Funds for Study of Teens’ Needs OKd
A board dedicated to youth issues got the OK from the City Council to spend up to $30,000 creating a youth master plan--a study of Thousand Oaks teenagers’ needs--that would be the basis for recommendations to city leaders and business owners.
Mina Layba, management assistant with the city and the group’s advisor, said the first steps will be to create a planning committee and hire a consultant to devise a strategy for soliciting suggestions from youth. Those strategies could range from one-day forums with young people to focus groups in schools.
Zach Elsea, 16, vice chairman of the Youth Commission, said the panel may have its own ideas about what the community needs to satisfy young people, but believed having a master plan would carry more weight when Youth Commission members lobby for new programs or facilities.
“We’re only 13 young people in the community, and we all know what we think,” Zach said. “We don’t know if our opinions are the same as the general youth population.”
The City Council on Tuesday voted 5 to 0 to approve the request and said it looked forward to hearing the results.
Based on other Ventura County cities that have master plans for youth, Layba said the report would take about a year to complete.
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