Tip 10 of 25
from Elaine Cogan
What do kids know about planning? Not much, if you use jargon such as zoning, setbacks and conditional use. What can they contribute to planning in your community? Plenty! But only if you give them opportunities to express themselves in their own language and in their own way. Terminology familiar to professional and lay planners is sure to turn them off. But talk about putting a large retail store across from their favorite park, whether to build a skateboard facility near the high school or put speed bumps downtown, and you will get their attention.
With a little care, you also can find rewarding ways to involve young people in the big picture --envisioning the future.
Have a contest, but keep it simple and uncomplicated. Ask children of all ages, “what do you want our community to be like when you grow up?” Encourage poems, essays, plays and stories, models and posters, and you will be surprised and delighted at their imaginative and creative responses.
Seek media, business, and other sponsors. Local newspapers and television stations generally cooperate in highlighting good news about young people, and businesses like to have their names linked with such good works. Two high school visionaries in a project I managed recently wrote a rap song about the future and received front page coverage in the local press. They also were invited to sing at a luncheon of a civic club and on a local radio station. Their peers loved it, though most adults had difficulty understanding the words.
Involve the principals and the teachers in all the schools ... public and private, as well as those involved in home schooling. Make the planning staff and commission members available to speak in classrooms, taking care to put the planning issues you are dealing with in terms of real situations young people face. Inspire the youth and you will inspire their parents.
Make it easy to participate. Have no rules except age limits. Supply sufficient application forms to all schools and community centers and make them available on the Internet.
Encourage all to participate. The contributions of grade schoolers will necessarily be less sophisticated than those of middle and high schoolers, but the depth of the ideas of all ages will surprise you. Make special efforts to involve young people in minority communities.
Give all participants recognition. Buttons or caps are as welcome as expensive prizes and can be paid for by business sponsors. The best recognition is to display the results prominently where people congregate. The local library, city hall, shopping mall ... each community has its own center of activity. Announce they will be shown at your next community meeting and you will attract a cadre of parents and grandparents who go wherever their children’s creations are posted.
Most importantly, after the young people have had their say, make sure their comments are considered when the planning decisions are made. Given opportunities to express themselves in their own special ways, young people’s wisdom and insights not only can add to the quality and fabric of your community but be a training lesson for future leaders.
Note from Planning Commissioners Journal Editor Wayne Senville: we're pleased to be posting over the next half-year, on a weekly basis every Wednesday, PCJ columnist Elaine Cogan's 25 tips for planning commissioners from her excellent Now That You're on Board Publication.
We hope this will provide a convenient opportunity for planning commissioners and other "citizen planners" to benefit from Cogan's years' of experience in working with communities. The complete attractively-designed, spiral-bound, Now That You're on Board publication is also available for purchase and delivery by mail.
Recent Comments