Making moves at the Manatee Young Professionals Most Valuable Player Awards
I was so incredibly proud and honored to see Manatee County Government receive two special awards from the Manatee Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural Manatee Young Professional Most Valuable Player (MYP-MVP) Awards on Oct. 18.

Our own Simone Peterson, a Neighborhood Specialist with our Neighborhood Services department, received the Individual MVP Award in the Non-Profit/Government category.
Simone was one of the four founding team members of the County’s Manatee Millennial Movement (M3) group in 2016. M3 was tasked with engaging and soliciting feedback from underrepresented young professionals. She is a shining star, recognized for her leadership, innovation and ability to pull diverse groups together for greater civic engagement.
We were also thrilled to have two other Manatee County staff nominated: Ambassador Program Coordinator Ogden Clark and Redevelopment Coordinator Jeff Ryan.

It was a proud and emotional moment when Manatee County Government received the MVP Employer Award in recognition of our continued commitment to “recruiting, hiring and retaining young people in our workforce.” Seeing the accomplishments of our new generation of staff has personally driven me toward achieving important goals here at the County.
Winning such an award wouldn’t be possible without so many department directors who have fully embraced the work of our young professionals. Leadership across all areas has encouraged an environment of collaboration and helped build relationships to work on shared issues and projects to make our community a better place.
I also believe we can credit this award to our highly successful Results First Internship Program, sponsored by our M3 group. Through the program we’ve welcomed more than 30 paid interns since the summer of 2017, many of whom have gone on to work full time for the County. The program not only introduces students to working in government, it also gives our younger staff a valuable opportunity to serve as a mentor.
Recognition from the Chamber for Simone and for Manatee County Government is an extreme source of pride for all of us. These awards are validation that our M3 group, our Results First internships and our ongoing commitment to involving young, up-and-coming stars in meaningful projects is proof that we can recruit and keep Manatee County’s best and brightest minds.
Our young professionals are really making a difference and I’m so excited to work with them to support their projects and propel their careers into the future. Thank you for all that you do!

