What happens when young professionals come together with a shared commitment to making their community stronger? For Emerging Leaders 365, the answer is 10 years of meaningful connections, collective action, and lasting impact.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, United Way of King County’s Emerging Leaders 365 has spent the past decade bringing together young professionals who want to make a difference in the communities where they live and work. Through giving, members support local nonprofits, volunteer alongside their neighbors, advocate for critical community resources, and build connections with others who share their passion for service.

The results speak for themselves. Over the past 10 years, Emerging Leaders 365 members have invested approximately $3.3 million in the community, contributed nearly 22,000 volunteer hours with more than 40 Seattle-area nonprofits, helped support 42,000 households facing the threat of eviction through collective giving, and donated more than 2,000 warm winter items to neighbors in need.

But the impact goes beyond the numbers. For members like Grant Little and MK Knuth, Emerging Leaders 365 has created a sense of belonging, a way to connect with Seattle, and an opportunity to turn personal values into tangible action. From supporting neighbors facing housing instability to advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, members are finding meaningful ways to show up for their community.

In this episode of the Hourglass United Way podcast, hear from Emerging Leaders 365 members and program leaders about the group’s first decade, the relationships and experiences that make it special, and what’s ahead for this growing community of young changemakers. You can also listen to the episode on our website, UWKC.org/hourglass.

Transcript

Grant Little 0:00
United Way plugs in in so many different ways, and so it’s great to be part of an organization where you can really learn about so many different missions happening within the broader tapestry of kind of the Seattle community, and plug in where you’re most passionate.

Joe Burris 0:13
This is Hourglass, the podcast for United Way of King County in Seattle. Coming up, a conversation about our young professionals group, Emerging Leaders 365, which this year celebrates its 10th anniversary. Emerging Leaders commit to giving $1 a day, or $ 365 a year, and then come together to take part in volunteer projects and connect with like-minded residents at issue-focused events. For this episode, we chatted with Emerging Leaders members and United Way staff about the 10-year impact of the group. We will also spotlight another upcoming Emerging Leaders outing, happy hour, and hellos, as well as our new giving program, United Circle. I’m your host, Joe Burris. Thanks for tuning in.

Joe Burris 1:07
Recently, at Tutta Bella Pizzeria in Seattle, dozens of young professionals gathered for another United Way of King County Happy Hour and Hellos event. If you’ve ever been to one of our Happy Hour and Hellos, you know that the event had all the trappings of a UWKC after-work social gathering: scrumptious food, refreshing drinks, pulsating music, casual networking, and spirited conversations about addressing issues like homelessness, hunger, and poverty. Now, before you say, ‘Who goes to a happy hour to discuss what ails a city? ‘ know that there have been dozens of young professionals in our area doing this for 10 years, and they’re not just discussing those issues. They’re strategizing and implementing solutions. They’re volunteering, donating, fundraising, and urging others to join in their efforts. It goes to show that United Way was onto something 10 years ago when it launched Emerging Leaders 365, a young professionals group for those passionate about engaging in a year of impact to support their neighbors. Emerging Leaders commit to giving $1 a day, or $365 a year, then come together to take part in volunteer projects and connect with like-minded residents at issue-focused events. They make blankets for local charities, support small businesses, serve at our free tax preparation campaign, and help petition lawmakers to direct funding toward programs that benefit our neighbors, and they share best practices and develop other ways to make an impact at Happy Hour and Hellos, like the one at Tutta Bella that celebrated the 10th anniversary of Emerging Leaders 365. Here are some of the group’s highlights since its inception:

Joe Burris 3:04
By giving $1 a day, emerging leaders have invested about $3.3 million back into the community. Emerging Leaders have served nearly 22,000 volunteer hours with more than 40 Seattle nonprofits. Emerging Leaders Collective Giving has supported 42,000 households threatened by eviction, and Emerging Leaders have donated more than 2,000 warm winter items through clothing drives at our Happy Hour and Hellos. Later in this podcast, we’ll spotlight our next Happy Hour and Hellos gathering at Nordstrom Bellevue on December 8. For now, we’d like to share a few moments from the 10th anniversary event at Tutta Bella, namely conversations with 365 members and United Way staff about the impact of Emerging Leaders. We begin with Grant Little, an Emerging Leader who works locally at Amazon. Grant talked about joining Emerging Leaders after hearing about it from United Way Marketing Strategist Kayla Dunn, and he says it’s helped him connect with other like-minded young professionals since relocating here from Birmingham, Alabama.

Grant Little 4:14
Yeah, so I actually met Kayla, who works at United Way at a wedding this summer, and she was telling me about the program, and I think honestly, just her excitement was really what got me really jazzed about the opportunity. I come, I was brought up in the Methodist Church, and so volunteering and being part of the community was really important for me. Then, you know, being here for five years in Seattle, I feel like I was longing for that connection to the city, so I wasn’t just kind of like a passerby, but really involved in all the work that’s going on there, and in what makes it to be a new community. So yeah, I think what I’m excited about is just United Way plugs in in so many different ways, and so it’s great to be part of an organization where you can really learn about so many different missions happening. Within the broader tapestry of kind of the Seattle community, and plug in where you’re you know you’re most passionate.

