The enthusiasm was high at our last discussion meet-up on May 14 at Future Bistro and we generated a lot of great ideas!
We spent the meeting talking about how we want to focus on youth civic engagement and how we can use food as an entry point for that conversation.
Following up on conversations from our last meeting, and our ongoing discussions with the TFPC-led working group on the municipal election, we confirmed that attending existing election-focused events and asking questions about food would be a great way to ease into civic engagement. We can go in pairs and in groups to get familiar with the setting and so that those of us who would rather not speak can observe. Then we can use what happens at the meetings and the answers to our questions as fuel for our social media to keep engaging with people about the election.
We also want to make some snappy, shareable bits about the election to get people interested in what we’re doing and in the election generally.
At the meeting, we decided that we want to think about youth engagement across the GTA, reaching youth that live in different neighbourhoods. And that’s how we got started on another great idea that we can roll out over the summer: Picnics! We want to have a few different picnics around the city that are opportunities for youth to gather, talk about the election, and eat some food! Who knows, maybe the local candidates will even join us
Our first picnic will happen sometime in June. Soon! So stay tuned to our blog, Facebook, and Twitter for info! We are planning to host a couple of picnics throughout the city and we will also be making our picnic plans available publically, so that people can host their own picnics, if they would like. (Did I just invent a new tongue-twister?)
To get these picnics off the ground, a Facebook-based working group has been established. If you would like to join the working group, or if you would like any more information about this project, please email Kaylen at kfredrickson@tyfpc.ca.