from YAPRap February 2005
by Emil Wajs-Chaczko
Over the past couple of years I've been privileged to become involved in many campaigns for young people on a variety of topics, but I thought I'd take a moment to share with you yap rap readers how I got to do what I've been doing lately, just to show you (particularly the younger readers) how easy it is to make a difference.
In about March 2003 I was at a birthday dinner with a friend, another person present at the dinner was involved in a local Youth Council. She told me to come along to the next meeting after I had shown a little interest.
Turning up keen to the local meeting I was excited to find this group of young people was genuinely interested in helping out their local community and actually performing projects for young people (and others).
After a couple of months of learning the ropes, I decided it was time my own local government got something like this up and running so I approached the local youth development officer, we met and a month or two later after planning and executing a youth forum, a number of eager young people were recruited.
From here, this Youth Advisory Committee ran outdoor cinemas, piloted the now successful local band nights, applied for grants, forged relationships with many other local groups, built a strong relationship with elected office bearers - to the extent we held a debate between young people and Councillors - and WON, but most importantly allowed those on the committee to learn new skills and become good friends.
After nearly two years I realize that it has always been my grassroots connections which have allowed me to do what I do at a higher level, from a regional inter-youth council body, to YAPA to State and Federal campaigns on various topics, I have always retreated to my local settings to keep focused.
Your grassroots experiences for advocacy are often the most important, they provide you with a foundation for the bigger picture. Often the skills learned at a local level, for example, how to run a meeting, project, deal with the media and public speaking skills are learned at this critical stage in your youth advocate career.
So, if you're thinking to get involved and your mind continually leans towards thoughts like " I could never do anything like that" , just start out local. The bigger picture isn't much further away, and you can get most of the skills you need from your local community whilst making a great deal of good friends along the way.
So get out there, make a difference, I'll see you there.
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."
