This past October, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada’s National Youth Council (NYC) members Katie and Benita were invited to meet our Board of Directors in Edmonton, AB.
As part of our Youth Engagement Initiative, we are committed to ensuring that youth voices are central to the Boys and Girls Club movement, particularly at the national level as we strengthen our work and engagement with youth across Canada.
Representing their Clubs in Camrose and Leduc respectively, Katie and Benita were tasked with surveying the rest of the National Youth Council to gain insight on key youth issues including:
- Creating youth-spaces, programs, and opportunities at Clubs
- Recruiting and retaining more youth at Clubs
- Collaboration between the NYC and Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada’s Board
During the meeting, Katie and Benita provided an overview of the input from the NYC, and shared thoughts about how Clubs can better respond to the needs of today’s youth.
Katie and Benita are members of our National Youth Council.
From facility upgrades to more recreational capacity access to increased youth-focused programming, our young leaders have clearly identified aspects necessary to support their development.
“The meeting went really well and we were both excited to be there,” said Benita. “We had some really great discussions about the direction of youth engagement at Boys and Girls Clubs and how the board and the NYC can continue to collaborate on important youth issues.”
As we move forward with our strategic plan in 2019, we will continue to provide opportunities for dialogue between our National Youth Council and our Board of Directors to ensure that youth issues are always foundational to the direction of our movement.
