My pitch to council

By Lily, age 10

Homeschooler and member of Free2b Girls, St Helens Monday 7 August 2023

Monday 7 August 2023

Hello,

It was such a good experience today, to see my peers speaking about Free2b Girls and the other youth groups in our community. And it was really interesting to see what you guys do!

I found it really inspiring hearing what Izzy said about mental health and more ways to make this town more inviting.

It gave me the idea to talk about human rights and kids having a stronger voice, which are issues that are important to me. I have some ideas for a community event.

I think it would be really cool if the Break O Day council could host an International Women’s Day event, because I wanted to talk about gender equality and kid’s being able to have a voice. I wanted to do a speech and have a rally or some kind of demonstration.

I have come up with some ideas on how we could do this:

WHAT: International Women’s Day event 2024

WHY: I want to speak up about human rights and kids having a voice, to inspire and empower kids to speak up and have a decision about their lives.

WHERE: Portland Hall, with a rally that starts in multiple places throughout the town such as the wharf, the post office and the school, and rally members of the public to follow us to the hall. I thought we might need to get the police involved if we need to close the roads, but we should be able to just use the footpaths.

WHO: I thought we could invite special guest speakers such as the mayor, community groups and individuals like Free2b Girls, Skittles, YCNECT, the Women in Business group, local female artists and musicians etc, and open it up to state organisations like Engender Equality etc, as well as other advocates and people with lived-experience. I was also trying to think of ways the school could be involved, because if you want to inspire kids, you need to invite kids! I thought the school could organise for kids to make some artwork, like a large mural, or some performances by the students on the day. I’m also a member of the Break O Day With One Voice choir. I went to Hobart with the group to perform in Festival of Voices recently which was a really good experience and it would be great if we could invite them to perform as well.

RESEARCH: I have done some research to see what other International Women’s Day events look like in Australia, and they often do a big morning tea, so I thought we could have local businesses cater the event and maybe even get flowers from the florist.

I also found out that purple represents gender equality so we could theme the event with purple streamers and people could wear purple shirts (but no balloons as I have a phobia of them popping!).

ADVERTISING: We can promote the event in The Coastal Column, social media, the Neighbourhood House and maybe even radio.

Now, you might be wondering, “OK, but how much will this cost?” Well, I haven’t worked out all the details yet, but I think this could be a pretty affordable event!

I have come up with an initial list of the financial costs of the event:

• Hall hire
• Food and drink (tea and coffee)
• Crockery (I think it would be great if we could use reusable ceramic crockery as I’m also passionate about sustainability)
• Decorations (& flowers – because we want to promote the florist, being a female business!)
• Speakers and microphone
• Cleaners and rubbish removal

I think that’s almost everything and I think it should be affordable, but I’d love the opportunity to do more research if you think this is a good idea.

I’ve always wanted to do something like this, but I thought, “Oh I’m just too young.” But ever since my mum became an Advocate for Change to prevent violence against women, she told me that anyone can speak up for themselves – any age, any gender.

I hope this will work out. I look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your time.

Lily

IMAGE: 10 year old Lily