Volunteers Needed: Youth Engagement Action Team

The City of St. John’s is recruiting a team of residents, ages 15 to 35, for a Youth Engagement Action Team to help the city better understand why youth do not actively engage in civic matters and make recommendations on how to improve engagement.

“City Council recognizes that youth have a lot at stake whenever decisions are made at City Hall,” said Maggie Burton, Council lead for the Youth Advisory Committee.  “We want young voices to be better heard, so we are recruiting volunteers for an action team that will help us better engage with this demographic.”

With the city’s aging population, it’s imperative to attract and retain young people to live and work in St. John’s, and to get this demographic more actively engaged in municipal matters and decision making.

“We’re calling on educators, youth groups, community organizations and volunteers throughout the city to spread the word and to help us to recruit members for the team,” said Councillor Maggie Burton.

The City’s new Strategic Plan, Our City, Our Future, sets out a strategic direction to create a Connected City. This direction includes a goal to increase and improve opportunities for residents to connect with each other and the city- improving youth engagement is one way to work towards this goal.  

Once established, the Action Team members will meet in person and online during November and December 2019 for this one-time commitment. The group will consider the city’s approach on:

• Public engagement
• Communications
• Topics of interest to youth
• How to remove barriers to youth participation in civic matters

It is easy to apply, go to engagestjohns.ca to learn more about this exciting opportunity or e-mail engage@stjohns.ca. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, November 6.