CCYP Celebrates 10 Years Supporting Young Professionals

CCB MEDIA PHOTO  Onlookers at the Cape Cod Young Professionals 4th Annual Community Breakfast

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
CCYP celebrates its 10th anniversary at its Annual Community Breakfast.

HYANNIS – The organization that represents Cape Cod’s young professionals is already 10 years old.

CCYP, originally known as Cape Cod Young Professionals, celebrated Wednesday with the 4th Annual Community Breakfast at the Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis.

CCYP Executive Director Anne Van Vleck said the event marks major progress the organization has made over the years.

“We’re really shifting into programmatic work on how we can keep the young professionals here on Cape Cod, attracting new talent here to the Cape. We have launched our giving circle, which is an opportunity for philanthropy by our members for our members and other 501c3s on the Cape. We’re also excited about promoting more civic engagement activity for our members and getting more deeply involved in the conversations around the housing issue and continuing our mentor exchange program,” she said.

The breakfast also served as an opportunity to present findings from a CCYP-sponsored Housing Survey, which found that many Cape Cod home renters between the ages of 25 and 44 plan on buying a house on Cape but are also paying student loans.

“We know we’re not a housing agency. We’re looking for resources to help expand the first-time homebuyers program, potentially work with other Smarter Cape partners, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce’s economic development pillar on other low hanging fruit like accessory dwelling units and other solutions, either shorter term or longer term. We’re really looking at how can we be the voice for the young professionals of what’s needed out there,” she said.

Van Vleck reflected on what the organization continues to grow.

“We have incredible community support. We’re over 1,100 members now, with over 300 sponsoring businesses,” Vleck said. “The growth is going to continue, I’m sure.”

Scholarship recipients for the CCYP Career Connect Scholarship were also announced at the event.

This year’s Career Connect Scholarship recipients are:

Yuliya Garcia of Cotuit moved to the Cape from Belarus 11 years ago. She is pursuing her MBA at UMass Dartmouth at the Cape Cod Community College campus. Yuliya is an accountant at Cape Cod Healthcare and plans to leverage her advanced degree to pursue management opportunities.

Samantha LeBoeuf of Marstons Mills is attending Western New England University School of Law and interning with the Public Defender’s Office in Barnstable this summer. Her goal is to work with low-income members of the community in a variety of ways related to the criminal justice system.

Katherine Lockwood of Mashpee is currently with Teach for America and will enroll at Boston University in the fall to pursue a Master’s in Education specializing in special education. She has volunteered for many organizations on the Cape assisting clients with special needs.

Katie Nikas of Hyannis will be entering her senior year at UMass Boston pursuing a degree in management with a concentration in Marketing. She manages two Hyannis locations of Ben & Jerry’s and has been nationally recognized as a future leader in the Ben & Jerry’s company.

Mandy Shaw of Provincetown works at Outer Cape Health Services while pursuing her degree at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is very involved in the Outer Cape community through her work with the organization Helping Our Women.



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