So we are settling in, now that we’re home after spending the majority of September and October on the road visiting with amazing people, including some incredible youth and young adults. We’ve said it before, but it probably can’t be said enough – with all the stressors facing our country and it’s youngest population – there is so much hope…in youth themselves. Each visit and meeting with these change makers, wherever we were, was rejuvenating and kept reminding us what really mattered!
Our travels started following the launch of the Kingston Youth Strategy (Y2K) and then brought us to Calgary, Edmonton, Yellowknife (several times), Thunder Bay and Toronto and had us connecting with organizations from coast to coast to coast (literally!). There are so many strong allies out there, supporting young people and community development that it’s no surprise there are so many strong and positive actions taking place across Canada, not only for youth – but with youth.
Some highlights of the last while included seeing a new group of young people join the Premiers Council on Youth Opportunities, including several new youth from Kingston! I had the chance to write a blog post on the Council’s website about community and in particular, my experience working on the Y2K 2012 project, where a youth strategy and community action plan was developed. Being able to work with the Students Commission on that project was a wonderful opportunity and sparked a lot of learning about what community really is and can be.
You can read the blog here:
http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/youthopportunities/PCYO-blog.aspx
If you want to learn more about Y2K and the amazing work being led by the Students Commission in partnership with more than 40 local organizations, visit http://www.studentscommission.ca/y2k/strategy.php
You can see more about the launch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYHldb6nOj0.
We’ll be updating on our work in Yellowknife shortly where we were honoured to support youth and adults conduct an assessment and community consultation on the core issues surrounding gang activity of local youth.