CLEVELAND, Ohio — Through the lack of social connection during this pandemic, we all may have felt a bit of so-called brain drain. Connecting with others, even virtually, is an important part to staying sharp. 

Joseph Bianchini, coordinator at Cuyahoga Community College agrees.

“Please still communicate, stay in touch with one another online,” he said.

Engage! Cleveland, a community organization for young professionals, aims to attract, engage, and retain diverse talent to help them grow personally and professionally. 

Programming in-person events that attracted hundreds — and sometimes thousands — before COVID-19, the team at Engage! Cleveland has shifted the way they connect with the community and hasn’t let the pandemic slow them down. 

“We still want young professionals to really see and experience all that Cleveland has to offer. We still want to make those connections for them, have both personal opportunities, professional development opportunities, networking opportunities, so we created a series called discover the CLE virtually,” said Ashley Basile Oeken, president of Engage! Cleveland

The list of ideas for innovative virtual events — all aiming to be timely and relevant to the struggles young professionals may be facing now —is diverse. 

Examples include lessons on cyber security to make sure people are staying protected as they work from home, professional development workshops focusing on virtual presentations, and public speaking and even sessions on creating a powerful morning routine and lessons on self-care.

“They’re always doing something every week. And they are that go-to destination for young professionals that are seeking any career advice, professional tips, perhaps a new job, or a volunteer or intern experience, maybe they just want to get more acquainted with those other Cleveland community members out there, perhaps the CEO of a company, they give you that chance, they give you that opportunity,” said Bianchini. 

Currently the events are donation-based through the platform EventBrite, but Ashley says they’re looking for more sponsors so that most of the events can be free.

Over 1500 young professionals have already participated in the programming since the start of the virtual events a few months back.

“By the end of March, earlier this year, Engage! Cleveland already planned out four weeks of virtual events for us to participate in online for free, and I quickly jumped on those. I was completely impressed, so glad we have this support team and I’m so glad they are around to help us,” Bianchini said.