Sometimes a good idea just isn’t a good idea until someone else has it. Confused? Let me explain. Over the last few years we have tried unsuccessfully to start a youth committee. Young people just haven’t grabbed onto the idea or something else has come up which has been more appealing. So when one of our Peer Educator approached me and said “I think there should be something to let the guys in Drop-In have a say about how it is run”, I followed this with “Great, I’ll help you set it up!”
Karl Hagan, the Peer Educator in question, met with me and we set up votes for representatives from both Drop-In and Girl’s Drop-In. Elections took place in Drop-In with each representative having to be proposed and seconded and then voted in by the young people. 6 representatives were chosen to represent different ages and the different Drop-Ins. Representing the young people are: Kyle McCaughey, Scott Maxwell, David Shields, Molly O’Neil, Courtney Cox and Karl Hagan (Karl is also Chairing the committee just to prove no good idea goes unpunished!).
The first meeting took place on 1stNovember and already there were items to discuss including how participants are chosen for trips and some of the inequalities the girls felt existed between the Drop-Ins. There were lively debates over some of the items and each proposal was voted on by the committee. The young people also discussed the idea of a constitution for the committee and what they felt was appropriate in terms of time served and removal from the committee.
The representatives have shown a real thirst to get involved with how Project 23 is run and a real passion to make things better. The committee has made a great start and I for look forward to see where the young people take us.