North Central Strong: Young people in Regina working to improve their neighbourhood
City council unanimously approved local youth task force on Feb. 14
A group of young leaders is working with the City of Regina to improve their neighbourhood.
North Central Strong, comprising recent graduates of Scott Collegiate in Regina, was formally recognized as a youth task force on neighborhood revitalization on Feb. 14 after city council unanimously passed a motion brought by Coun. Andrew Stevens (Ward 3) and Mayor Sandra Masters.
Three of the group's members spoke in front of city council for the first time that day, but North Central Strong has been meeting monthly with city representatives since June.
It all began when Masters reached out to Brian Lewis, the executive director of a mentorship program at Regina's mâmawêyatitân centre.
The North Central Strong task force was born out of a mentorship program called Growing Young Movers, aimed at eliminating gaps for underserved and marginalized populations in Regina.
"After we graduated, Brian came up to us and told us we had an opportunity with the mayor to make some improvement to North Central and for our community, and they wanted members that grew up in North Central," said Hope Henderson, one of the group members who spoke to city council.
"They were pretty excited that they were going to be heard and have an opportunity to work with the mayor and her team at the City of Regina," Lewis said.
The group approached city council with ideas for their community.
"We spoke about a couple of things [to council] — just kind of the state North Central is in," said Jacob Panipekeesick, 18. "The alleys are really dirty; the parks, sometimes you find needles in the parks. It's just really unclean."
As a first project, the team hopes to revitalize Parkdale Park, located between Third and Fourth Avenues.
"I mean, it's two swings and a slide and four tires, so I'm hoping a lot for it," Panipekeesick said.
Henderson says the park hasn't been upgraded in years.
"I remember it staying the same from when I was like six or five," she said.
"It isn't equitable in our city right now. When you hear that they'll rent cabs to go to a park to have birthdays, that makes you wonder, why isn't that something within their community?" Lewis said.
Henderson told city council she wants to see North Central treated like the rest of the city.
"It not only contributes toward North Central but Regina as a whole, just because North Central is really neglected, and that does slow down a city as a whole if you do neglect a certain part," Henderson told council.
Panipekeesick told city council that when he tells friends about working with the city, they are skeptical.
"They're kind of like, 'I won't believe it 'til I see it,'" he said.
Lewis agrees.
"This is something that's new to them — the fact that they are being heard or people want to know their opinions on things, because that hasn't been their experience of growing up in this community," he said.
Lewis says he was proud to see the young leaders embrace the challenge of addressing city council.
Appearing before city council "was very uncomfortable, but that's good because that means I'm getting out of my comfort zone," Panipekeesick said.
"They really liked that, right out of high school. They said they would have never done that. I guess that kind of gave me motivation."
Henderson called addressing city council "nerve-wracking, and it was really exciting to know I can make some change for my community. I hope this inspires other youth to strive to bring change also."
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