The Enviro Youth Forum

An Environmental Youth Forum is a unique opportunity for high school students to take part in practical environmental education. The Forum is aimed at educating youth with regard to local environmental issues and giving them an opportunity to play a role in the decision making of the future. It provides the opportunity to harness involvement of young people in local issues. The Forum provides High School students from the Maitland area and other surrounding regions with the confidence, information and understanding to actively identify and solve environmental issues and problems.

• Provide an opportunity for young people to make group decisions concerning local issues and develop a commitment to environmental improvement.
• Provide an opportunity for the youth of our city to have input into how local environmental issues can best be dealt with and identify needs and problems.
• Provide an opportunity for young people to express their concerns, put forward practical suggestions and help shape our city's future.
• Provide practical workshops to enable students to gain new skills.

The Maitland Enviro Youth Forum began in 1997 and is now an annual event run by the Maitland EYC. The EYC organise the forum each year to include a practical environmental workshops delivered by local environmental groups and an inspiring guest speaker. The 1999 Forum included Peter Garrett as a guest speaker and involved over 200 high school students from 8 local schools and several regional schools.

If you would like to run an Enviro Youth Forum in your local area, download this checklist which provides a step-by-step guide to running a forum.