A bit of history and major initiatives

The 17th term of office of the Lublin Youth City Council, acting between 2022 and 2023, has been one of the busiest periods.

Youth Councillors actively participate in urban life and join various types of initiatives. They cooperate with the Lublin City Office, its organisational units, schools, school students and non-governmental organisations. They are a group representing young people, students attending secondary schools in Lublin. They are the young opinion-forming and advisory voice of city authorities. During the sessions, Council members discuss issues that are relevant to young people and related to youth. They adopt resolutions and positions, discuss important topics, and take patronage over events or projects.

2023 is a special year due to the city having received the European Youth Capital title. Youth Councillors have been demonstrating significant engagement throughout the year in various spheres, and the city's European Youth Capital status allowed them to take up multiple new challenges and implement new ideas and endeavours, in addition to engaging in the delivery of a number of projects.

The Polish Young Activists’ Summit, or the Youth Energy Month are only some of the events organised by the Lublin Youth City Council that turned out to be a huge success. The Polish Young Activists’ Summit entitled “Let's get to know each other in Lublin”, brought together 200 young people from across Poland to integrate socially-engaged young people, help them establish new contacts, and generate new ideas and plans for further actions. The Summit lasted for three days, filled with workshops and discussions panels, and during that time young people representing various cities and organisations exchanged their experience and discussed the problems and needs of today’s youth. At the same time, they made an attempt to answer the question of how to reach their peers and how to encourage them to engage in emerging activities.

The Youth Energy Month (June) was filled with a variety of events including:

• Lublin Youth Gallery, an exhibition of drawings and paintings representing the voice of young people, organised in collaboration with the State Secondary School of Visual Arts in Lublin. Visitors to the Centre for Culture had an opportunity to view drawings, paintings and artistic tapestry. Photographs and graphic art works were showcased in Litewski Square;
• Urban Sports Days marked three days of sports competitions of young city residents in the following disciplines: men's football, women's and men's basketball, and mixed volleyball teams;
• Youth Sound “City is Ours” concert which was held at the Centre's Courtyard. Young people invited artists representing diverse musical genres. The stage was taken by young artists from Lublin, and the highlight of the evening was a concert by Majka Jeżowska who performed her iconic songs in a new rock arrangement;
• a competition for a film about Lublin - European Youth Capital “Lublin Dobrze się kręci” [Lublin Films Well], prepared in collaboration with “Pod Akacją” Youth Culture Centre. The objectives of the competition were to promote and shape the positive image of Lublin among young city residents and future generations, to demonstrate a city that is bustling with events, places and people, and a city that is youth-friendly and encourages the development of young people, to develop the creativity and artistic talents among school and university students and to promote independent amateur film productions in Lublin;
• the Green Corner – Youth Climate includes the creation of an open space in the city centre, constituting a youth-friendly place to relax. Preparing the location, Youth Council members and young people took part in planting shrubs and other plants.

Councillors also actively participated in an event during which a document calling for the enhanced engagement of young people in urban life, entitled “The City of Youth – Lublin Declaration”, was signed. The ceremony was held as part of the first ever joint session of the Lublin City Council and the Youth City Council at the Lublin Castle.

Moreover, Youth Councillors are invited by other City Office departments to take part in various interesting initiatives, for instance:

• public awareness campaigns, including - a promotional campaign in urban public transport buses, as part of which young Councillors provided their voices for recordings of bus stop announcements and information encouraging passengers to switch to public transport, - a promotional campaign organised by the Environmental Protection department “Reduce. Sort. Reuse”, aimed at promoting environmental protection and waste segregation;
• board, committees, and evaluation juries, e.g. participating in a jury during an art competition for the graphic design of EYC calendar for 2024 or a jury in the competition entitled “Lublin – my city of the future”, or participating in an evaluation committee during a competition entitled “The Development of Students’ Self-Governance in Lublin - School Participatory Budgets – second edition”. The representatives of the Lublin Youth City Council were also invited to become members and engage in the work of the Programme Board of the European Youth Capital 2023;
• city celebrations where councillors serve as youth representatives, and additionally award prizes, for example, during the “2022 Annual Sports Gala” when they granted a prize in the “Youth Success of the Year” category;
• hosting meetings, conferences or galas, including co-hosting a meeting held to present the assumptions behind the EYC, “Student of the Future”, hosting a conference as part of the celebrations of the 2023 World Refugee Day. In addition to hosting events, young people provide logistic and organisational support in the planning and preparation stage.

Apart from the actual impact on the local community, the work in the Council allows young people to develop their skills in many ways. Team work, time management, development of creativity, event planning and logistics, leadership skills, or the ability to run meetings or workshops. Young Councillors learn to take responsibility for their words, express their opinions loudly, and improve their practical skills in the sphere of debates and public speeches. Activities as part of the Youth City Council sensitise its members to social needs and provide tools to respond, which is evidenced by, e.g., supporting charity campaigns.

The representatives of the Youth City Council take part in numerous meetings with representatives of other Polish cities and other officials, for example, in a meeting with the State Secretary for Youth at the Austrian Federal Chancellery - Ms Claudia Plakolm, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands - Ms Daphne Bergsma, the representatives of a delegation from Munster, or members of other city councils who wish to exchange experience, learn about the operations of the Lublin Youth City Council or its future plans (youth councils from Grójec, Kraśnik, and Jabłonna). In addition, newly established Councils are interested in how the Lublin Youth City Council functions, taking into account the seventeenth year of its operations.

Taking part in meetings, conferences or congresses, e.g., the Local Trends Sopot conference, meetings as part of EUniverCities – a European network of university cities or the European Youth Council Congress, Youth Councillors expand their knowledge in the sphere of local government operations, broadly understood cross-sectoral cooperation, and the possibility for actions and development directions, or in the sphere of European issues. On multiple occasions, Councillors also engage in the organisation of events, in addition to simply participating in them.

