Getting the word out about Youth Connexion

Posted Feb 2, 2012 By John Curry

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Sarah Young

Sarah Young

EMC News - Getting the word out to youth about the program. That's what Sarah Young, the new director of the city of Ottawa's Youth Connexion program in Stittsville and Richmond, views as her main challenge right now.

And such a challenge is right up her alley as she is not only a student at the University of Ottawa in communications but also she has worked with the city for five years now in its dance programs and its summer camps. So she knows how to communicate with youth.

Sarah took over as director of the Youth Connexion program at the beginning of this year, replacing former director Lisa White who relocated to another Ontario community.

She is looking forward to her work with the Youth Connexion program because it will give her an opportunity to work more with older youth rather than the pre-schoolers and youngsters that she works with in her dance programs.

She views her job as director of the Youth Connexion program for Stittsville and Richmond as being a facilitator to help youth plan events for other youth in the community. Her role is to mentor the youth and ensure that events go well, particularly by getting the word out.

Already, she has worked with youth to develop a schedule of events, both at the Youth Connexion lounge and elsewhere, that will take place during the February-March-April time frame. These include a spa night, a fashion show and a coffee house.

Sarah sees the establishing of the new Stittsville Youth Association which is working with the Youth Connexion program as a good step forward for youth programming in Stittsville.

But she sees getting the word out about the youth programs that are being offered as still the biggest challenge.

"That's been the hard part, just getting the word out," she says, adding that youth telling youth about the events is the best form of publicity.

She herself would like to see the Youth Connexion program grow, with more youth attending the events. Increased participation would mean more events and perhaps one day the establishment of a permanent youth centre in Stittsville.

Sarah says that she is trying to get ideas from the youth themselves on what they would like as far as events and programs are concerned.

Sarah herself has been a dancer since the age of seven, including tap, jive and ballet. She teaches dance classes for the city of Ottawa in both Stittsville and Munster and feels that this combined with her part-time job as Youth Connexion director puts her in an ideal place personally.

"I just love dance myself," she says, adding that she loves teaching dance to youngsters and see them fall in love with the activity, just as she has done.

A resident of Richmond since moving from Barrhaven five years ago, she has another year to go before completing her Bachelor of Arts in communications at the University of Ottawa.