What are you striving for?

Today is a bittersweet day, as I step down from the leadership of RocCity Coalition, and the Vision 2025 project that has consumed my life for the past two-plus years.

For me, this has been a journey, both personally and professionally. I have discovered as much about myself (my desires, prejudices, strengths and weaknesses) as I have about the community I now call home. One of my final official acts today was to represent the Coalition as a Board Member for the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce. I consider it a measure of how much progress we've made in advocating for young professionals in this city, as it gives me an opportunity to learn how our work dovetails with other community initiatives. Even at the end, I am still learning.

This week, I was asked to co-present Vision 2025 to the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association in Buffalo. In some ways, this was my biggest test. Up until now, I had immersed myself so deeply into the process and the issues that if I could just talk long enough, eventually something coherent would come out of my mouth. Now I was up in front of the people who do this for a living! There was no hiding place: if I were to be found out as a charlatan, I could be sent packing the 80 miles back along the Thruway to Rochester. Luckily, not least due to the efforts of my phenomenal co-chair, Molly Gaudioso (who, in her own words, "knows her s--t"), we pulled it off. The story was out there of how a ragtag group of young professional volunteers, which started off with little knowledge of what we were doing, and even fewer resources with which to do it, managed to put together Rochester's first community vision plan for young professionals, one of the few plans of this nature ever undertaken by any city in the country.

If you detect a hint of pride in my tone, well, I won't deny it (although I feel it more for the hundreds of volunteers who led, and took part in, the process). But yet, that pride was tempered during my visit to the Queen City. On the one hand, I listened to the Marketplace radio program on National Public Radio, whose two-part showcase on the decline of manufacturing in Rochester neatly distills the economic precipice upon which our city, and many other Rust Belt cities like it, stands today. It was a reminder of the work that still needs to be done even while hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in upstate New York.

On the other hand, I learned about the inspiring accomplishments of a humble man I had been introduced to just the afternoon before. Robert G. Shipley is the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Buffalo, and through his many accomplishmentsacross his 30-year tenure, his vision has literally shaped the city of Buffalo and the surrounding region. Who is driving that vision for Rochester?

So as I drove back to the Flower City yesterday evening, I reflected on both the ongoing needs in our area, and the dedication to a strong vision that enables our young professional citizens to invest in the solutions. The latter is critical if we are to have a chance of succeeding. Those of you who know me will know that I am, at heart, an optimist, so I truly hold out hope. I see it in the faces of those who I've met in the community who have come from rough backgrounds and through tough times to lead from the front. It is clear what they are striving for. What I choose to strive for, what I pledge to continue to strive for, is to use my leverage and my inherent privilege to continue to support these efforts to push Rochester forward.

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There are so many people I want to thank for helping me in the development of the Vision 2025 project, and inevitably, I will miss some very important people off this list, so I apologize in advance if you don't see your name here.

Institutional leaders: Kate Bennett, Dr. Leonard Brock, Peter Carpino, Jean Carroll, Bob Duffy, Mo Duggan, Vinnie Esposito, Sergio Esteban, Michael Kane, Joe Klein, Anne Kress, Jennifer Leonard, Karen Magnuson, Mark Peterson, Mike Philipson, Pamela Reed Sanchez, Elaine Spaull, Joe Stefko, Mayor Lovely Warren, Fran Weisberg, Heidi Zimmer-Meyer.

Coalition leaders: Jon Alhart, Hannah Barry, Jasna Bogdanovska, Alyssa Belasco, Erin Burd, Claudia Burcke, Todd Clausen, Colleen DiMartino, Luticha Doucette, Holly Dutcher, Brad Flower, Laura Fox, Richard Glaser, Leah George, Kristin Graves, Taren Greenidge, Dan Keeley, Saul Maneiro, Caitlin Meives, Michelle Murnane, Tiffany Paine-Cirrincione, Vicky Pape, Julie Philipp, Chris Piedici, Myneco Ramirez, Lindsay Recktenwald, Sami Sheehan, Laura Smith, Dr. Susan Spencer, Matt Squires, Jason Schwingle, Stefanie Schwingle, Justin Stevens, Pauleen Vacca, Steve Vogt.

A special mention to the former Coalition Chairs who paved the way for me to leave my own mark: Jeremy Cooney, Maria Thomas Fisher, Cynthia Pacia.

Vision 2025 leaders and volunteers: Sarah Abbamonte, Iman Abid, Ergin Akbas, Laura Andino, Chelsea Bajek, Breanna Banford, Nate Bank, Joe Barcia, Dan Brady, Amy Button, Michael Clark, Tarik Cristen, Michaela Cultrara, Beth Curran, Shawn Dunwoody, Shannon Ealy, Matt Foley, Hanok George, Steve Glickman, Meredith Graham, Spencer Gurley-Green, Amy Happ, Jonathan Hoose, Sue Hopkins, Lisa Hunt, Jennifer Jaworski, Nia Jones, Jenna Kempie, Shaina Kovalsky, Rachel Laber, Ana Liss, Courtney Lusk, Yasmin Mattox, Brittany McFee, Tiffany Mincey, William Monteith, Jermayne Myers, Shalym Nater, Airin O'Connor, Margaret Parisi, Vera Plotkin, Rich Pulvino, Alix Quinn, Matt Ray, Danielle Raymo, Nik Reynolds, Becki Schicker, Shannon Stone, David Taubman, Michael Tomidy, Oz Tozan, Amy Ventura, Dawn Warsaw.

Our friends in other places - the young professional leaders in other cities who shared their insights into their own communities: Ebony Austin (PULSE Young Professionals, Greenville), Ashley Basile Oeken (Engage! Cleveland), Eric Dexter (Forum 35, Baton Rouge), Nick Marzano (Young Involved Philadelphia), Madison Quinn (40 Below, Syracuse), Cory Sharp (Young Professionals Connection, Des Moines), Andres Torres and Wendy Townley (Greater Omaha Young Professionals Council), Derek Whitesel (Harrisburg Young Professionals).

Very special thanks to three very special people, who have come along for the ride and shared the vision with me:

Andrew Brady, who was one of the first to see the value in the visioning project, and later came to learn how his passion for building a better world could be reflected in empowering our young professionals.

Molly Gaudioso, who took the concepts we discussed over many meetings (and almost as many beers) and put them into the very words you read in the Report.

Kayleigh Stampfler, who constantly challenged me to ensure that our process was inclusive and respectful of the entire community.

You are the kinds of leaders we need, and I look forward to the great things you will accomplish for our community.

Finally, none of this would be possible without the support of my family, most notably, my wife, Kate Antoniades, and my in-laws, Deb and Mike Antoniades, who make sure I have a home to go to at the end of the day. And, of course, what ultimately drives me is my devotion to my son, Jonathan. There is nothing more important to me than making sure the future I leave behind is the one you deserve to inherit.

THANK YOU!