City’s young people encouraged to have their voices heard

Wagga Wagga City Council is preparing to welcome young people with big dreams to its ground-breaking ‘Shape Your City’ Youth Forum on 11 September 2019.

“We want to help our young people to realise that the grand idea they have for the city, could very well be the project they’re managing 10 years down the track,” Youth Development Officer Vanessa Jennings said.

“Or maybe they’ll be on the bobcat turning the first sod to get works underway.”

The Youth Forum will allow young participants to take part in two engagement sessions, increasing their knowledge of the broad range of projects currently underway in the city.

“This one-day forum is designed to empower youth to understand and influence local government projects, foster relationships with Councillors and staff and to express their visions for the future of our City,” Director of Community, Janice Summerhayes said.

“The forum will provide young people with an opportunity to have their voice heard in a supportive environment, while also informing the young participants about the life cycle of real-life projects council are working on.”

The key message of the day is that young people have a valuable role to play in shaping their city for generations to follow.

The empowering Youth Forum is set to become a regular activity on the Wagga Wagga City Council calendar, in-line with the Youth Engagement Strategy 2017, with further forums planned for March and September 2020.

Young people aged 18 and under will take part in tomorrow’s event.