Appendix B – Engaging Youth

Many communities that tested the framework and toolkit identified youth as a priority group for their plan, facing risk factors such as coming from a single parent family, leaving care, unsupervised children, etc. There is also significant research literature that supports the active participation and inclusion of youth in decision- making as a way of addressing exclusion and marginalization. This section was developed for adults in communities that are undertaking the community safety and well-being planning process to help them understand a youth perspective and how to meaningfully engage youth.

Benefits of Youth Engagement

The following are some of the benefits to engaging youth in the community safety and well-being planning process:

• opportunity for new understanding of the lived reality of youth;
• opportunity to inform broader community safety and well-being plans, and other initiatives that may be developed to address identified risk areas;
• opportunity to breakdown stereotypes/assumptions about young people. In particular, assumptions related to risk areas that may involve youth;
• long-term opportunity for creation of on-the-ground community policies and programs that are increasingly responsive to the needs of youth;
• shared learning of current issues as youth often raise questions that have not been thought of by adults;  new ideas, energy and knowledge;
• creates healthy and positive community connections between youth and adults, leading to social cohesion; and
• opportunity to ask what youth are traditionally excluded from and offers an opportunity to get them to the table.

Additionally, the following are benefits that youth engagement can have on the youth themselves:

• build pride/self-esteem for being contributors to a larger purpose (i.e., local plans with a youth perspective);
• opportunities to build skills, for example:
• communication – opportunities for youth to assist in the creation of material (i.e., advertisement, pamphlets, etc.);
• analytical – opportunities to analyze and interpret information that is gathered to inform the plan o from a different perspective;
• connection to positive adult(s); and
• inclusion and a voice into what is happening in the community.

Practical Tips

The following are some practical tips for engaging youth during the community safety and well-being planning process.