The City of Airdrie has endorsed the 2019-2023 Youth Engagement Strategy Framework.

In 2009, the City prepared a Youth Strategy to engage and promote youth as valued members of the community. 

Clay Aragon, Team Lead for Social Planning said the idea behind this plan was to empower our youth.

"The youth engagement strategy is a coordinated approach to make sure our local youth are engaged and have a way to participate in the community and ownership around the decision that affects them."

The main difference between the 2009 strategy and the updated 2019-2023 strategy is that for the new framework, the City has consulted with youth in the community and is prioritizing community collaboration. 

"This new strategy was developed based on the input of youth themselves, unlike 2009 which was something us internally as administration thought based on research was good for youth, that's the key difference."

The project is hoping that it can inform and influence municipal policy and programs to support youth empowerment, allow youth to be engaged citizens and create a safe space for youth to share their ideas and creative approaches to creating a "Youth-Friendly Community". 

The program will be taking a four pillar approach, with the first pillar focusing on giving the yout of Airdrie a voice within the community. The second pillar is based around creating connections between the city and its youth. The Third pillar focuses on informing the youth of Airdrie about event and discussions happening in the community. The final pillar is to focus on the empowerment of youth and allowing them to be owners of their actions as well as work with employment and volunteer agencies to ensure web space has volunteer opportunities.

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