This project proposes to research and report to the City of Ottawa on the recommended strategies to engage young people 16-24 years in municipal activities.
Students Commission (SC) is recognized
by Health Canada as a Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement. SC defines
youth engagement as the meaningful participation and sustained involvement of a
young person in an activity, with a focus outside of him or herself.
Ottawa
2020
The strategic plan sets out to engage citizens, urban experts, community and business stakeholders in creating a vision of the city’s future.
·
Guiding
principle: “A Caring and Inclusive City”
·
Objective:
supports citizen engagement whereby everyone has the opportunity to fully
participate in the life of the community.
·
Guiding
principle: “An Innovative City”
·
Objective:
afford citizens…access to quality training… and create opportunities to
participate in the community.
Youth
Cabinet
·
Submitted
a framework in 2001 to the City of Ottawa, entitled Vision 2012.
·
The
City of Ottawa dissolved the Youth Cabinet in 2003.
This research proposes to review the participatory process used in the Youth Cabinet, identify the lessons learned and bring forward recommendations to the Health and Social Services Committee and City of Ottawa as it researches the role of youth engagement in the future.
Ottawa
2020’s Human Services Plan
·
Strategic
Direction 4: ascribes to a focus of preventing the onset of risk behaviours.
·
Prevention
is described as the most cost-effective and rewarding approach to service.
·
Prevention
activities posit a positive impact on the good of a community and can have
long-term effects by changing current behaviours for the benefit of generations to come.
Students Commission: Centre of Excellence for Youth
Engagement states the health outcomes of youth engagement as:
·
healthy connections to others, reduced risk behaviours and
increased positive activities.
·
community gains through the energy, ideas, processes, and
knowledge that youth bring to organizations, activities, and their
relationships with adults.”[1]
·
lower
rates of youth crime.
·
significantly
better long-term adjustment than youth who were not given the opportunity to
participate in community service.[2]
·
reduced risk behaviors among engaged youth, such as decreased
alcohol use, decreased marijuana and hard drug use, lower rates of school
failure and drop-out, lower rates of early sexual activity and unplanned
pregnancy, and lower rates of depression.
·
benefits youth who are “at risk” more than youth who are less
vulnerable.[3]
The health outcomes of youth engagement are
compatible with Ottawa 2020’s Policy Statement on Prevention which claims that
“prevention programs create healthier, safer citizens and communities and
reduces social costs.”
Conditions required for effective youth engagement:
·
Environments
provide a match between the adolescent’s increasing need for autonomy.
·
Opportunities
to demonstrate initiative, leadership and self-determination, within a
supportive social context.
Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) identified the
criteria community members need to demonstrate effective engagement.
·
Recognize
the strength, abilities, talent and energy of young people
·
Provide
youth with opportunities to participate in the decisions that affect them
and
their communities.
·
Educate
adults, (parents, teachers, those who work with youth) about the value of
youth, the need to involve
them and the best way of working more effectively with
them. [4]
·
Involve
youth at all three levels of a community – local, interagency and political.
·
Provide
support, mentoring and guidance as opposed to the supervision and control.
D-Code: Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)
identified key success factors for attracting, informing, retaining, and
engaging youth:
·
Participation
is personal and has a transformative effect.
·
Participation
is action-oriented and leads to tangible outcomes.
·
Participation
is progressive and multi-layered.
·
Allocation
of resources as part of a deliberate/envisioned strategy to engage young
people.
It is proposed that the Health and Social Services
Committee work in collaboration with Students Commission: Centre of Excellence
for Youth Engagement, Health Canada and the University of Ottawa to research
into the issue of youth engagement.
The Goal of this research is to:
Objective 1:
Assess the effectiveness of the Youth Cabinet as a form of youth
engagement by the City of Ottawa.
Outcome: Inform
the City of Ottawa’s councilors, staff, HSSC of the strengths and weaknesses of
the Youth Cabinet in keeping with Ottawa 2020’s Human Service Plan to monitor,
measure and evaluate performance.
Activities
·
Identify
examples of youth participation in municipal activities by city ward.
·
List
an on-line survey asking youth about their experiences and community needs in
their ward and the City.
·
Conduct
key informant interviews with members of the Youth Cabinet, City of Ottawa
councilors and staff on their experiences of youth engagement and factors
contributing to its dissolution.
Objective 2: Develop recommendations for effective
youth engagement in the City of Ottawa.
Outcome: Increase
awareness for the City of Ottawa’s councilors, staff, community partners of
effective strategies for youth engagement in keeping with Ottawa 2020’s Human
Services Plan.
