The city of Cape Coral’s Youth Council. GO FUND ME PAGE<\/p>\n
Cape Coral City Councilmember Jennifer Nelson-Lastra made a plea to the community Wednesday for a cause she\u2019s claimed as her own.<\/p>\n
The Cape Coral Youth Council is hoping to send at least 10 of its members to Washington, D.C., to take part in the National League of Cities Youth Leadership Conference in March. They\u2019ve raised approximately $13,117<\/a> toward the cost but still are shy of their $18,700 goal.<\/p>\n \u201cI also just wanted to do one more plug for our Youth Council. We are still about $6,000 away from our goal,\u201d Ms. Nelson-Lastra, the organization\u2019s council liaison, said at Wednesday\u2019s Cape Coral City Council meeting. \u201cI would encourage any of you to share and re-post our GoFundMe page<\/a> to see if we could do one more final push before we take any money out of their very limited budget.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cape Coral Youth Council, a panel of students representing local high schools, was the brainchild of former Cape Councilmember Rick Williams and current Councilmember Derrick Donnell who, back in 2015, attended a Florida League of Cities conference and were impressed by the involvement of such councils in other municipalities.<\/p>\n It took a couple of years with Mr. Williams spearheading the effort but the Cape Coral Youth Council came together with the first 14 members appointed in 2017.<\/p>\n The panel \u2014 now made up of students from six schools as well as members-at-large who may be homeschooled or attend a private, charter or virtual school \u2014 has been active ever since.<\/p>\n The Youth Council advises the Cape Coral City Council and makes recommendations while representing Cape Coral\u2019s younger population in city government while \u201cadvocating for City-wide issues alongside their peers.\u201d<\/p>\n The trip to D.C. is intended to give the participating students not only the skills to better serve their city in their current council roles but a skillset upon which service to community can be built well into the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThis trip is more than a conference \u2014 it\u2019s a transformative opportunity to sharpen public speaking, learn policymaking, and connect with young leaders nationwide,\u201d the GoFundMe page organized by the City Council Office states. <\/p>\n Funds raised will help offset various costs as well as provide an opportunity to learn about projects other student councils are participating in this school year.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re able, please consider donating or sharing this post. Every bit helps our students get to D.C. and experience this incredible opportunity.,\u201d the council member said on her Facebook page. \u201cThank you, Cape Coral!\u201d<\/p>\n