The City of Binghamton put the focus on youth Monday as it works to develop its new comprehensive plan, Blueprint Binghamton.
The city's Youth Bureau held a planning forum at Cornell Cooperative Extension on Upper Front Street. Representatives from the Binghamton school district and various agencies that work with children and teenagers broke into small group discussions. On the agenda, the health, safety, education and community engagement of young people.
Youth Bureau Director Colleen Wagner says the forum also took a SWOT approach, looking at strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. "We'll have our schools here. We want to look at it collectively rather than just the schools handling the educational component and the city handling yet another, we need to all work together and do what's best for our youth."
Wagner says one major threat to youth is budget cuts that reduce services.
