For many years, the Mid Ohio Valley has suffered from the mass exodus of its young citizens upon high school and college graduation. This loss has put the area populations into a constant decline. With the loss of young families in the area, school districts have seen the same decline in the student population, which has an adverse effect on the amount of funding they receive from state and federal aid. The loss of young people from the area has been a topic of discussion for many years, but a plan had never been put in place to try and counterbalance the issue or assess why it continues to happen.

In early 2005, Ryan Ware an Architectural Project Designer from Marietta began researching ways to battle the trend. During his research Ryan found that Young Professional Associations, which exist all across the country, best matched what goals and beliefs he felt worked well for the Mid-Ohio Valley. In early spring, Ryan approached Charlotte Keim, The Marietta Area Chamber President to discuss the concept, and after a few meetings, Ryan and a core group of individuals were defining goals, a mission statement reviewing names for the group. In mid June and early July, YEL (Young Emerging Leaders) made its first public announcement that they were forming a group to combat the trends of the migration.

Meanwhile, Paul Daugherty, the Executive Director of the West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and Mindi Line, a local Attorney, began researching similar issues in Parkersburg. After researching the idea of a young professional group and speaking with several founders of similar groups across the country, they too decided that this would be an appropriate venue to approach the problems that the Mid-Ohio Valley was facing. They then became aware of the endeavors of Ryan Ware in Marietta through a local newspaper article and made contact with him.

The two groups then met and decided that the goals and mission of each respective group were similar and that merging would be beneficial. The work then began of planning the first combined event, the development of a website, and the planning for the new organization.