The suburban Youth Summit is the brainchild of Yvonne Palmer, Community Board member for the area, and has been put into action by Robyn Moore, Youth Advocate at the Council. It will provide teenagers with a chance to have their say on what is happening or should be happening for them in the North/West area of the City.

"We want to know from the teenagers themselves what needs to be fixed or provided in the north/west area in terms of services and facilities. Those who are directly affected will provide the answers", says Robyn Moore, Youth Advocate.

The primary questions to be asked of the students and young people are:

What is provided in the area that they like and should be maintained?

- including services and facilities provided by other organisations as well as the Council.

What is available at present but needs attention for it to be utilised fully?

- for example, a skateboard park that needs resurfacing.

What are the gaps? What services and facilities are needed and should be provided? The focus will be to come up with creative solutions and suggestions to fill those gaps.

Workshops will cover the following subjects:

Health, safety and wellbeing.

Physical environment and design.

Entertainment and recreation, including a competition to design the ultimate youth facility with a given budget. The best proposal will win a prize and will be considered for actual practical application.

Employment, including brainstorming to think of creative ways to gain employment.

Education and training.

Family, including what support systems need to be available to help families through difficult times.

To put together this Summit the Christchurch City Council Youth Advocate and Community Activity Officers for the area have had the help of the Police Youth Aid section, Northlands Mall (a popular hangout for youths in the area), Papanui High School and various youth organisations.

The results and conclusions from the workshop sessions will be put together in a report by the Christchurch City Council, which will then be made available to anyone working with young people.

"Our intention is that the ideas from the young people at the Summit can be taken on board, and any youth agency can use the report to help them focus on what facilities and services they can provide or improve on, to meet the wants, needs and expectations of young people in the area", says Robyn Moore.

The Minister of Youth Affairs, Deborah Morris will officially open the summit.

All media are invited to attend to see the brainstorming in action. Please contact me if you are interested in attending (contact numbers below)

Details:

The Great North/West Summit

Where? Riccarton Park RacewayP

For further information:

Robyn Moore, Youth Advocate, Christchurch City Council