Local Video
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| Key launches ‘Vote Youth’ campaign |
By: By DAVID HENKE, Staff Writer
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Posted: Friday, July 25, 2008 11:43 pm
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NORTHFIELD — The notion that young people ages 18 to 25 are a disinterested voting demographic is being turned on its head by the Northfield Union of Youth this summer with the start of the Key’s “Vote Youth” campaign.
The initiative is aimed at creating a constructive dialogue between the Northfield mayoral candidates and the city’s youth, which, according to Key Director Josh Hinnenkamp, is a two-way street.
“We just hope that the youth get more involved in civic engagement and that the candidates in general really start taking youth issues to heart,” Hinnenkamp said.
The Key identified five core issues that it wants to address and promote as part of a comprehensive “youth issues” platform. The platform calls for additional open, chemical-free spaces for youth, more youth programming, extended youth-accessible transportation and pedestrian services, one-on-one mentoring programs to build connections between youth and the community and more prominent information on youth services.
According to Hinnenkamp, the five core issues were identified and prioritized by the Key’s youth and adult board members in a general consensus last Monday.
Marie Fischer, a member of the planning committee for the “Vote Youth” campaign, said that while the Key’s youth issues platform is in part motivated by the Key’s own needs, the platform also has the interests of all Northfield youth at heart.
“We are concerned with our own organization, but we wanted to get to the root of it all,” Fischer said.
To promote youth issues, the Key plans to hand out buttons, T-shirts, yard signs and business cards.
Their plans don’t stop there, however; members of the “Vote Youth” committee are tentatively planning to host a mayoral forum — a meeting that Fischer referred to as a “get-to-know-you” event between Northfield youth and the candidates.
The event, which is currently scheduled for Aug. 10 and will be held at the Northfield Armory at 7:30 p.m., will be an opportunity for Northfield youth to become familiar with their candidates in a casual setting, Hinnenkamp said.
“It’s not just two candidates talking to each other, it’s them talking to their constituents, the people that are going to be voting them in.”
The Key is also planning two additional forums for later on in August, although the dates for those meetings haven’t been set yet. The meetings aren’t for youth alone; Hinnenkamp hopes to get the parents of Northfield youth involved as well.
“We just want people to be more aware of youth issues,” Hinnenkamp said. “We wanted people in the community to know ‘Hey, this is what the youth want and need.’”
For more information about the Northfield Union of Youth’s “Vote Youth” campaign, check out their Web site, www.unionofyouth.org.
— David Henke can be reached at dhenke@northfieldnews.com or 645-1100.
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