Youth Council appoints Social Media Communications liaison
The Cape Coral Youth Council has appointed a Social Media Communications liaison.
Cole Delong, a Cape Coral High School junior, was selected at the advisory board’s last meeting, held June 30.
Delong will create posts for multiple social media platforms to make the public more aware of the city’s events. Additional duties, if any, are still to be determined.
“We do not have this position within our ordinance for the Youth Council so there’s nothing mandating that this position continues at the inauguration of the next Youth Council. We don’t have anything in print establishing what our social media liaison role is,” said Chair Maxwell Slafer, a Cape Coral High senior.
Delong and the 14-member student board appointed by the Cape Coral City Council to represent the views of Cape Coral’s youth, along with its advisors, are now responsible of creating these guidelines.
This role will be crucial to the development of public involvement for the council, members said.
“I think it’s important for young people to come to these meetings and give their opinion on these topics so we can know what the public needs,” said Carsyn Baxter, a Cape Coral High junior.
The Youth Council also determined it will address any “budgetary needs” to sponsor any Youth Council activities or future projects.
Any budget proposal would need to be presented to the city by the end of July.
“We need to have either one person or a team working on it and they can submit their progress to the council as a whole,” said Slafer.
Baxter, Slafer, and Kourtnee Saunders, a Mariner High School junior, met Monday as a budget sub-committee.
Also discussed was career guidance, possibly involving a shadowing program for students to get to experience in city job options and get credit for them in school.
This program would give area youth a chance to get ahead in the workforce while still students.
“One thing that we should be pushing is making more internships readily available,” said Slafer.
The city will also try to reach students with different career paths.
“For students who will be pursuing higher education, it would be more of the administration aspect of the city, regarding the City Council. We did also want to consider students who are hoping to go directly into the workforce,” he said.
All of these topics are part of an ongoing discussion and will continue to be debated over the next few meetings.
The next regular Youth Council meeting set for 2:45 p.m., Friday, in City Council Chambers at City Hall.