The Youth Services Unit (YSU) holds its first-ever Youth Empowerment Symposium (YES) at the Marriott Hotel Thursday 30 and Friday, 31 March. The two-day event on ‘Economic & Social Empowerment’ will feature social media content creator Alyssa Chin and other well-known Caymanian panelists.

Free and open to the public, Day One, 5.30 pm – 8.00 pm, starts with a short reception, a keynote address and an interactive panel discussion to close the night. 

Day Two, 8.00 am – 3.30 pm, is a school delegates’ conference. Hosting up to 200 attendees, it will consist of morning table top panel discussions for Year 7-9 students and a similar afternoon session for Year 10-13 delegates.

The symposium is a concept the Minister for Youth, Sports, Culture & Heritage, the Hon. Bernie Bush, is adamant will provide a deserving platform for youth to converge and challenge. “Our youth require a forum where they can feel empowered to talk about topics of national interest that directly affect their lives. Having advocated for this for many years due to my community work with youth, I am very pleased that my Ministry is staging the first of what will become an annual event. Youth are excluded from the conversation on matters that directly impact them. This symposium will go some way to creating an appropriate platform where we can address the exclusion of youth from the issues that matter to them and empowers them to speak about these issues.” said Minister Bush.