Airdrie youth, ages 12 to 24, have a chance to provide the City of Airdrie with feedback after the Jan. 19 launch of a research project by the social planning department.
“One of the reasons we decided to actually do a needs assessment is to really ground the work on a Youth Strategy in terms of really getting feedback from the youth themselves,” said Clay Aragon, team leader of community development and social planning.
According to Aragon, the city has completed three iterations of the City of Airdrie Youth Strategy since 2009 and is currently working on a fourth. The strategy outlines ways in which the city can collaborate or engage with youth.
“For us, it only made sense, based on the research that we’ve done, that this has to be a strategy that’s driven by youth for youth,” he said. “What we’re wanting to do is get a better understanding from youth of how they want to be engaged with the city and in the community. I think there’s a lot of assumptions out there about what the youth want. How do they want to be engaged in that process is what we’re really trying to understand.”
The Airdrie Board of Youth Affairs (ABYA) is an integral part of the city’s engagement with youth, according to Aragon, and the group, which advises city council and staff on youth issues, is heavily involved in developing the newest Youth Strategy.
“They’ve been engaged as a focus group to provide some feedback,” Aragon said. “They provided some feedback on the survey itself – how it was put together, the questions that get asked. They are also providing their feedback as a leadership group. How do they see, from the perspective of their peers, youth being engaged.”
The city commissioned consultant group Synergy Research to lead the research project. The research is being funded with Family and Community Support Services grant money at a cost of $14,000.
“The findings from this research study will be the driver to develop the Youth Strategy. We’re wanting to engage youth themselves to be part of that development so, obviously, we’ll be asking for youth representation to be part of that,” Aragon said. “Also, groups that provide services to youth – schools, community groups.
“It’s going to be really holistic in terms of how do we put this together. What’s the role of the city? What’s the role of the community? What’s the role of the youth themselves? One of the things that we know about youth is that it’s a stage in life so what might be working today might not necessarily be working three or four years from now. We want to make sure the youth strategy is alive and being reviewed periodically.”
Results from the research project will be presented to city council in April, according to Aragon.
The survey will be online on the city’s website at airdrie.ca until Feb. 3.
