Community members and business owners gather for Opportunity Youth event

LELAND, NC (WWAY) — A regional conversation on “Opportunity Youth” was held in Brunswick County Wednesday afternoon.

Business owners, local government officials, and community members from Pender, Columbus, Brunswick, and New Hanover County gathered for the event.

“Opportunity youth” refers to young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are either not in school or not working.

Ginger Brick is the director for the Cape Fear Workforce Development Board.

She said the board wanted to bring people together to talk about what’s available to young people in the area.

“So we wanted to convene regionally to have discussions about where the young people are who are disconnected in our communities and what resources are available that we can help provide them access to,” Brick said. “So this is sort of that launch so that we can develop future programming and sort of maybe a council where we’re trying to help people.”

This event was made possible by the Institute for Emerging Issues Workforce Development Leadership Academy.