On a recent Friday, Market Square came to life. Bands jammed to the latest hits while interpretive dancers performed nearby. People chatted at patio tables and milled about while men, dressed as doughnuts and coffee, danced together. Couples basked in the sun, enjoying leisurely dinners at the restaurants on the square.

This summer, the draw is Stay and Play Fridays, the latest initiative of the Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Program to encourage young people not only to stay Downtown after business hours -- but ultimately to stay in Pittsburgh.

"We need a younger culture here," said Katie Koch, 23, of Butler County, at one of the recent Friday events, held 5 to 9 p.m.

Weekly parties in the summer are just part of what PUMP is all about.

Founded in 1995, when University of Pittsburgh graduate student Michelle Fanzo complained in an op-ed piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that too many young professionals were leaving Pittsburgh for better opportunities in more exciting cities, PUMP has grown to become a key player in the region's efforts to lure and keep young people.

Its 1,200 members, most between 25 and 40, are involved in a range of social, advocacy and community development issues geared toward involving them in the community. In the process, it's hoped, they not only will stay but act to encourage others to come and remain, as well.

"We lose so many young people because of the job market, and we just want to show those who have stayed that this is a great place to live with a lot going on," said Becky Rickard, group sales and audience development manager for Pittsburgh Public Theater.

Indeed, job opportunities in many ways are at the center of why some local college graduates leave. The region's overall job growth has lagged many metro areas much of the past two decades, making it difficult for many young people to stay even if they wanted.

But that's a situation that some other older northern cities have confronted, as well, and one that has showed signs of changing locally.

The region's job growth has picked up in comparison to many metro areas in the past year, and growth in the professional and business services arena where many young professionals gravitate actually has run well ahead, according to the nonprofit Pittsburgh Regional Indicators Initiative, which benchmarks the region against 14 other metro areas on a range of factors.

To help more young people find local jobs and stay, PUMP last year partnered with the job-search service Careerbuilder. "Young people are going to go where the jobs are," said Belinda Yeager Carter, the former head of PUMP's board. "Once you have those people, if you tie them to the community, they'll stay."

PUMP is taking other steps to help promote progress.

Its advocacy committee, for example, brings in candidates to address such issues as the proposed smoking ban, giving young people a voice, said Erin Molchany, the organization's executive director. "We garner the opinions of our members and bring their opinions to decision makers."

To build a stronger sense of community, it also formed the Pittsburgh Sports League, which has grown from a single flag football league to 11,000 players in nearly every sport imaginable, bringing together people from all over the region.

"When you can make connections beyond neighborhood boundaries, that helps to unify the region," said Patrick Dowd, a Pittsburgh city councilman who chairs the city's Committee on Urban Recreation. "Once we unify the region, we will have that much more capacity and potential financially."

PUMP leaders believe some of their strategies are working. More than 33 percent of its members cite the organization as a reason that they stayed in Pittsburgh.

PUMP and the league "were a large part of the reason why my wife and I never even considered leaving Pittsburgh as an option when we completed graduate school," said Tom Baker, PUMP's current board president.

Once people become invested in Pittsburgh, they're here to stay, said LaTasha Mayes, president of the Urban League Young Professionals of Pittsburgh. "We are here because we want to see Pittsburgh become all that it can be," she said.

But Ms. Mayes believes that the region must embrace more diversity to retain young people -- a theme many experts say is crucial if the region is to keep and lure the necessary immigrants to offset a stagnant population that is seeing deaths outpacing births.

"You want to recognize the changes that Pittsburgh is going through, and make sure we're attracting young people and keeping them here," Ms. Mayes said. "It can be the most livable city, but it has to be representative of the people who are here."

Residents of Pittsburgh need to change their mentality, said Raymond Lader, who is on the board of directors of Pittsburgh Young Professionals. Rather than asking newcomers why in the world they would come to Pittsburgh, they should welcome newcomers with open arms.

W.M. Nzambi, a PUMP board member, believes that people's perception of Pittsburgh comes down to awareness.

"There are a lot of old conceptions of what Pittsburgh is, and what it was historically -- we focus on the fact that Pittsburgh isn't as great as it might have been before," he said. "But we have a lot of talent with people who are coming into this area. We need to provide them with an understanding of what this area can be."

Which is one reason PUMP likes to, well, party on Friday nights. It allows the organization to show off a fun side of the city that younger professionals may not be aware of.

At Stay and Play Fridays a few weeks ago, the crowd ranged from middle-age adults to toddlers in strollers. Many were drawn to the freebies, such as beer, chips and doughnuts. There were even giveaways for children.

But everyone seemed to be having fun. As she took in the surroundings, Ashley Steeples, 29, of Squirrel Hill, observed: "There's more of a New York City feel to Downtown."

To learn more about PUMP and its activities, go to www.pump.org.