Young People and Local Democracy
Get Involved in Local Democracy
How do I do that?
A definition of some terms may be a useful starting point…
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Democracy: ‘Government by the people for the people’ Local Democracy: The local government of an area. This could be where you live through to the whole of Herefordshire. It involves the local council and all people who have a say about how things are. So what about Politics? What does this mean? |
Think about it…What do you love? What do you hate? What would you change?
Locally:
There are many opportunities across Herefordshire where you can get involved in decision making, being heard and making change happen such as:
- Rural Media: Youth Times Project
- Connexions: Management Board and other projects
- Teme Valley Youth Project: Youth Committee
- Ledbury Youth First: Citizenship Projects
- Xtreme Youth Projects: Action Groups
- Close House: Youth Committee
- Herefordshire Community Youth Service: Youth Forums, magazine projects….and many more!
Contact your local area youth worker to find out how you can get involved locally.
Or you may like to think about setting up your own group or project! Lots of young people have done this. There are many areas of life in which people could make a difference if they chose to… human rights, disability, drugs, racism, better pay for young people, local transport, bullying, loneliness, more leisure facilities for young people (Skate-park campaign groups) etc…
What about County Wide Democracy?
Plans are afoot for the development of a countywide Youth Council or similar for Herefordshire. This could take a number of ways forward but essentially a Youth Council would be a voice for young people in Herefordshire. It would look at and act on issues that matter to young people across the county, working with decision makers, to effect change for the better.
This year it all started with a Youth Conference called Speak Out! Young people from across Herefordshire were invited to get together and Speak Out and feed their opinions into the Herefordshire Plan and also to find out more about Youth Councils.
There is now a core group of young people who are keen to see a Youth Council established and want to make sure young people are heard. They will be working together over the coming months to do this.
We would love to hear from you if you want to get involved or have any ideas.
Your Choice, Your Voice
Please contact Amy Lunt, Youth Involvement Worker
