{"id":23575,"date":"2019-04-18T12:39:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T16:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23575"},"modified":"2019-04-18T12:39:55","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T16:39:55","slug":"aurora-receives-platinum-youth-friendly-community-designation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/aurora-receives-platinum-youth-friendly-community-designation\/","title":{"rendered":"Aurora receives Platinum \u201cYouth Friendly Community\u201d designation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\nBrock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora is often\nbilled as a place to live, work and play \u2013 and once again, the municipality can\nlive up to this tall order \u2013 this time being named a \u201cPlatinum Youth Friendly\nCommunity\u201d by PlayWorks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PlayWorks is an\numbrella group of organizations that focus on youth programming and \u201cbringing\nback the power of play to youth in Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the\nTown, the Youth Friendly Community Recognition Program \u201crecognizes communities\nacross Ontario that meet the changing needs of adolescent youth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a growing\ncommunity, it is critical that we provide our children and teens with the space\nand freedom to play and learn in a supportive environment,\u201d said Mayor Tom\nMrakas in a statement. \u201cOur staff work closely with young people in Aurora to\ndevelop programs that evolve as they evolve and grow. I am incredibly proud we\nhave been recognized as a Platinum Youth Friendly Community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora has been vying\nfor the title of \u201cYouth Friendly Community\u201d for several seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last spring, the Town\nheld two information sessions for community groups and organizations to show\nhow they could become involved with the Town\u2019s Youth Friendly Communities\nrecognition program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town received\nsilver designation in 2016, based on programs for youth, but they had their\neyes on a bigger prize, one which would not only showcase the work that is done\nfor youth within Aurora, but allow the Town to see how they measure up against\nother municipalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve platinum\nstatus, communities must recognize that adolescent youth have different needs\nfor play than children or adults do, and intentionally develop, fund and\nsustain programs and services to meet youth needs. The criteria to achieve a\nplatinum designation stems from connecting and empowering youth to express\nthemselves and have a continuous voice in the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are always looking at opportunities to\nengage young people in healthy activities that will give them the tools and\nsupport to make positive lifestyle choices,\u201d said Robin McDougall, Aurora\u2019s\nDirector of Community Services, in a statement. \u201cThis recognition is reflective\nof our ongoing commitment to the youth of Aurora.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora is often billed as a place to live, work and play \u2013 and once again, the municipality can live up to this tall order \u2013 this time being named a \u201cPlatinum Youth Friendly Community\u201d by PlayWorks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-68f","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-26 01:31:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}