EMBRUN — Work by Russell Township’s Teens Advisory Committee is drawing interest elsewhere in Prescott-Russell, with council members suggesting the Township could share what it has learned about involving young people in municipal life. Council received the committee’s annual performance update at its Sept. 14 meeting. Coun. Lisa Deacon described it as an account of what the committee had accomplished during its term and thanked Manon Babin, Roxane Garland and the teen members who contributed their time.
“A lot of them are now doing their secondary studies,” Deacon said of members who have moved on from the committee. She said some were attending university or other post-secondary programs and added, “I’m very proud and very grateful for their time.” Deacon also noted that members had given up time after school to work on projects that were important to them.
Mayor Mike Tarnowski said the committee gave council a perspective it could not easily obtain second-hand. “They bring a very specific perspective that we often, you know, anecdotally hear about,” Tarnowski said. “So this is firsthand experience, whether it’s about transportation, whether it’s about recreation.”
Deacon singled out Our Vote, Our Future, an initiative led by the teens, as an example of work that had begun to reach beyond Russell Township. “We did have that circulated and communicated out to Prescott Russell,” she said. Deacon added that there was “quite a bit of interest coming back at this point from other areas of the United Counties.”
That interest, she said, could make the project worth discussing at the regional level. “I think it could be worth a discussion at the county’s table and providing that information,” Deacon said. She said other communities appeared to be looking for ways to involve more young people and that Russell now had several practical examples of how its teen committee had responded to that challenge.
“We have in front of us a plethora of models and ways that the committee has responded to that call here in our own community,” Deacon said. She suggested Russell could become more deliberate about sharing those approaches with municipalities considering their own committee structures for the next council term. “Perhaps we could offer more best practice sharing,” she said, describing an opportunity to help other communities looking for ways to involve youth.
Council received the committee’s term-end update as presented. The possibility of bringing Russell’s youth-engagement experience to the United Counties remained an idea raised during the discussion rather than a new program or spending decision. No separate regional initiative was approved at the meeting.