🌱 FFA Next Gen Conference In Raleigh + Raleigh Rated #5 For Gen Z

Good morning, hello. It's me, Sean Peek, your host of the Raleigh Patch newsletter — back in your inbox with all the most important things happening in our community.

But first, today's weather:

A thunderstorm around. High: 92 Low: 72.

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Here are the top three stories today in Raleigh:

1. The Future Farmers of America (FFA) hosted its Next Gen Conference at Raleigh this past week, coming to a conclusion on Thursday, Jun. 29. The conference, all told, was attended by over 3,500 students, teachers, and guests. FFA promotes leadership, personal growth, and career preparedness in agriculture and related industries, and operates throughout the United States and US dependencies. (Subscription: Raleigh News & Observer)
2. Commercial Cafe has rated Raleigh as the no. 5 city for Gen Z, defined as people 25 years old and younger. Some of the factors considered in Commercial Cafe's assessment include the cost of living, jobs for recent graduates, and the unemployment rate, as well as the share of new jobs awarded to members of the Generation Z birth cohort. The top spot, according to Commercial Cafe, was Minneapolis, followed by Atlanta, Boston, and Columbus. (CBS17.com)
3. In a partnership with Finnish telecommunications company Nokia, Red Hat intends to add to its overall headcount while opening up new economic opportunities for the Raleigh-based information technology firm. Red Hat, currently a subsidiary of IBM, will be acquiring 350 Nokia cloud infrastructure employees as Red Hat begins to take over cloud infrastructure management and research as part of its agreement with Nokia. Although Red Hat recently laid off approximately four percent of its workforce, it employs roughly 22,000 people worldwide and 2,000 in the Research Triangle. (Subscription: Raleigh News & Observer)

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Today in Raleigh:

Saturday, July 1

• Andrew Kasab At Irregardless (10:00 AM)
• The Taste Of Raleigh At Wake Chapel Church (12:00 PM)
• Mill Heritage And Local History Tour At Historic Yates Mill County Park (1:00 PM)
• Strictly R&B At Club Love (4:00 PM)
• Salsa Sabado With Live Bands At Casa Cubana Restaurant and Rum Bar (7:00 PM)

From my notebook:

• Raleigh Food Pics is sharing some good stuff on Instagram — most recently, an "epic cheesesteak sandwich!" (RALEIGH FOOD PICS via Instagram)
• The state Department of Transportation is adding more passenger train routes between Raleigh and Charlotte to accommodate increasing demand! (Downtown Raleigh via Instagram)
• Shop Local Raleigh and Quail Ridge Books are coming together again for a Raleigh-area Find Waldo scavenger hunt — more available here! (Shop Local Raleigh 📍Raleigh, NC ➡️ Wake County, NC via Instagram)

That's it for today. Your usual curator, Karena Garrity, will be back with your next newsletter! Have a great weekend.

— Sean Peek

About me: Sean Peek is a writer and entrepreneur with a degree in English Literature from Weber State University. Over the years, he has worked as a copywriter, editor, SEO specialist, and marketing director for various digital media companies. He currently co-owns and operates content creation agency Lightning Media Partners.