28 June 2006 OPENING DOORS FOR YOUTH Johannesburg is all set to become a place of golden opportunities for its youth. The initiative is a spin-off from the National Conference on Youth Development first held in 2002. This was followed by the development of a Youth Strategy, which was adopted by the City of Johannesburg Council in November 2005. Council has recognised a need for an integrated approach to ensure the institutionalisation of youth development as part of the broader strategy for economic development. In the words of Nandi Mayathula-Khoza: MMC Community Development "Local government is the key to youth development, and a major metropolitan city, Johannesburg is playing a leading role…." To operationalise the adopted Youth Development Strategy, the City will host a Youth Summit on 30 June - 02 July 2006 at Willow Park Hotel and Conference Centre, Kempton Park. The purpose of this Youth Summit is: To launch the Youth Development Strategy To encourage and facilitate the participation of youth in socio-economic development To deliberate on other key related issues An institutional structure, premised from the strategy, will be developed. This is envisaged to consist of a representative Youth Forum and a Youth Unit within the city's structures. The structure will comprise competent young people from all the City's administrative regions, who will be able to implement programmes and/or contribute to the running thereof. Ten programmes have already been identified. Some of these are job creation, moral regeneration, skills development and crime prevention. All the programmes will be analysed for feasibility, efficiency and impact. Enquiries about the Youth Summit must be directed to the Social Services office: Contact Person: Leonard Mahashe: (office) 407 6831, Cellphone 082 776 7451 ENDS Aletta Suping City of Johannesburg Communications Department Telephone: 407 7271 Facsimile: 403 3494 Cell: 082 467 9229 Email: alettas@joburg.org.za