Events and News
Councils hear from SASSY youth campaign
SASSY's Manifesto Cake
The SASSY (Serious About Sustainable Society led by Youth) Team were invited to present the results of their pilot youth project by the Mayor Cllr Davey at a full meeting of Tiverton Town Council on Monday 25th November and Mid Devon District Council invited SASSY to the Planning Environment and Sustainability PDG meeting the following Tuesday evening, 26th November.
SASSY, a project of Sustainable Tiverton, aims to enable young people (aged 5-30 years) to be part of the climate conversation in Tiverton and to empower them to create projects of our own making to do things differently for a more sustainable future at the local level. Over the last 6 months they have created and led some amazing Pop-Up events including a Smoothie Night at the Space Youth Club, A Sustainable Cocktail Workshop, an Apple Pressing Day with Heathcoat Primary School and a Litter-Pick Walk with the Amber Foundation around youth hang-outs. They have recorded a Vox Pop Project gathering the voices of young people in and around Tiverton talking about sustainability, thinking about innovation and fathoming how to get more cool stuff happening. They have whipped up enthusiasm and tapped into existing interest among local young people of all ages.
Emily from SASSY says, “What became clearer to me from the meeting is that there is a willingness to help and support from the Council (MDDC) but I think climate justice is such a difficult problem we are facing and we don’t necessarily have all the answers at the moment. I think the only way is for the Council to talk to and be in contact with more young people who are passionate about this and have great ideas.”
“Sustainable Tiverton are proud of Indi, Callum, Meg and Emily for taking the lead and thank all the other young people who have got involved”, said Wendy Rickard the Youth Development Worker. “Amid all this worrying extreme weather we have seen recently, they have created positive energy in Tiverton. They have followed through ideas with amazing commitment, it's been fun and its brought young people together to get involved in sustainable activities”.
The SASSY team told their council audiences about the work, played them a montage of recorded voices and ended by playing our new SASSY anthem song, written by one of our young people. As part of our ‘Eat Our Words’ Campaign, they shared a special cake, baked by Callum, with the SASSY Manifesto printed in edible ink on the icing. Indi explained to the Councillors: “By eating our words, we want these words to become part of you and to drive the decisions you make”. The SASSY goal is to change the way Councillors think about involving young people in sustainable policy and politics for our future. They are Serious About Sustainable Society led by Youth.
SOURCE: SASSY!
Useful links: Sustainable Tiverton and their Nov-Dec 2024 newsletter