Melville's first youth council sparks change in the city

The City of Melville’s first youth council are on the right track for embarking change in their home community.

"I believe we are making a very big difference in the community,” shared Daiton Sheffield, councillor for Melville Youth Council.

“I believe we are educating our fellow youth on what exactly municipal government does and things they can do to join, for example through the Melville Youth Council."

The initiative aims to bridge the gap between the city and youth in the community through local projects that focus on recreation and youth, economic development, and technology.

"I really enjoy helping our community. I do a lot for our community through our school already,” said Abby Schicker, referring to why she joined. “It just seemed like a great opportunity to let other youth voices be heard and see what changes they wanted to see in our community.”

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

The group is made up of five students in Grade 11 and 12 who serve as different roles in municipal government – mayor, deputy mayor, councillors, and clerk – and are accompanied by the city’s administration and some members of city council during their monthly meetings.

“They've been trying to get youth out there so trying to provide more opportunities within the community for our youth to participate in,” explained City Manager Joleen Tuchscherer.

“One of the big projects coming up is to bring back the oasis within our community. That’s a hangout really for our youth to be able to have a safe place to be able to come, hang out, try different things and to interact with each other.”

Since starting almost a year ago, the youth council has achieved various projects including a holiday shop that encourages residents to buy local merchandise, a “Skate It Forward” initiative, and a mural project – where they received the Painted Hand Community Development Grant of $17,698.

“We’re going to work with one of the classes at [Melville Comprehensive School] and the other elementary schools as well, to create five murals for Melville to bring more life to the city,” voiced the mayor of Melville’s Youth Council, Marion Ajiboye.

“One of them is going to be a Melville letter block and every part of the community is going to have a section to paint on and then the classes at the schools are going to finish them up.

“We’re really grateful to have received the grant, we’re going to put that to great use and bring our community together.”

The idea for getting the youth initiative from the ground up came from a city council meeting.

“My day job is a high school teacher and I’ve been on council for the past eight years. When we hired our city manager she was eager to start this youth council and it just made sense that I would be the liaison through the council and through the school,” explained councillor Andrew Rondeau.

Rondeau shared some of the benefits he has seen from the students who are part of Melville’s Youth Council, and the impact they have had on the community.

“It’s been a lot of fun, on a personal level, to see the kids that I interact with on a daily basis that when you put them in a different environment and see what these youth are capable of,” he expressed.

“We have so many opportunities for kids to show what they can do athletically, but to show what they can do with their brains is really a fun thing. Also seeing how creative they are and how eager they are to make a difference, and ideas that we as councillors may not have thought of - because they are coming in with a different perspective - has been really rewarding to see as well."

With the potential of the group expanding in the new year, the deputy mayor of the youth council said she looks forward to projects to come.

“I think it’s important that youth have voices in making decision[s] for the city because we have a different view on things, a more youthful minded point of view,” shared Olivia Mikolas.

“We look at recreation and things to do within the city, instead of maybe more on taxes. We look at things for what we want to see more in our own community and what would interest us.”