How Converse came about

In 2005 youth council members and Community Action on Youth and Drugs (CAYAD) staff got together to create a space for young people to talk about perceptions of youth drug and alcohol culture. They called it: Converse 05: The Auckland City Youth Council urban youth summit.

The summit was such a success that in 2006, a second summit was held focusing on perceptions of youth crime. Since then Converse has become a biannual project for Youth Council, Auckland City Council and CAYAD. It has also been adopted by other city councils such as, North Shore City Council and Manukau City Council. 2008’s theme ‘Youth Voices: empowering youth to speak up’ followed in the innovation of the previous summits.

The mission of Converse
To ensure youth have a voice on issues which affect them, and assist them to take leadership and action on youth issues

Our goals
Converse has three stages, Talk, Think and InterACT:

Talk
75 young people came from Auckland city high schools, alternative education courses and youth groups. They heard inspiring speakers talk about their experiences of leadership and learnt skills to have a voice in their communities.

Think
In workshops, young people got together to discuss issues they face:
• the environment – planning Auckland city’s built environment
• diversity - looking at opportunities to explore and celebrate youth diversity
• drugs and whanau – exploring the role of whanau in reducing drug and related harm
• arts – looking at the development of youth art opportunities in the city
• youth participation in local government – looking at how young people can be supported to be leaders and active citizens

InterACT
In this phase, students identified causes lying behind issues raised in ‘Think’ and developed project ideas and solutions to tackle them.

The difference Converse is making
• Projects are taking place
• Young people have learnt skills to have a voice in their communities
• Organisations engage with young people to work out solutions to common issues

People who are helping to make this happen
• Converse 08 delegates
• Auckland City Council
• Community Action on Youth and Drugs
• Auckland City Youth Council
• Auckland City Art Gallery
• Ministry of Youth Development