Strategies to attract and engage youth and youth leaders

Answer:

 

Summary

  • Include civics in the K-12 curriculum
  • Directly Support youth involvement
  • Change the voting environment  — lower the voting age to 16
  • Engage through existing youth friendly media and events
  • Make politics more mainstream for youth
  • Develop youth focused policy

 

Education:

  • Include civics in the K-12 curriculum
  • Educate students so they know how their votes works
  • Volunteers hours high school students
  • Update obsolete curriculum and engage youth in curriculum development

Directly Support youth involvement:

  • Create or facilitate a youth shadow committee that works with the party, MLAs and candidates to champion youth/progressive policy
  • Financial support such as bursaries, grants, contests
  • Sponsor a youth summit
  • Develop a youth mentorship program

Change the voting environment:

  • Lower the voting age to 16
  • Make voting day a party
  • Making voting fun
  • Support youth candidates
  • Make voting more accessible for youth
  • Online voting

Engage through existing youth friendly media and events:

  • Support youth led climate strikes
  • Online
    • Work with existing young influencers
    • Documentary audiences ex. Chasing Ice
    • Instagram for content and friends
    • Facebook for events and contact list
  • Piggyback on existing events
  • Friends groups
  • Outdoor activities
  • Faith groups concerned with climate change
  • Bike rides
  • Flash mobs

Make politics more mainstream for youth:

  • More youth role models
  • Politics in daily life, find politics in everything
  • Encourage youth groups, promote events with sign up for group activities
  • Coach youth to overcome the fear of speaking out
  • Promote leading together and breakdown traditional establishment divisions
  • Walk the talk and gain credibility with youth

Develop youth focused policy:

  • Having youth involved in development and incorporate youth values as an objective
  • Have a youth policy team
  • The current BC Greens policy document does not mention youth specifically. Add policy areas of specific interest to youth such as:
    • Education/ education choices (types of education/trades)
    • Affordability accessibility
    • Technology/AI/ Automation
    • Privacy
    • Impact of climate change on future generations
  • Shadow caucus for youth
  • Involve youth in curriculum development
  • Courses on politics and social issues in schools
  • Improve youth access to policy discussions through use of apps for example
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