M.O.U.: what is it and what does it mean for youth in chch?

Seeing as we're about to sign a pretty historic document with Christchurch City Council, we thought we'd let you know in plain English what a Memorandum of Understanding (M.O.U.) actually is/does/means:

Ah...shaking hands in the sunrise...so symbolic...

An M.O.U. is...

...a formal agreement between two or more parties. Companies and organisations can use M.O.U.s to establish official partnerships. We didn't just copy that off Wikipedia (ahem), promise. Seriously though, it's the most simple way to describe it.

'98 was a fine year: JT looked like this the last time the Youth Policy in Christchurch came out.

An M.O.U. does...

...mean that the parties involved (in our case us and Christchurch City Council) have agreed to commit to some kind of working relationship. 


We intend to keep our side active, busy and involved and we're pretty sure the Council are keen to be working with young people in this way too. 

FYI: The city's Youth Policy was last updated in 1998. Were you even BORN then? 

An M.O.U. means...

...that we can work in partnership with CCC to make cool things happen quicker. CCC has a whole host of projects and consultations coming up, particularly to do with the Long Term Plan that's getting finalised as we type today - we want to help get the thoughts of young people into the mix in a way that works for everyone. Consultation will take place at a higher level, information is shared to the right places, and that most of all...

...a strong youth voice will be heard echoing louder than ever around the corridors of power in this city! 

Alice (Chair) and James (Secretary) are scribbling away at a speech for the signing, which is happening tomorrow at the Council building. We promise we'll have the photos up here ASAP! Kaitlyn, our Deputy Chair and Media Officer, is currently working on a press release to get out to the media and beyond. We're going to have that thing fine-tuned and on this blog later on next week, so you can find out what went down at the signing, who said what, and how this whole thing came about. 


Stay tuned, Chch!