Editor:
Re: “School board wants students on all-adult youth committee,” Jan. 24.
Accuracy matters when speaking about a 23-year-old committee that has been responsible for many important contributions to improve the lives of youth in our community. Statements made during the Jan. 8 School District No. 46 (SD46) board meeting regarding the Youth Action and Awareness Committee (YAAC) were inaccurate in some respects.
The committee was never run by youth nor did it ever have an all-youth membership. Youth were often invited to attend, with mixed success, and their input by other means was brought to the table when available. There are currently efforts underway to have representation from an Alternate School student and a shíshálh Nation youth worker.
The committee, a stand-alone body, comprises people from agencies and programs across the Sunshine Coast who work with and on behalf of youth. It now meets bi-monthly during the school year, supported for the past 16 years by Sechelt Community School.
The value of this committee stems from the sharing of information and concerns for assistance in relation to youth. Those discussions have resulted in initiatives undertaken by YAAC.
In 2004, research for the Youth Drug and Alcohol Community Response Strategy involved over 100 youths and resulted in the establishment of youth addictions mental health support along with community and parent education initiatives. Local government funding was also procured for a Youth Outreach Worker team which, 15 years later, continues to provide prevention and support services across the Coast.
Other issues addressed over the years included suicide awareness and prevention, adolescent sexual health and pregnancy, sexual trafficking, youth homelessness and shelter provision and recreational activities.
This committee was instrumental in supporting Sechelt Community School in securing space and funding for the Sechelt Youth Centre, which opened in 2012 at the SD46 Sechelt Learning Centre. This had been a concerted effort since the Gibsons community centre, opened in 2008, included a dedicated youth space but the Sechelt Aquatic Centre did not.
All the work done has improved the foundations in our community that help launch our young people into the next stage of their lives.
Heather Gordon, former Sechelt Community Schools Co-ordinator, Roberts Creek
