Young & Emerging Planners Group
The San Diego Young and Emerging Planners Group (YEP) is organized as a subcommittee of the San Diego Section of APA. The YEP Subcommittee is led by two Chairs who are nominated and appointed by the San Diego Section Board of Directors. Each Chair oversees the development and implementation of the two YEP programs: 1) Networking and Social, and 2) Mentorship. The YEP subcommittee is made up of young planners and students from across the San Diego region, appointed through an open application process each summer.
Networking and Social
The Networking and Social subcommittee is made up of a portion of the YEP committee members and focuses on creating fun and educational events for members to participate in. These events have included happy hours, trivia nights, and a citywide scavenger hunt.
Similarly, the Networking and Social subcommittee hosts an annual Pint with a Planner event with a note-worthy local planner, as well as offers quarterly Movie Monday screenings where a movie is screened and discussed based on important planning topics. The committee also ran with the constraints of the virtual world in 2020 by creating a unique event that borrowed the idea of a book club but acknowledged that television bingeing was a popular hobby. The Networking and Social subcommittee promoted the bingeing of the show Genefied and hosted a live discussion event with local experts to discuss the show and planning topics the show covered.
The Networking and Social Committee is made up of innovative individuals, all willing to create activities based on trends and local interests. As a result, the Networking and Social subcommittee also created Planning Bites, a bi-monthly newsbite to share pop-culture resources, such as podcasts, books, and movies, each based around a theme for the month.
Mentorship
The Mentorship subcommittee is made up of a portion of the YEP committee members and focuses on the design and operation of the organization’s Mentorship Program. Unique from the events the Networking and Social subcommittee hosts, the Mentorship subcommittee works on programs specifically for those who have elected to be a part of the Mentorship Program. Therefore, special events such as resume workshops, career panels, and one-on-one mentoring are hosted for those a part of the Mentorship Program.
The YEP Mentorship Program is one of California’s and APA’s longest running planning mentorship programs, and is open to planners from all backgrounds in the San Diego region and Imperial County. The Mentorship Program was built to match young and emerging planners and current planning students with experienced planning professionals for guidance and support; while also providing experienced professionals the opportunity to strengthen ties with future leaders of the planning community and APA. The program runs from January to July each year. Applications are required to participate in the program and are typically open between November and January.
Check out the Mentorship Program Guide to learn more about our mentorship activities and efforts.