A new initiative has started up to give youth a louder voice in Chatham-Kent and keep them in the community.
Chatham-Kent Power of Young People is a new advisory group by the municipality with the goal of engaging residents aged 15 to 39. According to a Chatham-Kent survey from 2017, only 22 per cent of youth feel their contributions matter in the municipality.
Evan Rogers, 18, was the brainchild for the initiative. He compared the idea to the Mayor Youth Council that was around in the late 1990s early 2000s. Rogers said he approached Councillor Brock McGregor to make the idea a reality.
"I wanted to revitalize youth engagement in Chatham-Kent," Rogers said. "We discussed the steps it would take to go forward from this. [McGregor] and I have been working on this from the beginning of the year to get it approved and now I am a member."
The group is comprised of 14 members who represent the different wards in the municipality. Another member is Meg Lyttle who moved to Chatham 10 years ago from Pickering in the Greater Toronto Area. In that time she has created her own realty business and said she is living proof youth can thrive in CK.
"I don't want this to become a retirement community," Lyttle said. "I want it to be a fun place to live and diverse. The only way to do that is by keeping some young people here too. It can't just be all old people."
As a realtor, Lyttle said she knows first hand the majority of new residents moving in are older people looking for a place to retire. She added to keep the economy thriving, the municipality has to attract youth or at the very least do whatever they can to keep them from moving away, which is currently a struggle for CK.
"We hear a lot that there's nothing to do here or there are no jobs, just a lot of complaints from the younger demographic and I think we need to listen to them a little bit more," Lyttle said. "We need to see what we can do, but this [initiative] is new. It is totally ground floor. I don't think any of us know what to expect from it yet. We just hope to have better youth retention."
Rogers added another goal for the group was to have youth more engaged with municipal council. He said they need to have more input on higher level decisions occurring in the next two to four years.
Chatham-Kent Power of Young People is in its earliest stage and the group hasn't held a meeting yet. The first is scheduled for November 26 and will be closed to the public. Rogers said any youth who want to get involved and have their voices heard can contact the groups Facebook page or the municipality.
