Geelong Youth Summit designed to tackle big issues

Young people from all over the region will be invited to take part in the 2019 Geelong Youth Summit, hosted by the Greater Geelong Youth Council.

Junior Mayor Josie Horne used her quarterly report to council to announce that the summit will be held on Thursday 31 October at GMHBA Stadium.

As part of Geelong’s UNESCO City of Design commitment, the summit will use design thinking to tackle the Youth Council’s three priority issues of mental health and wellbeing, community safety and the environment.

Young people will receive information from experts in each field before taking part in a design thinking process to identify how these issues can be addressed at a local level.

The Youth Council aims for the event to be interactive and hands-on, giving all attendees an opportunity to think creatively, exchange ideas and speak their mind.

Participants will be split into 12 working groups, each examining a specific aspect of one of the priority issues.

Schools from across the region will be invited to nominate students to attend. The summit is open to young people between the ages of 12 and 17.

The ideas generated during the day will be used to assist the youth council in making recommendations to council, in line with its role as an advisory committee representing Greater Geelong’s young people.

Schools interested in participating can contact Blake Edwards on 5272 4558 or [email protected].

Councillor Bruce Harwood – Mayor
“The council is very keen to see recommendations coming forward from the Youth Council that we can use to help us make decisions on important issues.”

“The Youth Summit will give our youth councillors a great chance to find out what the young people of our region are thinking and feeling, for example, how they believe challenges such as climate change, mental health and community safety should be addressed.”

“As a UNESCO City of Design, we need to encourage young people to think creatively and use design thinking to help stimulate ideas and uncover innovative solutions to some of the challenges we face. “

“Given we have 12 bright minds on our Youth Council, I’m sure this event will be a success. I look forward to seeing some clever and creative ideas emerge from the day.”

Youth Councillor Josie Horne – Junior Mayor
“The Youth Summit will be an exciting new event for Geelong’s young people: a place in which they can raise issues that concern them and work together with other young people to find solutions which the Youth Council can recommend during our next presentation to council.”

“It will be a casual, interactive and fun event for all of Geelong’s young people. We invite all young people from around Geelong to participate, they will have a chill time, meet new people and be empowered to help solve some important worldly problems we have in our own backyard.”