TWO events over the next few days will be critical to the wellbeing of our youth.
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Today, the Be Seen Be Heard youth forum, to be held at the multifunction centre, will be an excellent opportunity for our young people to put their heads together and think critically about the future direction of the city.
We will find out what they want, how they want it and why.
The report released at the culmination of the event will be a great resource for future developers and, especially, Council.
They’ve opted to speak up and make their voice heard; now it’s up to us to listen and learn.
It’s a weekend for empowerment…for taking the future into our own hands.
Another group ready to make some noise is the Dirty Reds Rugby Club with their second annual Mates Rate family day, in memory of Hugo Cunningham.
Hugo’s story has been reported before and we present it again today in a different light and one of vital importance - from the angle of the friends left behind.
It’s hard to speak up and make yourself vulnerable and we commend the Cunningham family and friends of the late Hugo for baring all to get the message across.
It just goes to show that while we wait and wait for a youth targeted, full-time funded facility like Headspace to commit to the City, there are other effective ways to tackle the issue.
All it takes is perseverance, heart and communication.
As Jo Cunningham said in today’s edition, we as a City have a problem; and it’s the people like herself and Council’s Youth Engagement Officer Alysha House who lead by example in curbing those trends.
“You just have to do the best you can and that is that you have to pick up little bits of hope and move forward,” Mrs Cunningham said during Wednesday’s interview.
“I don’t have an alternative; there is no other way for me. I can crawl into a hole or I could run away and hide and I thought I would just shut down and that would be that, but it’s made me get up and want to fight. Sometimes I ask myself why and I think what are you doing but it’s in me so it must be what I need to do.”
We call upon our readers and community leaders to spread the word about these fantastic events and throw full support behind them.