Dear Future YEG: A digital tool for civic engagement made for youth, by youth

Through Apathy is Boring, a non-partisan civic engagement network, a group of young Edmontonians have helped create an online tool called Dear Future YEG to promote civic engagement and education among Edmontonian youth. 

U of A alum Anurika “Rika” Onyenso and Marilynn Burch-Harvey are members of cohort 13 of the Apathy is Boring RISE program. RISE is a 15-week program for youth, ages 18–30, to support community projects geared towards breaking down barriers within youth participation in civic and democratic processes. 

The program takes place in eight cities across Canada, including Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Along with a budget of $4,000, this program gives youth the tools and knowledge to bring their ideas to life to initiate positive change within their communities. 

Cohort 13 “started off by doing deep canvassing,” Onyenso said. They began by engaging in conversations with up to 100 youth in Edmonton to identify the barriers that prevent youth from civic engagement.

Cohort 13’s diverse lived experiences helped the team connect with various youth in unique communities. This provided them with a broad understanding of the issue. 

Distrust in leadership is a barrier to youth civic engagement, according to Dear Future YEG

“Many people were doubtful of the skills that they needed to get involved,” Onyenso said.

Through canvassing, they also found that some youth have distrust in leadership which deters them from involvement in civic activities.

Onyenso shared that as an immigrant, she noticed that people who had immigration status didn’t “necessarily feel like the structures here are made for them or catered towards them.” 

The team also identified that new-comers felt there were resources that they didn’t qualify for.

This led to the birth of an idea: Dear Future YEG, an online tool with various pathways available for people to engage in their community. 

Dear Future YEG is an online platform with over 200 resources. The resources span seven categories including mental health supports, community initiatives, youth opportunities and development. It’s all about “meeting youth where they’re at,” Burch-Harvey said.

“We just really wanted to make sure that it was able to accommodate the needs of all youth in Edmonton,” Onyenso says

“With all of our intersectionalities kind of coming together, I think we were able to almost map out these seven main pillars of Dear Future YEG to hopefully engage or support the engagement of youth around the city,” Burch-Harvey said.

The resources range from fellowship opportunities, jobs, volunteering opportunities, and scholarships to podcasts, news articles, blogs, and newsletters. 

“We just really wanted to make sure that it was able to accommodate the needs of all youth in Edmonton,” Onyenso says. 

Onyenso and Burch-Harvey shared their biggest hopes for the future of Dear Future YEG. 

For Burch-Harvey, one of the biggest hopes is representation and inclusion. “I think a hope for me is just having our voices amplified and heard, particularly the voices of marginalized youth,” Burch-Harvey said. “I think it’s so important that we create inclusive spaces and that we invite them into conversations and to sit around tables.”

Onyenso hopes the project will spark small but meaningful actions among youth. “I want people to be inspired to just take that first step, no matter how small, whether it’s a scholarship you’re going for, volunteering —  I just want people to feel inspired to make the world a better place and to strive to be global citizens.”

The pair also reflected on the challenges that they faced at the beginning of their project. Although their main problem was streamlining their ideas into one, there was a consensus on the broader issue they hoped to tackle.

“We all kind of had the same idea, like the same concerns or same topic that we wanted to narrow down to, and it was this idea of access to information, access to opportunities, and I think that really just does speak to the way that our intersectionalities kind of were able to weave together to create this picture,” Burch-Harvey said.

Burch-Harvey and Onyenso urge young people who want to create change to put themselves out there

“That’s the only way you can make a difference. And it’s truly going to be uncomfortable sometimes, but you need to put yourself out there in order for those spaces to become comfortable,” Onyenso said.

Burch-Harvey emphasized the importance of trying again and realizing that you’re not running out of time. 

“There’s always time for things that we’re passionate about and that matter to us and so it’s okay to take time out of other things to put forward to our community and building these systems and initiatives,” she said.