Joe Burris 5:06
Okay, so now for Emerging Leaders, young young professionals that we’re trying to tap into, what is it that we should know about your generation, your group, particularly here in Seattle? What are your interests and what you’re passionate about, what keeps you up at night in terms of what’s going on in our city?

Grant Little 5:26
Yeah. Let’s see. I think just providing a platform to turn thought into action. I think a lot of people are anxious about broader narratives happening in our country. Kind of you know, where we’re going with economy, our society, kind of cohesion within different groups, and so oftentimes, myself, I can sit there with my phone and just doom scroll and spiral. And I think the second you actually start taking action, no matter how small it is, it starts making me feel a little less anxious, and it’s you know shows me I have agency, and I can actually start contributing and helping in some of the ways that you know I want to see change in our community. In terms of where I’m most passionate, I would say I’m most passionate in advocating for people with intellectual differences and disabilities. I did a lot of work with Special Olympics prior to moving to Seattle, and so just made a lot of friends in that community. Still keep up with a lot of them, and so it’s been great to you know plug in through Special Olympics. But now I’m excited to kind of expand and advocate for more groups and get to learn more about different NGOs and nonprofits helping the community.

Joe Burris 6:38
While some young professionals here said that they previously had never heard of United Way, Emerging leader M.K. Knuth, who works at Sensiba, said she vividly remembers the agency’s impact in her hometown of St. Louis. Taking part in a United Way sponsored group here made perfect sense.

MK Knuth 6:57
Growing up in St. Louis, United Way of Greater St. Louis is just part of the fabric of society. You go to events, and United Way’s logo is there. And so, growing up seeing that and knowing what an impact they’ve made on people that I care a lot about, and how they just work to make our communities better, safer, and more equitable, it’s something that I’ve sort of been chasing without knowing that I was chasing, like that level of involvement. But so when we moved here to Seattle, I felt immediately like this is a city that cares and wants to show up. It just took some time to find United Way in a way that I felt like I could involve at this stage of my—or be involved—at this stage in my life.

Joe Burris 7:41
Taylor Roberson, United Way of King County Associate Director of Marketing, began leading our Emerging Leaders work a few years back, and has helped grow it into a magnet for young professionals looking to make a difference in their communities.

Taylor Roberson 7:56
When I first got to United Way, what I hear is that emerging leaders’ participation was sparse. It was kind of pulling teeth for people to come out and be in person. And this was like right after COVID ended. So—and this had to be in about a six-year resistance—nd then I’ve been here the last four or five years. And since then, this room right now is buzzing. It feels full. The capacity of the space is 240, and it feels full. Like you can walk around, it feels full. The volunteers—there’s a committee of volunteers to show up and kind of talk about what they want to see happen, and then they talk at these events and tell people what’s going on. It’s really more important than, like, a staff of, like, ‘I get paid to do this great work,’ but a volunteer to show up and be like, like, this, ‘this means something to me, guys. Come along with me on this journey.’ I love seeing that, and I love seeing where the program goes from here. I mean, 10 years in, and they fed enough kids to fill the football stadium 12 times over. They’ve collected over 2000 warm items for winter drives. This group has volunteered hundreds and hundreds of hours in the community for over 40 organizations, and that includes supporting over 40 small businesses. Right now, we’re standing in Tutta Bella, with this economy had to close two locations. So it’s amazing to be out in the community to support local by being here. We have totes for people who donate tonight that have a local artist on them, which is amazing. We have prizes from local communities. It’s just, and everyone here, you know, they live from nearby, and you know, they face the traffic to be here. So it’s just beautiful to see people making a community what they want it to be.

Joe Burris 9:38
Five years that you’ve been doing this. What are some lessons learned too?

Taylor Roberson 9:44
Um, see, like when it comes to the volunteers, the more they speak up, just let them be themselves, and let them talk, and everyone shows up because it means something to them, and they connect with people. Always different, but always just as genuine. Whether you’re introverted. Extroverted. Talk a lot. Don’t talk a lot. You came from a well-off background, and your parents instilled the giving back into you. Or you had a space in time where you lived out your car, and now you want to pay it forward. Doesn’t matter how you got here. But the dinner is one community.

Joe Burris 10:17
There are people here from different parts of the country.

Taylor Roberson 10:21
Oh yeah?

Joe Burris 10:22
Yeah. Birmingham, Alabama.

Taylor Roberson 10:25
Oh!

Joe Burris 10:25
Have you been able to get people of maybe the same age or different backgrounds to come together in a space like this?

Taylor Roberson 10:34
Oh man, I I enjoy marketing, and part of a marketing is to see yourself reflected in the community, so you want to see yourself in the pictures when you talk about it. You want to see yourself in the language if you’re talking about Big Dark and Seattle Freeze. You want to see that show up, and and then you want it to be to speak to people. Like, is this a new place? Is this a new venue? Have I not been there before? Is it close by my job? I might as well show up. And then nine out of 10 times. They stay around.

