By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

youth voice strategy

Red Deer youth to have louder voice through City initiative

Nov 25, 2019 | 5:56 PM

Youth in Red Deer will be given more opportunity in 2020 and beyond to have their voices heard by our city’s decision makers.

At Monday’s city council meeting, approval was given to putting the $14,000 Children and Youth Strategy Fund toward the hosting of semi-annual youth gatherings over the next three years.

The fund has been around for the better part of 15 years, according to Bobby-Jo Stannard, supervisor of community development, Social Planning department. It was not used in 2019.

“We have heard loudly and clearly from the community that there is a call to action around youth voice,” says Stannard. “There’s a real interest in people supporting youth to have an opportunity to be engaged and have some skills.”

City officials canvassed youth for feedback at the FCSS-hosted YOUth Forum in Penhold last September seeking to understand how, why and what youth ages 13-18 would like to be engaged in.

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Of those who responded, 66 per cent preferred either a virtual engagement and/or annual youth gathering. A whopping 94 per cent said they did not want to see a youth governance model that mirrors what city council does.

That idea was proposed to The City by The Centre for Peace and Justice, which is based in Lacombe.

Councillor Ken Johnston said youth hold the key to the future, noting activism on climate change around the world, gun control in the United States, and involvement in the protests in Hong Kong.

“They have skin in the game, and as it relates to youth, that means the future and the direction of where this world is going,” Johnston says.

“We see youth at the forefront of issues, and why is that? Frankly, I think our committed youth are looking at the generations in front of them as either jaded, stubborn, short of vision, or burned out. But when I see youth activism, I’m extremely optimistic that out world is in good hands … it only takes a meeting or two for youth to get engaged.”

The semi-annual gatherings will happen for the next three years, with evaluations occurring through city council every fourth quarter. Dates and format are yet to be decided, but the first one could happen as early as spring 2020.

The City of Red Deer used to have a formal youth council which operated for several years in the early 2000s.