WHITE ROCK — A youth group based in South Surrey and White Rock is left looking for funding after both cities rejected funding requests that would have gone towards establishing a public space for local young people.
White Rock council contemplated the $36,000 funding request at Monday night's meeting, which came weeks after the City of Surrey decided against granting the group funds.
The South Surrey/White Rock Child and Youth Committee had originally been seeking $92,000 from White Rock council and $96,000 from Surrey in order to rent space and establish a drop-in centre for local area youth. They later lowered their White Rock request to $36,000 after Surrey backed out, seeking instead just to cover rental costs.
However, White Rock council decided that was too costly, especially since Surrey would not be offering financial assistance. Surrey's rejection, explained director of leisure services Eric Stepura, was based on Surrey not supporting single-use buildings but rather multi-generational facilities such as recreation centres.
White Rock voted to follow Surrey's lead and opted to work with both Surrey and the group to try and identify solutions within the community that could address shortterm and long-term needs. Part of that solution may also include building a gymnasium in the coming years.
Before voting on the motion, Coun. Lynne Sinclair said it was important to recognize the issues facing local youth.
"I'm having a hard time with this. Someone said in a previous presentation that kids are our future and I couldn't believe that more. We tend to focus on the structural stuff for our city and not the social stuff and I worry."
Sinclair expressed disappointment at Surrey's decision to reject funding and urged staff to quickly find a solution.
"They've done a tremendous amount of work and (shown) perseverance and patience in the face of quite a bit of adversity," said Sinclair. "These are voices that are not often seen or heard in this venue and to be fair, is quite easy to ignore people that are not present. I hope it's made a real priority because that is an underrepresented minority in our city and I see more and more young people in our city."
The South Surrey/White Rock Child and Youth Committee group appeared before both cities last fall and explained that there was very little in terms of youth services available in the South Surrey/White Rock area.
The group told council that 63 per cent of local activities are geared towards adults, with only three per cent aimed specifically at youth.