Media Release: Manurewa Youth Council
18/09/2012

Flora Apulu from Manurewa Youth Council elected Chair of Mayor’s Youth Advisory Panel

The Manurewa Youth Council is proud to congratulate member Flora Apulu on being elected as the inaugural Chair of Mayor Len Brown’s Youth Advisory Panel (YAP).

Flora has been part of the Manurewa Youth Council (MYC) since its inception in December of 2011 and has been part of successful youth run organisations such as the MYC for a number of years. We believe that these skills will be vital to ensuring that the YAP becomes an organisation focussed on representing all young people in Auckland.

“The Manurewa Youth Council is grounded strongly in its community, and so must the Youth Advisory Panel be,” says Manurewa Youth Council inaugural Chair, Simeon Brown.

“We have spent our first year focussed on connecting with young people through running a number of successful youth forums focussed on finding out what matters to young people.

“We have supported young people through providing a channel for them to express their opinions on a range of topics from where they think Manurewa should be in 5 years’ time through to practical projects such as advising the Manurewa Local Board on how to develop Riverton reserve in Randwick Park.

“We have empowered young people by connecting them with education institutes and local employers, addressing the low education stats in Manurewa and the high rate of youth unemployment our community faces.

“The Mayor’s Youth Advisory Panel must have the same agenda.

“The Manurewa Youth Council has set a new standard for youth engagement, and we expect the Youth Advisory Panel to follow suit.

“The election of Flora as Chair of the YAP reflects the achievements of the MYC in the short time since we were launched. With Flora at the helm the young people of Auckland will see more youth engagement grounded in the communities which the panel’s members represent and not inward-focussed behaviour such as the Foundation Youth Advisory Panel displayed,” Brown continues.

The Manurewa Youth Council will be holding the YAP accountable to the young people of Manurewa and wider Auckland to ensure that it represents all young people and ensures that Auckland Council puts ‘Children and Young People First’. The MYC also congratulates Papakura Youth Council member Jason Mareroa on being elected deputy Chair of the YAP.

ENDS

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