What's Happening for Youth in Cranbrook

by Dana Osiowy

The past year has seen a huge uptake in the number of initiatives happening for youth in the Cranbrook area. There has been a coalition of youth services providers who are working together to increase the opportunities for young people in the Cranbrook area. This whole initiative began in 2012 with a meeting of the City of Cranbrook, United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters, & the Boys and Girls Club. This group put together two community meetings that laid out a vision for a future youth friendly Cranbrook. The group then began the process to apply for the 2012 Community Directed Youth Funds process through Columbia Basin Trust. The next meeting was a dotmocracy facilitated by Columbia Basin Trust that reiterated some of the initiatives brought forward in the previous meetings. It was decided that the community would apply for a facilitator for our youth community. The planning meetings highlighted  that there are lots of things for young people to do but they either do not know about them, can’t afford them or can’t get to them. One of the ways the coalition is planning on ameliorating this situation is by hiring a Youth Liaison who will coordinate the communications for the youth events in the community and work with the youth community to create 6 fun activities in partnership with other organizations.  The hiring process for The Cranbrook Project, has begun with a focus on a candidate who has the experience and affinity for working with youth.

A simultaneous process that is aimed at youth engagement is happening right now! Cranbrook has been selected as one of the pilot communities for the CBT Youth Engagement Strategy Funding. This project is about creating the framework for how the municipality, other non-profits and service clubs can get youth involved in a meaningful way. We are looking at implementing a process with a select number of groups or organizations who are ready to have youth meaningfully engaged in their operations, or who are ready to support meaningful youth engagement in their programs or services.  This project is being led by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cranbrook and their staff.  It is a great process to engage in while we are creating activities and opportunities for youth to participate in via The Cranbrook Project.