Joe Burris 11:04
At the Tutta Bella gathering, many Emerging Leaders gave spirited stories about the times they’ve spent volunteering. They included William Saulnier of Morristown, New Jersey, who works at Microsoft. William volunteers at our Free Tax Preparation Campaign, which each year prepares tax returns for thousands of residents, helping them get back some of their hard-earned money via deductions and credits. Williams’ energy and passion for Emerging Leaders was infectious. By the time he finished speaking, he had the standing-room-only crowd eager to gather for Emerging Leaders for another 10 years.

William Saulnier 11:44
Learning about United Way of King County, specifically, and how important it was to have that direct action in the community- that direct, you know, sort of really helping people directly instead of sort of from far-off places. No, my dollars were going right to my neighbors. It was so powerful and so invigorating to read and to see and to hear about, from grocery deliveries to housing assistance to Bridge to Finish. You know, I was just involved in the Tax Program, but you know, all of these aspects come together to really help people put food on the table, put a roof over their heads, and support their community. And so, you know, then I sort of was hooked. I go to every event I can make, and, you know, I’ve been sort of giving and involved with United Way as both a volunteer and as a donator ever since.

Joe Burris 12:41
One last question. When you think of happy hours, you probably don’t think of this space— talking about advocacy, talking about helping others out—How do you mix the two, and what’s it like to be in a happy hour space like this?

William Saulnier 13:02
There’s a lower barrier to entry, I think.

Joe Burris 13:06
Okay.

William Saulnier 13:06
When it comes to—you know when you think about a happy hour—and you think about sort of the social networking aspect of it. You sort of are able to come in and already have a connection with everyone there.

Joe Burris 13:20
Okay.

William Saulnier 13:21
And it’s a connection that goes a little deeper than just basic affiliation with an institution or basic affiliation with a place of work or a schooling or an industry. You’re all coming in with a desire to make a difference and a desire to make an impact with the community, and so, with that as your uniting thread, you end up having much better conversations. I find that, you know, you get to hear more about each other because you all are on the same page, and I think there’s something nice about that. I think that’s what makes these events so valuable

Joe Burris 14:02
Today, Emerging Leaders is led internally by Kayla Dunn, whom we spoke to after the event.

Kayla Dunn 1 14:08
Emerging Leaders is in its 10th year this year, and—oh gosh—we’re sitting in October, so we’ve had our first two monthly meetings. We have one meeting per month for the actual committee of Emerging Leaders. And this year, for the 10th anniversary, we recruited a larger committee to match the size of United Way King County’s Board of Directors. So we actually have a committee of 18 people this year, and that’s 18 different young professionals here in King County working in different sectors. We’ve got people at Amazon and SpaceX, as well as some of our other nonprofit partners like Urban League and El Centro, so it’s really cool. We’ve got a big breadth of careers and sectors and backgrounds and identities in our Emerging Leaders Committee, which is the group of people that leads the broader Emerging Leaders group, which is, you know, hundreds of young professionals in King County. So we’ve gone a little bit bigger for year 10. It’s really nice to look back at just the past decade of work that former emerging leaders have put in, and the money raised. I mean, it’s above 3 million. So that was a really fun way to go into the Happy Hellos event last week, and just be able to celebrate those wins for the past 10 years, and to look ahead to this year, what we’ve got planned, where we want to go, and what this group of leaders in the committee is looking to do. So it was just a great space to get together and celebrate and chat.

Joe Burris 15:43
Great, thank you so much, Kayla. It’s Emerging Leaders 365 10th anniversary here on Hourglass. Thank you.

Kayla Dunn 15:51
Thank you, Joe.

Joe Burris 15:52
For more information about Emerging Leaders 365, log on to uwkc.org, click on Get Involved, and click on connect.

Joe Burris 16:04
Join us for Happy Hour and Hellos at the Icon Lounge at Nordstrom in Bellevue Square on December 8th at 6 pm. The December 8 event in Bellevue will center on professional development and networking. Photographers will be available to take free headshots, and we will offer professional development activities. For more information, log on to uwkc.org/events.

Joe Burris 16:33
We’re inviting you to join United Circle, our monthly giving program. United Circle is a community of monthly supporters that help create a stronger King County all year long. Your recurring gift provides reliable support for our work, including expanding access to housing, food, educational opportunity, and financial stability for our neighbors. For more information, log on to uwkc.org/united-circle.

Joe Burris 17:07
At United Way of King County, we are working side by side with communities to build an equitable future for everyone. Hourglass United Way is a podcast that highlights how we and our partners spend time making a difference in our communities. Our work is made possible by generous donations from people like you. Please send all comments and suggestions about our podcast to hourglass@uwkc.org. Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn via @UnitedWayKC, and to learn more about our work or to support United Way, log on to uwkc.org. I’m your host, Joe Burris. Thanks for listening. Until next time.