Activities
·
Review
and summarize research of youth participation in municipalities across Canada.
·
Conduct
key informant interviews with community members: police services; business
sector; health and youth services; on the opportunities and challenges of youth
engagement.
·
Host
a focus group with young people in each ward to identify experiences of youth
engagement and emerging interests.
·
Write
a summary report on effective strategies for youth engagement in the City of
Ottawa.
Objective 3: Develop a communication strategy with
the city councilors, community partners, youth
and media on the recommended strategies to engage young people 16-24 years in
municipal activities.
Outcome: Increase
awareness with the City of Ottawa Councilors and staff on recommended
strategies to engage youth’s participation in municipal activities as suggested
in Ottawa 2020’s Human Service Plan: Communication Strategy.
Activities
·
Present
a summary of the findings at the Health and Social Services Committee, Health,
Recreation and Social Services Committee and with staff at the City of Ottawa.
·
Present
a summary of the findings at the annual conference of the Students Commission,
Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement of Health Canada.
·
Post
the materials on the City of Ottawa’s and community partners’ website.
·
Initiate
a plan of action process for youth engagement.
Objective 4:
Provide skills training for youth through research, development and
presentation of findings
Outcome: Increase youth’s knowledge in research,
development and communication through training and mentorship
Activities
·
Engage
youth from the Students Commission and University of Ottawa in the research,
development and presentation of findings.
·
Contribute to a national body of knowledge about municipal youth
engagement through the Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement and showcase
findings at a national level.
·
Apply youth engagement as an underlying process throughout the
research (by engaging youth through every step of research, planning, and
implementation).
·
Identify
a youth advocate among the committee members of the Health and Social Services
Committee.
·
Collaborate
with the University of Ottawa in the coordination of the research.
·
Collaborate
with the Students Commission in the coordination of the research.
Expenses
The costs associated with this proposal are
identified as cash disbursements and Contribution In-Kind.
Cash
Disbursements
|
|
Rate |
|
Total |
|
Consultation with youth (key informant interviews, online survey) |
$10.00/hour x 25 youth |
$ 250 |
|
|
Focus Group Participants |
$ 25 x 10 youth x 21 wards |
5,250 |
|
|
Incidentals for participants of interviews (e.g. bus tickets,
childcare) |
$7.50 x 10 youth 21
wards for transportation $5.00 x 3 hrs x 3 youth for childcare (10% of 210 youth are young parents) |
152 315 |
|
|
Total Cash Disbursements |
|
|
$5,867 |
This proposal is requesting that each councilor
provide an honorarium, cover transportation fees and child care costs to
remunerate youth for key informant interviews and encourage their participation
in focus groups held in their ward. With a nominal investment of $280 per ward,
the total of cash disbursements account for 12% of the project proposal. The
return on the investment is equivalent to $43,070 in research.
Contribution In-Kind
|
|
Rate |
|
Total |
|
SC Staff |
$7.45 x 37.5 hrs/wk for 10 weeks |
$ 2,800 |
|
|
SC supervision, training, benefits, support |
|
1,126 |
|
|
SC office equipment |
|
250 |
|
|
Research: Model of Youth Engagement Summary Report |
|
32,474 |
|
|
UO Student (UOS) |
$10 x 3hrs/wk for 8 months |
1,920 |
|
|
UO Supervision |
15% of UOS |
300 |
|
|
Focus Group Sites |
21 x 100 |
2,100 |
|
|
Food & Beverage |
21 x 100 |
2,100 |
|
|
Total Contribution In-
Kind |
|
|
$43,070 |
|
Total Project Proposal |
|
|
$48,937 |
The
contribution-in kind accounts for 88% of the costs associated with this
research. Through Human Resources Development Canada the Students Commission is
able to hire a full time staff person for 10 weeks to start-up the research.
This will be supplemented by the University of Ottawa’s Community Learning
Service Program which will assign students to continue the research under the
supervision of the University of Ottawa and the coordination of the HSSC of
Ottawa. Community Members will be approached to contribute space to host the
focus groups and provide food and beverages for the sessions.
[1] Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, thesis statement, www.engagementcentre.ca
[2] Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement. 2003. Youth Engagement and Health Outcomes: Is There A Link. Health Canada
[3] Ibid p21
[4] Caputo, Dr. Tullio.2000.
Hearing the Voice of Youth: A Review of Research and Consultation Documents
Final Report: Dr. Tullio Caputo, Carleton University; Public Health Agency of
Canada