When Amy Dribnenky called Ian Hill earlier this year, she asked him if he wanted to come to town for a simple youth rally.
"Why stop there?" was his reply. "Let's talk to the business leaders. Let's talk to the community groups. Let's talk to council."
Dribnenky's rally soon grew into an all-day event meant to get Morinville talking about its new youth strategy. A businessman and philanthropist from Oshawa, Ont., Hill is coming to Morinville Oct. 6 for a conference called Discover the Power of One. Hill is the ambassador for the Active Creative Engaged Communities program and founder of Let Them Be Kids, a group that donates playgrounds to communities across Canada.
He's a fantastic speaker, said Dribnenky, Morinville's family and community support services co-ordinator, and should help residents get thinking about how to make their town a better place for youth. Most communities plan to build tomorrow's roads and buildings, Hill said, but don't plan to build the people who will use them.
"The citizens of tomorrow are being built whether we like it or not," he said, and we can either leave their construction to chance or shape it ourselves. "Let's work together to build the citizens of tomorrow."
Building tomorrow's citizens
Hill, who jokingly describes himself as "a chubby brown guy," has spoken about youth issues in communities across North America.
"I was a punk kid who got himself in a lot of trouble," Hill said. "I was one of those guys who thought the world ended at the end of my nose."
But with the support of his community, he turned his life around and became a successful businessman. Eventually, he realized that successful businesses needed successful kids.
"If you have kids who are engaged, excited and motivated, they're going to do well in school. Then you're going to have good employees and you're going to have people who can buy what you're selling."
That led him to create his playground foundation and to tour the nation as a youth advocate. If a kid feels disengaged from his or her community, Hill said, it's usually because he or she feels ignored by adults. One solution is to create more opportunities for the two groups to interact.
"If I take and have one kid do a job shadow with me, it's an opportunity to build that trusting relationship."
Sangudo, Alta., held an intergenerational dance to strengthen links between its kids and its seniors, for example. Reportedly, when one group of kids was later about to start chucking rocks at a home again, instead they walked away when they remembered that the funny old man who lived there had been an instructor at the dance.
Youth need to have a chance to shape their future, Hill said. "If they help build it, they're more likely to use it."
Sangudo used this approach by having local kids design the community's skate park and playground. "It's not just on the adults," he notes — youth have to be willing to step up and get involved in efforts like this if they want to be heard.
Hill will start his day in Morinville with breakfast with local business leaders, Dribnenky said, where he will talk about how they can better engage with youth as employees and customers. He'll follow up with a two-hour session with community groups on volunteerism, and another session with about 50 students from Georges H. Primeau School on leadership.
After a dinner session with council, his day will close with a rally to celebrate the youths and groups that are making a difference in the community. "We've got fantastic mentors in everything from Scouts to Rotary," she said, and this event will recognize them.
For details on the event, call Melonie Dziwenka at 780-939-7833.
