Town’s Youth Commission back in business, aiming to hear from kids

With the recent addition of three new members and its first-ever “youth speak out” scheduled for Friday afternoon at the library, the Canton Youth Commission is now officially back in business following years of inactivity.

The mere fact that they are able to host this “speak out” – which is open to all Canton middle school students and will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. tomorrow in the library’s old meeting room – is an indication of how far the group has come in such a short time.

In fact, as recently as a month ago, the commission could not even hold formal meetings because its membership had dwindled to a single appointee in Jeremy Comeau. But rather than abandon the cause altogether, Comeau decided to encourage others to seek appointment, and in a matter of weeks – with the help of online tools such as email and facebook – he had found not only prospective members, but also young people who were interested in getting involved.

“So far, so good,” said Comeau of the fledgling group’s recruiting efforts. “We’ve had a lot of interest in a short time; a lot of people have been asking me what it’s all about.”

According to Chapter 40 of the Massachusetts General Laws, municipalities may establish a youth commission “for the purpose of carrying out programs … to meet the opportunities, challenges and problems of [local] youth.” However, in order to operate, the commission must have between three and 21 members who are appointed by the Board of Selectmen.

Currently, Canton’s youth commission has four appointed members: Comeau, Renee Hanscom, who also coaches a Galvin Middle School Community Problem Solvers team, Brenda Lee Boris, and Todd Weaver. The commission will formally organize and vote on offices at its upcoming meeting – scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 7, at the Williams Estate – although Comeau made it clear that residents can still join by sending a letter of interest to the Board of Selectmen.

Although membership is limited to residents who are 18 and older, Comeau said the group is hoping to create an advisory council, made up of “youth ambassadors” who would act as liaisons between the commission and the larger youth community. Comeau, who was 19 when he was first elected to the Planning Board, would also like to see recent high school or college graduates get involved and “put some time into bettering the town.”

“We have some great community members who can get involved in this,” he said. “I’m hoping some parents could also join or just show up at some of the meetings. The more people we have participating, the better.”

While still in its infancy, the new-look commission is already buzzing with ideas – there has even been some talk of creating a youth center – and Friday’s “speak out” promises to generate several more. Specifically, the speak out will give kids the chance to air their concerns in an open forum and allow them to provide suggestions as to what the commission could potentially do for them.

The speak out will be facilitated by School Resource Officer Chip Yeaton, but Comeau stressed that it is primarily a kids-only event.

“The goal is to gather information from the youth of the community,” he explained. “It’s almost like a focus group, if you will.”

He also wanted to extend the invitation to all Canton sixth, seventh and eighth graders – not just the ones who attend the Galvin Middle School – because he believes the issues they are trying to confront go beyond the Canton Public Schools.

“This is not necessarily a school system problem; it’s a community-wide problem,” he said. “Whether they go to a Canton school or not, the school system can only do so much, and they have done a very good job at it.”

Comeau said the commission currently does not have a budget, but will happily accept donations or gifts, which are permitted by state law.

“These are hard economic times right now,” he said, “and if we can work within the means of nothing then we should do that.”

For now, Comeau is happy just to have the commission up and running again, and he is looking forward to working with other community members to hopefully accomplish a lot of good on behalf of the youth of this town.

Besides, he joked, “It was getting kind of lonely being the only member on the town’s youth commission.”

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Posted by Jay Turner on Dec 2 2010. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.