NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE COUNTY GREENBELT COALITION
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Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition and Simcoe County Environmental Youth Alliance have released the results of their youth community survey aimed at gaining insight into local youth’s priorities and concerns about the future of their communities.
The survey was timed to provide feedback to Simcoe County’s Municipal Comprehensive Review (MCR) process which will make decisions about growth planning for the next 30 years coinciding with Canada’s 2050 net zero target.
“Youth often do not get an equal say in decision-making or access to community organizations and the opportunities to make a difference that they offer; this survey was one small step in getting youth voices heard in a very important process”, says Kelly Gingrich, SCGC’s youth engagement lead.
Key findings show that youth in Simcoe County are overwhelmingly wanting to see change in how local governments plan, take climate action and protect our environment.
- 83% of youth felt that designing communities in ways that protect local forests, wetlands and animal habitats was important;
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82% said that having different kinds of affordable housing types was important;
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Almost 70% said that growing our communities to avoid sprawl and address climate change and social justice issues was important;
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Roughly half of respondents agreed that it was difficult to participate in local decision making.
“At this point in the climate crisis it is imperative that we not only take action to combat the most pressing aspects of the climate emergency, but also that local governments involve the voice of the youth and marginalized communities to plan sustainable futures,” says Emily Goodson, president of SCEYA.
A majority of the youth who participated also painted a picture of the communities they would like to live in: A majority of youth highly prioritized having different kinds of affordable housing available, as well as access to healthy food, essential services, greenspaces and public spaces within walking distance.
Says Gingrich: “We cannot move forward continuing to use remedial action while still worsening the overall emergency by engineering and planning our communities in a way that does not support a green future. It is therefore absolutely fundamental that the underrepresented voices of today, the youth and the marginalized, are amplified and brought forward by governing bodies in the future planning of our communities.”
“There is much more that needs to be done, but we hope that what we found from the survey can offer insights that can help community organizations and local governments step up and do better at making their work accessible to young people, who are frankly the biggest stakeholders in decisions about the future, especially in a climate emergency when everything we do determines the degree of climate impacts that youth will experience in their lifetimes.”
The county will be accepting feedback into its MCR process until Friday, Nov. 12. You can learn more and provide feedback through this link: https://www.simcoe.ca/mcr.
This survey is not intended to be an academic study, but is a community survey that was open to local youth to have their voice heard. SCGC and SCEYA thank all of the youth who took the time to complete the survey. The full report can be found at https://simcoecountygreenbelt.ca/youth-vision-of-simcoe-county-survey/
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