Youth councillors were initiators and originators of a project entitled “Youth for the Young – the Activities of Lublin's Youth to Integrate Youth Circles”, co-finances from European Union Funds, and implemented it in collaboration with Lublin Municipality. They successfully organised the above-mentioned Young Activists’ Summit, a meeting with local youth featuring representatives of school students’ councils and Lublin local authorities, hold workshops for their peers on activism, co-governance, volunteer work and communication, including the possibility to engage in activities as part of the EYC. It was an opportunity to discuss young people's needs, the ways to engage, the meaning of volunteer work for the young, the definition of co-governance, and the need for good communication. Councillors organised a conference to close the project, during which the youth demonstrated the results of the project, summarised and discussed what they had been able to do as part of project work.

The representatives of the Youth City Council hosted the entire conference and discussion panels on self-development, engagement in activities in schools and in Lublin, and plans for further measures. During the conference, persons engaged in activities for children and youth in Lublin were granted the Lublin Youth City Council Awards. The Youth City Council Awards are granted annually for activities for youth in various spheres of cultural, scientific, social and family life, to persons who undertake initiatives and measures for the benefit of children and youth in Lublin, and who promote such universal values as truth, beauty and good with their approach. This year, the Youth City Council decided to grant a special award for persons who had contributed to the European Youth Capital Lublin 2023 and made it such a special year.

The Councillors also strongly engage in the work of domestic and international youth organisations, such as the European Youth Parliament, and the Children and Youth Council of the Republic of Poland at the Ministry of National Education. They also have a significant share in domestic and international initiatives undertaken by other youth councils, taking part in congresses and conferences. For instance, in 2023 the representatives of the Youth City Council represented the Lubelskie Province in the meeting of the Senate Team for Sustainable Development, themed “On the home straight. What Youth Provincial Assembly Convention would the young generation of Polish Provinces wish to have?” and organised jointly with the Youth Parliament of the Republic of Poland.

Near the end of their term of office, the Councillors co-organised the opening ceremony of the European Youth Capital Avenue in Ludowy Park. On that day, together with city authorities, they planted a symbolic tree under which a time capsule was buried for 100 years for future young generations.

What next? We want to uphold our activity directions, continue projects which are underway, and continue our work for the development of our magnificent city of Lublin.

THE STATISTICS OF THE 17TH TERM OF OFFICE:

Elections for the new Council – 23 October 2022

Oath-taking ceremony and the beginning of actions in the capacity of Councillors – 15 November 2022

The number of councillors in the term of office: 36

The Presidium until 31 August 2023, composed of:

1. Chairperson - Kamil Konieczny
2. Vice Chairpersons - Inga Sobólska and Jan Woźniak
3. Secretary - Filip Niedzielski
4. Treasurer - Barbara Kulfan

Presidium until 22 October 2023, composed of:

1. Chairperson - Jan Woźniak
2. Vice Chairpersons - Lilianna Pankowska and Kacper Łuszczyński
3. Secretary - Filip Niedzielski
4. Treasurer - Barbara Kulfan

Council Spokespersons:

1. LYCC Spokespersons - Tomasz Kieliszek and Maja Kędzior
2. Spokesperson for Students’ Rights - Katarzyna Dobrzańska
3. Spokesperson for Equal Treatment - Inga Sobólska

The number of Council meetings: 12

The number of resolutions adopted: 53

The number of positions adopted: 4

Distant history ...

• The first session of the Lublin Youth City Council was held on 17 October 2006.
• Grzegorz Smyk, representing the Zbigniew Herbert General Education Schools No. 1, was elected the first Chairperson.
• In its first term of office, the Lublin Youth City Council brought together 67 members. The 10th term of office was record-breaking in terms of the number of Councillors. 72 members took their seats in the Council. The Council of the current 18th term of office will have 39 members.
• The Councillors of the 1st term of office, at a session on 9 May 2007, established an award for persons with merit to children and youth of Lublin.

The first winners of the award were:

1. Ewa Dados - for lifetime achievements,
2. Rev. Canon Mieczysław Puzewicz - for his activities in 2006, and
3. Mieczysław Wojtas - for his activities in 2006

SELECTED INITIATIVES:

• The construction of a skate spot at Unii Lubelskiej St. on the initiative of Lublin skaters, i.a. Jacek Harasimiuk aka Rdzawy Jac, the Youth City Council of the 2nd term of office applied to the Mayor for constructing the skate spot. The skate spot still exists;
• The Council of the 3rd term of office actively supported the construction of route S17 and fast railways to Warsaw;
• international conference “My City in Our Europe” featuring the youth councils of Lublin's twin cities, including Debrecen in Hungary, Delmenhorst in Germany, Nancy in France, Panevėžys in Lithuania, and Pernik in Bulgaria.
• Project entitled “Media neighbourhood. Contemporary media as tools for communication and mutual understanding” featuring representatives of youth councils from Nilufer in Turkey, Gori in Georgia and Dnipropetrovsk (currently Dnipro) in Ukraine.
• Project entitled “”Youth in Politics - Politics for the Youth”, as part of which recommendations were developed in three areas: career counselling, youth engagement and activities of school students’ councils.
• Youth Days, with concerts and accompanying events addressed to young Lublin residents, are a constant point of every term of office of the Lublin Youth City Council.
• The first charity football match between the Lublin City Council, supported by local government representatives, and the Lublin Youth City Council was held on 22 December 2019. Local government representatives won but Youth Councillors put up a fight until the last minute of the game;
• The Lublin Youth City Council actively supported work on Lublin's application for the European Youth Capital 2023 title.