Guest blog by Mark McGuire and Chris Ritsma, Co-Chairs of the Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Committee. Originally published on Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring’s Blog on 25 July 2016.
Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring’s Millennial Advisory Committee met on Thursday, July 14 at the Halton Hive in Burlington. The July meeting started with a presentation on the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy for Burlington by millennials Anita Cassidy, Manager of Special Projects, and Claire Green, Manager of Marketing and Partnerships, from the Burlington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC).
The BEDC asked the Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Committee for their ideas on how to connect with millennials to inform and engage them in the new Innovation and Entrepreneurship Strategy. A roundtable discussion addressed the perceptions held by Millennials towards entrepreneurship, startup culture, and barriers to innovation and business opportunities.
After the presentation and discussion, the Millennial Advisory Committee broke out into groups to plan immediate action goals, medium term goals, and long term goals to achieve within their term. The decision has led the committee to create a work plan that is broken down into three sections of community participation, political advisory, and communication. The committee discussed engagement practices to foster millennial influence in the community through events, traditional media, and social media. Present engagement can be followed on Twitter by searching #burlennials.
The evening concluded with a briefing on the Millennial Advisory Committee’s July 12 delegation to the Development and Infrastructure Meeting for the staff report on cycling infrastructure options on New Street. The delegation was made by Mark McGuire and Chris Reuse as a result of the information from the Cycling Committee’s Dan Ozimkovic’s May visit and the public meeting hosted by the Cycling Committee on May 24.
The next session of the Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Committee will be held on Thursday, August 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Burlington Seniors’ Centre. Mary Lou Tanner, the Director of Planning and Building with the City of Burlington, will be making a special presentation to the committee with a focus on affordable and sustainable housing.
The Mayor’s Millennial Advisory Committee was created to develop initiatives and provide input on how to keep and attract residents aged 18 to 35 in Burlington. It will also concentrate on creating opportunities to engage millennials with their community.
All meetings are open to the public, especially millennial-aged residents. Meeting attendees are encouraged to bike, bus or walk.
For more information about the committee, contact the Office of the Mayor at mayor@burlington.ca.
Mark McGuire 