranked #4, Cincinnati #5, and Cleveland #20 among top cities for young professionals by Forbes Advisor based on employment, pay, housing affordability, lifestyle, and cost of living—Akron was not mentioned.

Cleveland actively tracks young professional engagement through events like "State of the Young Professional" and organizations like Engage! Cleveland, demonstrating a data-driven approach Akron lacks. Pittsburgh launched a one-year fellowship/apprenticeship program for young professionals supported by Pittsburgh Young Professionals, creating structured pathways beyond recognition alone. Columbus offers the Leadership Columbus program to connect and equip passionate leaders, combining recognition with ongoing development and networking infrastructure. North Carolina's Rural Works program earned national recognition for generating an average $191,600 in economic impact per company and turning internships into long-term employment—demonstrating measurable economic outcomes.

The structural challenges in Akron run deep. Only 23.3% of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the median household income is $48,076, and the poverty rate is 23.34%. Recognition programs alone cannot address these realities.

Meanwhile, the Akron Metro area population remained relatively stable, decreasing only 0.12% from 703,100 in 2010 to 702,200 in 2024, driven by suburban growth while the city itself continues to shrink—suggesting young professionals may work in the region but choose not to live in the city.

The Disconnect

The 30 for the Future program has maintained the same basic format since 2007, with no evidence of structural changes to address retention outcomes.

Here's what's strange: the Chamber runs other workforce initiatives including Micro-Internships that help identify potential hires from the local talent pool, and Industry Sector Partnerships to fill open positions and build sustainable talent pipelines. These programs suggest the Chamber understands that talent retention requires more than recognition—yet there is no evidence they are integrated with 30 for the Future or that honorees are connected to these concrete employment and development pathways.

The University of Akron offers another piece of the puzzle. Its first-year retention rate for the 2023-2024 cohort reached 84.03%, a significant improvement from 57.8% the prior year, though its six-year graduation rate remains just 45.59% with only 24.17% graduating in four years. The University provides no specific statistics on graduate retention in the region, with national studies linking lower graduation rates to delayed workforce entry and potential out-migration. Its current president has not issued a public statement addressing graduate retention tied to local career placement, suggesting no coordinated university-Chamber strategy to keep graduates local. Each institution operates in its own silo while young people slip through the cracks between them.

Akron saw a slight population increase of 229 people between 2022 and 2023, marking the first growth in many decades—but this single-year uptick does not reverse the long-term decline, and there is no evidence linking it to the 30 for the Future program.

What Actually Works

Research shows that investing in training and talent development yields a return on investment ten times higher than traditional tax incentives for economic development.

Workforce development effectiveness is best measured by tracking reduced turnover rates, increased employee engagement, and long-term skill adoption through structured programs—when recognition is part of everyday culture, not a one-time event. Experts recommend tracking retention metrics, evaluating return on investment by measuring program usage alongside leadership support and direct employee feedback, and assessing whether workers can apply new skills and knowledge.

The urgency is real. There were only 62 available workers for every 100 open jobs in Ohio as of late 2023, a deficit expected to worsen with major investments by companies like Intel and AWS. The Manufacturing Institute estimates that nearly half of 3.8 million needed manufacturing workers by 2033 may remain unfilled—a crisis that demands more than annual recognition ceremonies.

What Needs to Happen

Twenty years and 600 honorees later, the Greater Akron Chamber cannot demonstrate whether 30 for the Future has retained a single additional young professional in the region—because it has never tried to measure it.

Recognition programs can contribute to retention, but only when paired with measurable outcomes, ongoing engagement beyond the ceremony, integration with concrete career development pathways, competitive wages and quality-of-life improvements, and transparent accountability to the public that funds economic development efforts.

The question for Greater Akron residents after 20 years: Will the Chamber finally start tracking whether its talent programs work, or will year 21 look exactly like year one?

Akron cannot afford another 20 years of applause without accountability. The Chamber can keep handing out plaques to the city's best and brightest. But until it proves those people are actually staying, every anniversary celebration is just another reminder of what the city keeps losing—and refuses to count.