| Purpose : |
This project builds on the initial mobilization, communication, networking and surveying activities that have been carried out by the sponsor under a Community Mobilization Program project that is in the process of being concluded. The New Brunswick Multicultural Council, through the project staff and steering committee, has done a good job of travelling around New Brunswick building relationships with multicultural organizations and consulting with clusters of multicultural youth in the various regions of the province. This latest phase of activity will carry out an assets and needs assessment of multicultural youth in New Brunswick. It will bring up to one hundred youth ages 15-29 from across New Brunswick to gather in Fredericton in February 2006 to discuss issues of common concern identified through the recent round of focus groups that have been held in the province. Included among these concerns are racism, community safety, social inclusion, and police-youth relations. The focus of the gathering will be on problem-solving, networking, leadership and skill development, and capacity-building. After the gathering, a follow-up process will build and expand networks, enhance communication, and formulate action plans for collective and individual action to meet the identified needs of multicultural youth in New Brunswick. Through workshops and discussion groups the sponsor will provide the youth with tools to respond to racism, spread the positive message of diversity to their schools and communities and reaffirm the importance of taking pride in one's heritage and culture. By bringing youth together and by providing them with access to information and dialogue they will develop skills and strategies to deal with the problems they may be facing in their daily lives. |