Members of the Medway Youth Council met for several meetings throughout the August Summer Holiday. These meetings were highly productive and we are delighted to share the highlights of them here. As part of MYC’s mission to reach out to our community we also had a meeting at Strood Youth Centre and look forward to working with the Youth Service to have more meetings outside of our usual office.
We began our work by changing cabinet titles and roles, Director has been replaced by Lead, and we also welcome two new positions ‘Digital Engagement Lead’ and Democracy and Participation Lead. These new positions reflect our ambition to reach out to Medway’s Young People through new technology platforms. MYC has a strong commitment to our democratisation and representation and this new position will be working to ensure that we meet our aim to be as democratic as possible.
The constitution was also revised by the cabinet and was decided that we would implement votes of no confidence against cabinet members. The cabinet is elected by the young people of Medway and therefore should be accountable to them. Christina Arena (Democracy & Engagement Lead) says ‘It's a great development in the democratisation of the Youth Council'.
We are also excited to announce that Medway Youth Council now has its own Discord Server which will be launching to the MYC community in September. Discord is a free and accessible platform which has great potential for MYC. The service provides chat rooms, file sharing, and easy communication. It is part of our strive to reach more young people across Medway. For example if a member cannot make it to a meeting, they will still be able to contribute to MYC from their own home or on the move!
Our joining procedure has been improved and a new joining page on our website shall be launched soon along with new downloadable info packs to make it even easier to get involved with MYC.
We are pleased to announce the MYC Community; this will be a new type of membership for young people who don’t wish to take an active role in MYC. The MYC Community will be engaged with us on Discord and social media, they will also help us to represent however won’t be as involved. This allows MYC to have an ever more reaching role in our community.
Make Your Mark 2018 has now launched and will be running until October 10th. Our MYPs have been working with the youth service, schools and other organisations which work with young people to ensure as many young people in Medway get the opportunity to express their voice.
Finally we have settled our 2018 Annual Conference. The title and date shall be announced soon. Young people will be invited from all across the Medway Towns to take part in our annual consultation and workshops.
Our next Full Council meeting will take place on September 14th and the Chair looks forward to welcoming back our full membership following a very busy summer.