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Dec 7th, 2006 - 23:19:16 |
Ryan Hayes
Update:
As you may already know, after a nation-wide callout we hosted a Pan-Canadian Conference of Youth Cabinets/Councils in Toronto on June 2-4, 2006. Bringing together youth from Vancouver, Edmonton, London, Mississauga, Toronto, Saint John, and Newfoundland, the conference allowed us to build capacity, share best practices, and represented an important step towards a larger goal: creating a national youth voice.
We are now asking again for youth cabinets, councils, and equivalents in Canada to join us in this movement. Your support is needed in order to make our goal a reality.
I will try to keep this short and sweet. Here is what you can do to help:
1) Right now immediately quickly create a free account and join our group on Taking It Global at http://groups.takingitglobal.org/pan-can. The sooner you join, the sooner we can take advantage of the amazing tools TIG has to offer. Take a look at our project page created by Stephen Spence from the Saint John Youth Cabinet at http://projects.takingitglobal.org/pan-can.
2) Spread the word about this group to other youth cabinets/councils so we can grow. There are many, many more youth cabinets/councils out there and we need to be inclusive of all of them.
3) Nominate a youth to join the steering committee. No special qualifications are needed, the person just has to be willing to provide a monthly update on their group for our newsletter, and get input from their group for a monthly discussion question that will build towards the next conference.
4) Put Wednesday, January 17th at 5pm EST (Toronto time) in your calendar for our live online chat hosted by Taking It Global. We will debrief on the first conference, develop an agenda for the next conference, and discuss the concept of a national youth voice.
5) Start making preparations for the next Pan-Canadian Conference to be held during a weekend between mid-July and mid-August in Toronto (date TBC soon). Although we hoped that another group would be able to take on the task of organizing the second conference, this could not happen this year. In order to make this sustainable, we are starting discussions with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and pursuing other funding options – so stay tuned. Last year there was a registration fee of $100 per attendee, which included all food and accommodations for two nights. It is our deepest intent to be able to raise the funds to provide generous travel subsidies, but we do not have funds within the Toronto Youth Cabinet's existing budget to do so. So start planning.
For those who will be unable to attend, please still participate in this planning process and know that we are organizing a simultaneous conference to be held virtually – we're savvy like that.
6) Give some thought to resources your group can bring to the table, whether physical (material – money) or kinetic (energy - mobilizing people's assets). Our ability to hold a good conference – one in which barriers to participation are at a minimal – depends on the sum of our collective effort. We need to move a lot of airplanes.
Things like a commitment to sustained participation, money, fundraising, contacts, researching and recruiting youth cabinets/councils in your region, staff and volunteer support for logistics and coordination (I am a volunteer), web design, graphic design, and words of support are useful.
Finally, know this isn't about an annual conference. It is about working across distance, building a spirit of collaboration, mutual learning, and making personal connections. While meaningful, the conference is just a capstone to months of ongoing discussions, a chance to meet face-to-face and solidify bonds in a way the internet just won't allow.
If you have any ideas or questions, I would love to hear them.
Peace,
Ryan Hayes
Toronto Youth Cabinet
P.S. If people are wondering why we are beginning with just youth cabinets/councils, it is because this is just a starting point. We recognize that youth cabinets/councils tend to be unrepresentative. This is our largest challenge and we want to address it together.
Dec 4th, 2006 - 13:28:58 |
Kimia
Please join us for a live chat on Wednesday January 17th 2006 at 5pm EST. Let's move towards a national youth voice!!
For more information: email Kimia Ghomeshi at kimia@takingitglobal.org.
Agenda for the call:
- summary of outcomes from the June 2006 conference
- developing a core vision and mission for the PAN-CAN Youth Network.
- sharing ideas and best practices
- 2007 national conference: appointing a steering committee
Nov 2nd, 2006 - 18:05:06 |
Stephen Spence
As of now, the PAN - CAN Youth Network is looking for a youth cabinet or council, that attended last year, to host a 2007 conference.
If you have any questions, please send an email to this group, and we'll get back to you!
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