How do you revive a struggling city? Urban Next Summit brings together CEOs and volunteers to find ways.

New Orleans has been especially struggling lately to rebuild its population of young people after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but not for a lack of people passing through. Thousands have poured into the city over the last few years to help in the rebuilding efforts, but few decide to stay after their work was done – it’s hard to fit in as an itinerant outsider. NOLA YURP, a new member of the America Forward Coalition, has made it its mission to help the helpers, to host events that let volunteers, aid workers and college students meet people in the city, make connections, and possibly decide to settle down.

Not only that, but they want to move on from their immediate concerns to think about the best ways to keep cities vital and energized in the future. From July 24-25 these social entrepreneurs are working with CEOs for Cities, a high-powered association of corporate and civic leaders to host the Summit: first presenting an “Insider’s Tour” of New Orleans to showcase the problems that the city faces, and then conducting a unique round-robin brainstorming session on how to form coalitions of leaders to reinvigorate our cities. To read the draft agenda, click here.