Young people find a voice

Mt Keira's Sarah Donarski was one of the young people involved in yesterday's Launch Your Voice Forum.

WOLLONGONG City Councillors and representatives of Wollongong's youth met last night to discuss real solutions to the problems facing local young people.

The meeting was the second of two held this year as a means of opening up conversation between Councillors and young people.

One of the organisers of the Launch Your Voice Forums, local teenager Sarah Donarski, said the issues raised in the first forum included the cost of transport for young people, a need for more education on community services available to young people and the lack of entertainment for youth in the area.

Ms Donarski said young people do not have a voice in the community in the way that older people do.

“It's obviously got something to do with the fact that we don't have the vote but what people don't understand is that if there is something that impacts young people it impacts a whole family because you've got parents and grandparents who care about these kids,” she said.

Ms Donarski said the young people involved in the forums didn't want to use them as a platform to complain, but want to work out real solutions to some of the problems facing young people with the help of the Councillors.

“If we were just wanting to complain about something then we wouldn't have wanted to hold a second one,” she said.

The Mt Keira resident said there is a massive generation gap between the youth of today and their elders, citing negative portrayal of youth in the media as a contributing factor to the gap.

“There are positive things that young people are doing but it just doesn't make headlines,” she said.

Wollongong's Lord Mayor Alex Darling said the forums are one way to show the importance of the voice of youth.

“Taking the time to listen to the concerns and ideas of young people will provide our Councillors with an understanding of the views of young people and also encourage the younger members of our community to come forth with their ideas for our city,” Cr Darling said.

“These forums represent one way for Council to demonstrate the value of the voice of young people.”