Erin council has established a youth advisory committee to better connect with the community’s younger demographic.
“The establishment of this committee is aimed at developing a communication link with the youth of Erin, council and staff to encourage recommendations and programs that will enhance the status of youth in our community,” said clerk Dina Lundy.
The committee will be made up of five to 13 members between the ages of 13 and 20 years old, who are enrolled in high school or post-secondary education.
All councillors were in support of the motion on Aug. 8.
“I think this is a good initiative, but I do have some concerns about that it will take more than what we may be considering upfront,” said councillor John Brennan.
“I’m all for establishing this kind of a committee, but I’m also all for saying that in doing so, we are committing ourselves to provide funding and acceptance of what comes out of it,” he added.
“The worst thing that can happen is that you create this committee, you get people excited about things and they come and say ‘okay, yeah we want to do this,’ and we say ‘oh, well we don’t have any money for that.’”
Lundy said the committee would be starting off with $1,000 and would have the ability to fundraise themselves for projects.
Councillor Rob Smith also liked the idea, but was concerned it seemed like a social service.
“This isn’t just a social service, what this committee is is a mentorship program,” said Lundy.
“The mayor in part will be mentoring youth and bringing their issues to council and their issues are not necessarily with social service things.”
Councillor Matt Sammut said he agreed with the initiative but it is important to sell the idea to the youth.
“To me things like this have to be sold, you just put it out there and the majority of young people are going to say ‘why would I waste my time on that?’” he said.
Council voted unanimously in support of the youth advisory committee.
