Yesterday evening, I attended the second AGM of the Dundee Youth Council which was held in the City Chambers. The purpose of the Dundee Youth Council is to represent, support and improve the lives of young people in Dundee.
Presenting the Annual Report, Chairperson, Matt Lansburgh, overviewed a year of significant achievements including planning and facilitating community, citywide and international events. High on their list of milestones was undertaking a consultation which reached 4394 young people in Dundee, half of the potential age group. He also announced that he was standing down as Chair as he had just been appointed to the Tayside Health Board.
Presenting the Annual Report, Chairperson, Matt Lansburgh, overviewed a year of significant achievements including planning and facilitating community, citywide and international events. High on their list of milestones was undertaking a consultation which reached 4394 young people in Dundee, half of the potential age group. He also announced that he was standing down as Chair as he had just been appointed to the Tayside Health Board.
Laura Gorman, Vice-Chair in 20011/12 was elected as Chairperson for the coming year.
David Mundt, the Convener of Consultation - gave an overview of the early results from the views of young people in Dundee that had been gathered in their recent survey. He reported that the top three concerns of young people in the city were:
- Education
- Health and
- Transport
Interestingly the following points emerged about Education:
- Pupils at Braeview were concerned about their state of their school building and think its needs refurbishment;
- Some pupils in the City thought it was unfair that the option to take Outdoor Education at school seemed to be only offered to badly behaved pupils and
- Some concerns had emerged about Curriculum for Excellence and the City Campus.
This was an inspiring meeting demonstrating the potential of our young people and the significance and value of their perspectives.
The challenge, I think, for the Council, is to provide more meaningful opportunities to engage our Youth Councillors and young people in general in 'changing for the future'; principally their future.
