COSTA BLANCA NEWS: Triple grants for young ‘links’ between El Campello council and youth

EL CAMPELLO has announced it is tripling the grants for young people who act as links between the administration and local youth.
These so-called ‘correspondents’ have the job of informing the local authority about adolescents’ concerns, of putting forward proposals for cultural, leisure and sports activities, ideas for projects of any kind and of voicing young people’s complaints.
El Campello Youth councillor Cristian Palomares explained there will now be grants for six young people who periodically meet with local government members and council staff.
The local authority said the initiative enables the administration to find out first-hand about the important issues for local youngsters. Hence a mixed evaluation committee had been created made up of three young correspondents from each of El Campello’s two institutes, the Youth councillor and the Youth area Town Hall expert Consuelo Ferrer. Other members of the government team, including the mayor, and council personnel, also participate when required.
The council made it clear the commission aims to act as a two-way communication.
The youngsters on the commission consult their peers at their respective schools, taking note of the initiatives and issues they put forward. It is then their job to evaluate and analyse the requests, weigh up their chances of moving forward and officially present them to the council. The local authority is obliged to respond to each request.
“Although it is the public administration closest to residents, the functioning of a town hall is very complex and in good measure unknown by residents, especially young people”, commented El Campello Mayor Juanjo Berenguer at the presentation of this year’s six grants.
“The bureaucracy is enormous and at times this makes it very difficult to get projects going with the speed you require”, Berenguer told the young correspondents.
“But what is clear is that you have a lot to contribute, to say and to decide, and we are here to echo your concerns and to activate your plans”, the Mayor added.