CES Youth Think Tank

YOUTH THINK TANK
A PILOT INITIATIVE BY THE CIVIC EDUCATION SOCIETY

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Mark your calendars! YOUTH THINK TANK #2 is happening on Saturday, October 15th from 3pm to 5.30pm at Mount Pleasant Community Centre (1 Kingsway, Vancouver BC). Find us in Multipurpose Room 3. The topic for the day will be Housing.

The current political landscape does not have an avenue for young people to openly discuss their views on the important issues. More importantly, there is no opportunity for their views to be heard by those in power. Occasionally, there are crafted events where younger people are invited to discussions within a narrow scope of “youth issues”, but these rarely lead to real impact. Instead, partisan political machines engage youth only in the context of winning a youth vote.

We believe our community deserves better.

Youth are a diverse group in the community with a stake in our community, our country, and our world. With such a wide range of different viewpoints, there are no true youth issues. Given that all important issues extrapolated to five or ten years into the future will affect the young people of today, they are all youth issues.

Stripping away partisan blinders and allowing the important considerations to guide the dialogue is the only way to identify the fundamental issues at the heart of each topic. Rather than rely on political experts and a driving goal towards the best course of action, the Youth Think Tank will strive for an iterative process that develops a dialogue framework over time.

Our first open forum took place on April 16, 2011. Find out more about it here.