While membership declines in traditional civic organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary, young people in their 20s and 30s in cities across the country are forming new organizations to change their cities. Metropolis in St. Louis is one such organization. Melanie Adams is in her second term as president of Metropolis and one of its founding members.

Melanie is a native of New Jersey, got her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and went to graduate school at the University of Vermont. She worked in Berkeley and Northridge before moving to St. Louis to become the Associate Director of Student Activities at Washington University.

Mpact is the new civic organization for young Memphians. Darrell Cobbins is its president. He is a 29-year-old commercial real estate broker, a graduate of Rhodes College and a Memphis native.

Traci Jackson is a graphic designer and an almost-native of Pittsburgh whose participation in Ground Zero inspired her to quit her job and work full-time on one of Ground ZeroÕs most successful projects, FLUX. Traci is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.