Change Starts with Youth: The YouthScape Public Forum
The YouthScape public forum, held in Victoria, BC on November 27th 2009, brought together approximately 80 policy makers, practitioners, funders and young people from coast to coast to discuss goals they all share in common: How are young people strengthening their communities? How can we advance a youth-centered movement?
The forum featured panel presentations on bringing rights into action, creative spotlights on key aspects of YouthScape, and learning circles to highlight youth engagement from different perspectives.
“The public forum really was about bringing people together to share their experiences on youth engagement. It created a bridge so we can learn from each other and find new ways to keep the YouthScape momentum going!” says Caitlin Schwarz, LifeCycles Project Society’s Coordinator.
Rights into Action
“The forum was a great way to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child,” says Elaina Mack, IICRD’s National Project Coordinator for YouthScape. “YouthScape is learning and working hard to bring these rights to life through the services and policies vital to young people – and to all Canadians – whether through recreation and the arts to transportation and law enforcement.”
Kicking off the forum was a panel presentation. Dr. Philip Cook, the Executive Director of IICRD recognized that even though Canada adopted the Convention, the country “[has] fallen behind the world in our commitment to rights”. He pushed the idea that youth still need to have a place in the centre of issues and decisions that affect them and stated the need to have “children as participant citizens. We are living in the most complex time for humanity ever. We need fundamentally different strategies for the problems before us.”
Sixteen-year old Ronnie Tadesse talked about the Age to Engage conference she coordinated in Victoria through support of a Victoria YouthScape Spark Grant. According to Ronnie, there was one strict rule that her project had to follow: “all facilitators, coordinators, speakers had to be youth...Other community stakeholders [were still invited] to be a part of the process, but as advisors only.” The success of Ronnie’s conference not only inspired the potential power of youth-driven projects but also revealed the importance of having ‘adult allies’ involved in the process.
“YouthScape support [and] adult allies were key. We couldn’t have done it without the logistical support of adults,” said Tadesse.
Denise Campbell with the City of Toronto offered a different perspective from her experience with youth engagement in a municipal setting.
“How do you do the dance between a government and youth engagement?...It’s been really important to us to understand that you can actually engage people in community projects when we conceive of young people as part of the community, part of society, part of the process,” says Campbell. Key examples in Toronto include the City’s Youth Cabinet, Identify and Impacts grants, re-designing Dorset Park and other capital development projects.
“To us, youth leadership means youth taking charge...Youth having a say in affairs in their communities and giving them a voice when making decisions” –Youth Leadership snapshot
YouthScape Spotlights
Creativity also took the central stage at the public forum. Six groups made up of members from all of YouthScape’s communities gathered to create unique presentations highlighting a YouthScape snapshot. From skits and poems, to musical interpretations, the groups had a blast figuring out a fun way to portray snapshots outlining vision, youth leadership, learning community, diversity, comprehensive community initiatives (CCI), and strength based.
"Farmer Joe has the seed and the idea of planting a tree. This is how the learning community starts with an idea and an initiative…The learning environment is never ending and is continually producing new ideas and new growths.” - Learning Community snapshot
Learning Together The participants in the public forum also had the chance to attend Learning Circle groups to discuss specific issues in youth engagement. These learning circles were designed to give forum participants a chance for a more intimate conversation with key stakeholders from YouthScape. Circles included: Youth Engagement in Practice (hosted by the Negin, Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society), Funding Youth Engagement (hosted by John Cawley, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, Stories from Youth (hosted by Che Kothari, Manifesto) and the City Experience (hosted by Denise Campbell, City of Toronto)
Youth Learning Circle
“Youth weren’t being given a space to go to that is accessible. We approached the recreation center because we wanted to do something about it” – Marshall Williams, Halifax Regional Municipality
“When youth can participate in something they can make, that’s where the energy comes from. There is an excitement that comes up and it spreads and creates ripple effects.” – Sara Bardwell, Hamilton
One of the groups was led by John Cawley from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. Cawley’s group discussed what funders are looking for in supporting youth engagement initiatives. Discussions focused on key issues that affect youth-driven projects and participants shared and received feedback regarding their own challenges. He revealed insights into “how targeting funding is going to change systems” and offered guidance on how organization can interact with funders.
The YouthScape Public Forum brought a variety of people together to dive into the experiences, challenges and opportunities for youth engagement in Canada. “But this isn’t just about youth engagement,” Dr. Cook reminds us. “If we can put youth at the centre of our society, it lights a spark, and the flame creates a fire in the rest of the community”.
