What is the Young Elected Officials Network?
It all started in 2012, when Lantzville Councillor Jenny Millbank realized that there were no youth-oriented sessions scheduled for the Union of BC Municipalities Convention in Victoria, BC. When Jenny asked for permission to include a youth reception on the agenda, she was turned down, but she organized the reception anyways, creating a networking event where dozens of young elected councillors, mayors, and allies showed up to make new friends and share ideas.
Fast forward to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities' (AVICC) 2013 Convention in Sooke - a group of young local government folks once again gathered informally, and started brainstorming about how to support each other, and other youth who might be interested in getting into municipal politics. The idea of the Young Elected Officials Network, or YEON, was born.
To make a long story short, YEON has been successful three years in a row in getting youth elected as Directors at Large for the AVICC, and organized a day long conference in January, 2014, to bring together young elected folks and young wannabe-elected folks to talk about issues like successful campaigning and effective communications. We have also held orientation events for newly elected young leaders at various events including LGLA's workshop in Parksville (January 2015) and at the AVICC convention (April 2015.)
As we are an independent, grassroots organization, our mandate and membership will surely evolve as we do. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information about upcoming YEON activities, or are interested in joining our mailing list and adding to our conversation.
Fast forward to the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities' (AVICC) 2013 Convention in Sooke - a group of young local government folks once again gathered informally, and started brainstorming about how to support each other, and other youth who might be interested in getting into municipal politics. The idea of the Young Elected Officials Network, or YEON, was born.
To make a long story short, YEON has been successful three years in a row in getting youth elected as Directors at Large for the AVICC, and organized a day long conference in January, 2014, to bring together young elected folks and young wannabe-elected folks to talk about issues like successful campaigning and effective communications. We have also held orientation events for newly elected young leaders at various events including LGLA's workshop in Parksville (January 2015) and at the AVICC convention (April 2015.)
As we are an independent, grassroots organization, our mandate and membership will surely evolve as we do. Please get in touch with us if you would like more information about upcoming YEON activities, or are interested in joining our mailing list and adding to our conversation.
What is our Mission?
In addition to encouraging more young people to get into politics, and mentoring those who do, we have selected a few topics that we would like to focus on:
- Creating more affordable housing and addressing homelessness
- Bringing awareness to the realities of climate change, and the need for action
- Encouraging shareholder activism, such as divestment of questionable investments like fossil fuel companies and weapons manufacturers
- Bringing better cultural competency to local governments, and nurturing working relationships with First Nations
- Working towards a living wage, to curb the effects of Gen Squeeze
