Sundre’s council recently discussed ways to better connect members of the community — especially youth — with options on local events and activities.
“The teenagers in town, I know we’ve all heard the story,” said Coun. Cheri Funke during the July 30 meeting.
“There’s nothing for them to do and it’s starting to get very apparent that they have taken to other extracurricular activities that I would prefer my child not to be doing.”
Although Funke acknowledged that organizing youth activities is not part of the municipality’s mandate, the councillor wondered whether more could be done to reach out to organizations such as ministerial groups and Greenwood Neighbourhood Place by inviting them to attend a council meeting as a delegation to highlight their programs.
“That could be a way to get the message out to parents and teenagers of what is available in the community,” she said.
“I just want to invite the groups in so that we can get the information out, because it’s still not getting out there.”
Coun. Todd Dalke mentioned that not all families necessarily fit the same mould.
“The ministerial groups are excellent and my kids enjoyed them, but there’s a large group that don’t,” said Dalke, adding that regardless of what such organizations host, some families simply will not participate.
That is in part why those groups would benefit from an open public platform to inform the community about what they offer, said Funke, raising as an example the McDougal Chapel Youth Group.
“Some people don’t realize it’s there,” she said.
“Some people think it is churchy — I want them to be able to put it out there that they don’t preach to the children. It’s an open, safe place for kids.”
Coun. Richard Warnock pointed out that council meetings tend to be scantly attended by members of the public and that any delegation would thus have a very limited audience.
Perhaps another avenue could be pursued, Warnock said, suggesting an approach such as an open house as opposed to a council presentation.
Another option, offered Coun. Charlene Preston, might be to find a way to facilitate -- including on the municipality’s web and social media presence -- events and activities that local groups are planning, which would likely target the younger demographic.
Mayor Terry Leslie then shared some thoughts.
“I’m going to take exception to the idea that there might not be anything for kids to do in Sundre,” he said.
“I think that is not fair to the groups and organizations that are endeavouring to try to work with a whole host of opportunities for youth in the community.”
Above and beyond the numerous programs made available throughout the year at Sundre High School and River Valley School, there are many other recreational opportunities including sports such as dance and hockey, as well as other options like music and church groups, the mayor said, adding there are organizations that strive to fill the gaps.
“The gaps is where the issue is — folks that feel they don’t fit into what’s out there.”
He said council’s role as outlined by the Municipal Government Act is not to fill these gaps but rather to seek every possible option to support groups and volunteers who endeavour to offer recreational options. Council already does that through partnerships, he said, citing Greenwood Neighbourhood Place as an example.
“It needs to be clear that there are already in this community an awful lot of people doing an awful lot of really, really good work, and there are still gaps.”
He said council should not seek to pile more work onto the shoulders of municipal staff, but instead offer opportunities to groups seeking to fill recreational gaps by perhaps offering them, for example, a physical space or website access to promote their efforts.
“We have to be careful not to discount all of the work that is being done, and recognize clearly that the gaps that there are, we can’t fix — we need to appeal to those folks that are already doing that good work and ask them to come to us if there’s some things they can do to assist.”
Funke said her primary desire was to develop ways to support those who are already working to provide options in the community.
“Not everyone knows what they’re doing — I’m just looking for us to be more supportive of community groups.”
Dalke wondered about the possibility of the municipality’s new website — which is now under development — including a youth section that makes it easier for organizations to upload planned events from sport schedules to community activities.
“Some of the criteria that we are looking at is better navigation and adding community events and calendars,” said Chris Albert, finance manager, who worked with Jon Allan, economic development officer, on developing the web page’s request for proposals.
This approach would also allow verified external parties the ability to post on Sundre’s website to promote upcoming plans, said Albert.
“It will definitely be incorporated into the website.”
The mayor asked Funke whether she was satisfied with the discussion, which the councillor confirmed.
“The ideas that we’ve all put out there are great and it’ll take time,” she said, adding, “the website is going to really help.”
