Our first Youth Advisory Council meeting
On June 25 the Youth en Route team welcomed students from across Calgary to our first Youth Advisory Council meeting. We formed this council because we want to collaborate with youth and start a conversation about active transportation in Calgary. We want to ensure our organization reflects the perspective of the youth we serve, and that we are providing solutions to the challenges they face when it comes to cycling.
Why join the Youth Advisory Council
When asked why they wanted to join the Youth Advisory Council, students provided interesting and important responses. They expressed that they had always loved biking, but are aware that as they’ve grown up they’ve come to rely more on driving and want to get back into physical activity, encouraging other youth to do the same.
Ever since the pandemic lock-down ended, students have wanted to go outside and get out biking, but not everyone had accessibility to a bike. Students wanted to join the Youth Advisory Council to address this accessibility issue, and to promote the culture around biking.
One student was introduced to Youth en Route through the Active Voice Café at her school. She joined the council because she wanted to give perspective on why students don’t choose biking, and wanted to find solutions on how to get around that. Another student explained that she was a newcomer to Canada, and due to war and cultural differences in her country she never learned how to ride a bike. Now she wants to share ideas and learn how to ride a bicycle!
Some students learned about Youth en Route by following us on Instagram. They wanted to join the council to meet new people, learn more about biking, and to gain confidence in public speaking and leadership.
Developing Youth en Route’s tagline
After a discussion on how Youth en Route’s mission and vision have evolved, we broke out into smaller groups and brainstormed concepts for a new tagline. We asked students a few questions to prompt ideas, including what words they think about when they think about cycling. We were overwhelmed by the amount of great ideas that each group came up with!
Here is just a few taglines from each group:
Group 1: Create your own path to happiness. Pedal into freedom by just riding your bike. Pedaling to your future.
Group 2: Empowering everyday exploration. To your destination: safe and reliably. Bike without boundaries.
Group 3: Pedal to freedom. Pave the way to freedom. Exercise the freedom to travel.
Group 4: Freedom on two wheels. Ride to learn, learn to ride. Independence on wheels.
We will review these tagline concepts at our next meeting and actually select one to develop and implement.
What’s next for the Youth Advisory Council
Council members are currently in the process of researching and drafting proposals for grants. As a not-for-profit organization, Youth en Route relies on grants and our incredible donors in order to keep pedaling. The work the Youth Advisory Council is doing now will help support our organization moving forward.
Our next meeting is scheduled for the end of July where we will prepare grant proposals for submission. We are so excited to continue working with these students, and to provide more youth with the freedom of active transportation.
During the creation of the Youth Advisory Council we received more applications than there were seats available on the council. We are creating a webpage so that students across Calgary can learn about the Youth Advisory Council and how to get involved with Youth en Route through volunteer opportunities.
