DETROIT, MI -- In church gatherings, in City Council meetings and in demonstrations outside City Hall, anger and fear over the state takeover of Detroit government has dominated the discussion for months.

But in an auditorium packed with Detroit 20-somethings for a town-hall meeting with Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday, the words "emergency manager" never came up once.

Snyder wants to hear more from that crowd.

The governor and Detroit's new Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr face fierce opposition from vocal activists who view state intervention in the city's troubled finances as a cynical move to cast aside elected officials.

But the discussion Monday night, hosted by the group Detroit Young Professionals, focused on attracting business, preventing brain drain and matching education programs with job opportunities in Detroit and in Michigan.

"I need you to speak up more," Snyder told the crowd of young Detroit entrepreneurs and white-collar workers at Wayne State University.

"I need you to get more involved. I need you to say, as we go through these issues about the future of the city, how you feel about it. Show up at meetings. Participate. Talk. Come as a group. Get your friends to come. We need people bringing solutions to the table."

Snyder asked a smaller crowd of the group's board members before the town-hall gathering to start attending City Council meetings.

"I need everybody to step it up, in terms of being loud and more active... including things like City Council meetings," he said. "That's one of the issues that we have, is we need people that bring solutions to come to those meetings more often and speak up."

He said many of Detroit's most tense conflicts go back long before the youths were born.

"You don't have all that baggage to carry around, both positive and negative," he said. "You're just looking at how to get it done and how to make it better. And that's where we need you to speak up."

"... It's not going to be easy, because at some of these meetings, people may want to keep doing it the old way. And we've got to respect that. But we need you at the table speaking up with solutions."

Detroit Young Professionals board member Justin Kimpson said Snyder hasn't necessarily found a friendlier crowd, but a more open-minded one.

“I think it’s a demographic that has a lot of energy," Kimpson said. "Everybody’s not going to agree with you 100 percent, so I don’t know if it’s more friendly. I think it’s more with an open ear, to really have that opportunity to be receptive."

Snyder brought Orr with him to the gathering, but the takeover never came up, until they spoke to reporters after the event.

Kimpson said he hopes emergency management will at least create an opportunity for young professionals to have more of a role in the way things operate in the city and in the state.

"I’m seeing an opportunity for a lot of positive things," said Kimpson. "We can’t get any worse than we are at this particular point. We kind of have a a bad set of hands.

"Anything that’s about moving the city forward and being positive and really making a difference, you have to work with that."

Follow Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.