Edmonton youngsters ready to make a difference
Youth groups from all over Edmonton recently came together to embark on a four-month plan to help make their communities safer places to live.
The conference, entitled ‘Combat Crime Youth Think Tank’, brought together 10 groups of 10 young people, ranging in age from 12 to 21. Each will be given $1,000 and four months to come up with a unique plan to develop a crime-prevention strategy.
The goal of the conference is to treat the youth as community stakeholders, and as such, encourage them to have a say in how to combat the root causes of crime such as poverty, social inequality, homelessness, racism, bullying, and more. Past projects included ideas like creating public awareness videos, building a community garden, creating music videos, and even screening an anti-bullying movie.
The groups will come together again at City Hall in February, at which time the group that has had the most success will be given another $2,500 to keep its project going.
Each person who participated in the conference was given a t-shirt that had been specially made for the occasion by a printing company. This helps to build a feeling of teamwork among those who are taking part.
Contributors to the event include the Edmonton City Police, the Capital Region of Alberta United Way, the SOS Safety Magazine, You Can Youth Services, and the City of Edmonton.
The conference, entitled ‘Combat Crime Youth Think Tank’, brought together 10 groups of 10 young people, ranging in age from 12 to 21. Each will be given $1,000 and four months to come up with a unique plan to develop a crime-prevention strategy.
The goal of the conference is to treat the youth as community stakeholders, and as such, encourage them to have a say in how to combat the root causes of crime such as poverty, social inequality, homelessness, racism, bullying, and more. Past projects included ideas like creating public awareness videos, building a community garden, creating music videos, and even screening an anti-bullying movie.
The groups will come together again at City Hall in February, at which time the group that has had the most success will be given another $2,500 to keep its project going.
Each person who participated in the conference was given a t-shirt that had been specially made for the occasion by a printing company. This helps to build a feeling of teamwork among those who are taking part.
Contributors to the event include the Edmonton City Police, the Capital Region of Alberta United Way, the SOS Safety Magazine, You Can Youth Services, and the City of Edmonton.