The City's youth advisory council, Subi Voice of Youth (SVY) is a group of motivated people aged 12-25 who are interested in issues facing young people in the local and broader community. SVY members develop knowledge and skills in leadership, communication, public speaking, team work and civic affairs. This is their 2021 in review in their own words...
As the world entered 2021, many of us here in the Subi Voice of Youth were eager to see how the ‘new normal’ would settle into our lives. We certainly had our fair share of Zoom calls and socially distanced meetings and were settling back into the routine of planning for the big year ahead.
We started the year with what would prove to be our one and only fully online meeting before getting stuck straight into ideas for much-anticipated events.
In March, the SVY collaborated with the Subiaco Library’s regular author talks series to host award-winning Young Adult author A. J. Betts in ‘SVY in conversation with A.J Betts’. Attendees were given insights into A. J.’s writing methods, the publication process, and how it feels to see your novel turned into a television series.
During Homelessness Week, the SVY participated in the FoodBank WA Mega Meal Challenge which provided an engaging opportunity for young people to deliver positive outcomes for vulnerable members in the WA community. Two of our SVY members volunteered at Foodbank WA’s Community Kitchen preparing, cooking, packaging, and labelling meals to be distributed across WA.
The SVY was excited to partner with the Youth Affairs Council of WA to organise and host a Young Changemaker Workshop that would hopefully empower young people to take steps to become changemakers and advocates in our local community. Attendees tackled ‘wicked problems’ and created solutions to some of the challenges young people face in the City of Subiaco. We also had the opportunity to hear from a panel of young leaders on how they were able to create change in their community and the challenges they faced along the way.
In between the SVY’s events, we were excited to once again MC and present the SVY Award at the Shaun Tan Award for Young Artists and the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers. We were extremely grateful to be joined by Tim Winton himself for a fantastic night of awards for young writers across WA.
To close off the year, we gathered for our annual end of year celebration where we enjoyed dinner at Woodpeckers before partaking in some amateur pottery production at ‘The Painted Teapot’. Some great pieces were produced in addition to it being a great learning experience for a second attempt at a later date, and it was a wonderful close to the great year that was.
2021 brought about many exciting opportunities for the SVY to collaborate in delivering new events in our community for young people. We are very much looking forward to what 2022 has in store for us!
Learn more about SYV