Forge Young Talent launches new website, announces recruitment campaign

With a revamped website and new recruitment efforts being launched soon, Topeka’s premier young professional’s group, Forge Young Talent, is looking to increase its membership and improve its offerings in 2022.

The revamped Forge website, which is now live, has been updated to feature a cleaner aesthetic, the most recent Forge-related information, herd-specific pages tailored to potential members’ interests, and much more. The new website also represents a transition away from traditional print forms of communication, as Forge believes a strong digital presence will help the organization reach its young-professionals audience well into the future. The Forge website may be found at TopekaForge.org.

“A new Forge website is just the beginning,” said Forge executive director Rhett Flood. “Our key focus this year is recruiting more members. We’re coupling the launch of a new website with targeted marketing and new events to let young professionals know what we’re all about. You don’t have to work in a specific field or know certain people to be part of Forge. All you need is an appetite for community and a desire to get involved.”

As the organization sets its sights in 2022 on recruiting new members, Forge hopes to attract locals ages 18-40 who wish to become more involved in their community, as well as people from outside Topeka and Shawnee County who may want to live, work, play, lead and grow in the area.

With those goals in mind, Forge plans to roll out a campaign this spring that will use multi-channel marketing to reach a wide audience. Then, in the fall, the organization will collaborate with regional colleges and Choose Topeka to spread the word that Kansas’ capital city is a place full of opportunities for employment and community involvement.

Along with the marketing campaign, Forge is relaunching its “Pub Club” series, a happy-hour-themed networking event designed for young professionals. Forge is also planning to stand up new events that should focus on health and wellness, target young professionals with families, and offer ample opportunities for volunteering. In addition, strategic adjustments are being made to multiple Forge herds to ensure each committee is the most effective and engaging it can be.

“Through Momentum 2022, our community has become more aware of just how important it is to attract and retain young talent,” said Matt Pivarnik, CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership. “The demographic represented by organizations like Forge and the Topeka Youth Commission are ultimately who we’re developing our community for! They are the future of our community and the ones who will shape our tomorrow, and we should do everything in our power to keep them here. Every time we talk about our community’s growth and success, we should be talking about how to attract and build up young talent. Clearly, Forge is already hard at work doing just that.”