There was an interesting presentation made to Yorkton Council at its regular meeting Monday.
Council heard a joint presentation from the Yorkton Alliance of Assets Champions, (YAAC), which was established in 2008, and the Yorkton Understanding Minds of Many Youth (YUMMY).
While the YAAC has already shown it is playing an important role in the city, but YUMMY is new, having been established only last year.
It is YUMMY which is intriguing in its concept and goals. It is a group where youth will be installed on a new committee designed to give young people a voice where it counts, predominantly with Yorkton Council itself.
While most of the key issues in the city are going to impact the community's future, and therefore youth when they become the business owners and employees of tomorrow, they have not exactly had a voice in what direction the city should take.
We may not generally think about it at the time, but a decision such as the upgrade and expansion of the Gallagher Centre is one which is very much one that should have had an avenue to hear the expectations of youth.
On one hand recreational facilities are very much youth oriented in terms of who the primary users are. As an example if one were to take minor hockey and figure skating out of the equation at the Farrell Agencies Arena the need for the facility would shrink considerably.
At the same time, it will be many of the teenagers who lived in the city at the time of the decision to do the project who will being paying some of the bill as they become workers and homeowners in Yorkton in the later years of the facility's payment schedule.
In a similar vein the current issue of housing in the city is a critical one for youth. Among the areas of shortage are housing for students taking college classes in the city, and for young families looking to purchase their first homes. To allow youth a voice in the discussions currently taking place around housing, such as the Housing Needs Assessment Study, would seem a natural avenue to go down. YUMMY can be that voice.
Of course there is a second side to giving any group a viable voice. Someone has to listen to the voice when it speaks. It will be imperative Yorkton Council takes a lead role in asking for YUMMY's input on issues, and then factor their vision into decisions, otherwise the new group will be nothing but window dressing to appease youth, while giving them only the shadow of a real voice.
If YUMMY is heard, then the city has a remarkable new asset to help guide the growth of the community the same youth will one day inherit.
