Engaging Youth

Session 2- why should i stay in windsor after i graduate?

While the discussion around this question was important and has been well-documented below, perhaps the most interesting thing that came out of the discussion was this list of 10 things that can be done immediately to help to answer the question.

1) Space(s)-rent free for 3 months for artist studio/community group
2) invest in idea of live/work space for artists
3) organisations in the city actively engaging students
4) critical mass of people come together for events and discussion
5) focus on local: municipal leaders focus on local
6) community council give youth power to make change
7) better development chamber of commerce-local mandate E.D.C./C.V.B.
8) change of attitudes from locals: become better at promoting ourselves, put good news on the front page, AM800 good news
9) identify progressive media, rationalise and support it, & website
10) greater support for community, bigger turnout from the city, supporting culture across the city

intro- justin is leading the session, he is a grad student at the university, runs brokencitylab.org they have done things like working with frst year students, teaching them how to plant wild flowers, had forums,  screen movies on main campus etc. it is based around ppl who have lived here in windsor there entire lives. Why is he saying here? hasn't had a compelling answer to the question. Goal is not to be a complaining session about Windsor negative,s let's create a list of  things to do!!

What needs to happen to make this a living, working ec city.
CEO's For Cities report, "The Young and the Restless". ppl graduate between the ages of 24-35, they have yet to put down roots, if they enjoyed their experience at university, they are more likely to stay in the city. they are important people to have stay in the city because they are creative, educated, etc. ppl. what can we do to keep them here. When we are losing ppl. here in windsor so quickly, what can we do to make u of w grads want to stay here.

A student from missisagua is here , trying to find a reason to stay here after he graduates. 5 year planning. Business st.
Why aren't we colaborating with our skills.. as a teacher, supplying, e need other  of sorts of jobs created based on the skills that we are learning at the university. while they might not be the traditional jobs that we expect, ie teacher's college, classroom teacher, or business becoming an accountant, we have a well educated group of people whose skills we need to capitalize on.


1000 nightss of fun: ways to attract students to stay. young people are choosing the city and then looking at the job market.

    •    the need to network,  reveals a great wealth of what we have access to and where we can go. use the wiki for physical things like computer, radio show, newspapers to help further our causes.
    •    The u of w has lots of opportunities to network, but what happens at the end? Are we seeing action? The city needs to take action as well. City could stand to benefit from the students and what the can offer.
    •    Idea  brought up that what is teh balance between what the government needs to do and what we need to do for ourselves because what level can we rely on the government.
    •    If we do not see the opportunities we want, we can also make our own opportunities. if you want to stay in this city, you find a way to make it happen. it should be the norm, not the exception. There  should be a greater force that makes us want to stay in Windsor, beyond economics, so that it is an easy choice to stay. If the quality of life is good, it is easy to stay.
    •    People know where they need to go for jobs that they can't find in Windsor, but what makes them want to stay?
    •    individual responsibility- network based on responsibility that allows us to produce results, and we will see a greater consciousness and work effort, from which we can develop a political will so that the lcal government will see the changes that the community wants.
    •    like freecycle.org where people exchange goods for free within their community. It is a matter of using what we have available, but it needs to go beyond material goods to services etc.
    •    RETIRES- we should be looking at our growing number of retirees and what they have to offer. They have great skills, the area is a great place to retire.
    •    Why are we talking about retirement communities when teh question at hand is why should i stay?? why should we leave and go work in other communities for 30 years and then be encouraged to return? it illustratest that we are missing a key part of the youth. how do we engage them?? what can we do to make them stay.
    •    Drawing on last session, using the wikki to promote what are the reccomendations from reports that people can do in the community, making them feel like part of the greater community and tat we can do something.
    •    the people that we want to stay in the city, ie artists, city council then tells people that there funding is cut. But still, there are not a lot of people who are coming out to the events that are there. Arts and culture, do we need to make it more mainstream.
    •    is the city coming from a perspecive of a work value.  where our generation values that.
    •    There is a lot of discussion on the value of arts, being visible in our city!
    •    

A "Do" List

    •    What we want, concrete things we could do..
    •    Spaces that are rent free for 3 months of the summer for my studio and my communit group- so that i could run workshops, and then he could run programs that make money so he could sustain for the other 9 months of the year.
    •    someone to invest in the idea that if we have a building to have artists that will bring entrepreneurs and artists into our communities, so that people will see the value and how it can benefit our community.
    •    Organizations engage sudents that will get students at teh university invovled in the community that will want to make them stay here.
    •    See te critical mass of people come together so we can wokr towards change
    •    a focus towards local, how : municipal leaders, find local solutions. first thing that they should focus on? Support for local, small businesses.
    •    lets form a generation x,youth/community council so that there is dual power, so that there can be input from other people. let them be paid, chambers, have real power, so that they represent the arts, entrepreneurs, etc.
    •    a chamber of commerce that does a better job of advertising our local talents, skills etc. Local developments, CVB, EDC
    •    We need to change how we as past and present windsorites address windsor, and how we talk about it. let's celebrate what we have. Get media promoting, have people that have left the city want to come back for events and ideally eventuall want to move back with their famiiies
    •    Greater support for community
    •    Support from the city, community, we need to see a greater turnout of people in the city. it is discouraging to put on these big events and not have people come. The arts council etc. we need to support each other if we want to be supported ourselves. While we don't have lots of money, showing up makes a big impact.  you need to show the ongoing support.
    •    Focusing of energies, let's combine out powers and skills instead of competing against each other to make it better.
 

raw notes from flipcharts:

Session 2 c

Why should I stay here when I graduate? (Justin)
brokencitylab.org

CEO's for cities: Young and restless-1000 nights of fun
Community
Live
Work-off shoot jobs
Play

Community: Students and retirees
-1000 nights of fun
-10 nights of fun

Network: reosurces: physical
-radio
-newspaper
-outside of university
-partnership with city and students
-local promotion
-entrepreneurs
-individual contacts and responsibilities
http://www.torontoartscape.on.ca/
Communication

*freecycle.org
Critical Mass

what is the communication gap between youth and retirees?  and everything in between
-difference of values