Children and young people – how can you make an impact in Vantaa?
We at the City of Vantaa want to offer children and young people a variety of opportunities to make an impact on how things stand. We believe that it is important for children and young people to gain experience in taking responsibility and taking care of shared matters. In schools, this is done through learning influencing skills, how to participate in joint decision-making and how to set goals, among other things.
On this webpage, you can find many different ways in which you can make an impact on the city’s matters. Scroll down and read more about how you can join in. Welcome!
Student associations
Student association activities in elementary and lower secondary schools
In Vantaa, every school has a student association consisting of students. The student association’s job is to help students work together, express their opinions and influence both their own and shared matters.
Student association activities in upper secondary school and Varia
In the board of an upper secondary school’s student association, students can participate in and influence the activities of their educational institution and, more broadly, the City of Vantaa. All upper secondary school students are members of the student association, and the members of the student association’s board are chosen from among them. By taking part in student association activities, students can influence the school’s activities, such as school meals, comfort, studying, event organization and the development of activities.
Active members of Varia’s student association get to plan and carry out different kinds of events, such as wellbeing and friend weeks and an Easter event. Active members can act as student representatives in Varia’s own working groups, such as the wellbeing working group. Students can also act as representatives at events outside of Varia, such as the cooperation day of Varia and upper secondary schools, Influential Day or other student events.
How can you join in?
Everyone can run for a position on the student association's board. Ask your teacher for more information! Read more about the subject:
Participation at schools and educational institutions
How can you join in?
Find out what kinds of community inclusion groups operate in your unit. Any adult from the school or educational institution can help you in this. If you have any activity in mind that you think could be handled better, do not hesitate to contact the unit’s adults or director. Suggestions are always welcome! Small contributions can build to something far bigger.
Click the link for a readymade operating model for a community inclusion group for 10 meetings (currently available only in Finnish). You can show it to a teacher or counselor and suggest the creation of a community inclusion group.
Youth centers
What are youth centers?
Youth centers are free-of-charge, safe and intoxicant-free places intended for young people to spend time, which can be found around the city. The premises are open in the afternoons, evenings and on weekends. To get into a youth center, you need a free-of-charge membership card, which a guardian can apply for online on your behalf. Staff members are always present at youth centers to help and provide guidance. The centers offer many different kinds of activities, which are primarily aimed at 10–17-year-olds. Available activities include games, handicrafts, exercise, cooking, music, workshops, events and otherwise hanging out. You can influence what kind of activities are offered at the youth center. If you have a good idea, share it with a youth worker!
Hobbies
We offer various hobby opportunities for free in different parts of Vantaa. Youth Services organize events and hobby activities together with young people based on their wishes. You can come up with ideas for and influence hobby activities at youth centers as well!
How can you join in?
Apply for a free membership card and come visit your nearest youth center! Further information and the nearest youth center can be found at:
Influential Day
What is Influential Day?
Influential Day is the city's own influencing event for children and young people. Preliminary tasks that are related to the theme of the year are sent to schools, daycares, upper secondary schools and vocational colleges in the fall. Influential Day culminates in an event organized at City Hall, where two children or young people from every school are invited. During Influential Day, children and young people have been able to, for example, influence decisions regarding the city's funds and ponder the future of the city.
How can you join in?
The participants of Influential Day are chosen in the schools or educational institutions. Contact the consulting teachers of the student association if you are interested in taking part in Influential Day. All children and young people can complete the preliminary tasks! Read more about Influential Day on their own website:
Youth Council
What is the Youth Council?
Every other year, young people elect representatives for Vantaa’s Youth Council from among their peers. 30 young people from Vantaa are chosen for the council, and they are part of the Youth Council for two years.
The Youth Council promotes the interests of children and young people by submitting proposals to the city, organizing events and taking part in the city's decision-making, for example, in committees.
How can you join in?
All young people aged 13–18 from Vantaa can run for the Youth Council. The next elections will be held in fall 2025. Further information will be provided closer to the election on the Youth Council’s website.
Youth Election
What is the Youth Election?
The Youth Election is a voting event organized throughout Finland in schools, upper secondary schools, vocational institutions and other youth services. The election is organized in connection with almost all national elections, such as parliamentary elections, presidential elections and municipal elections. In the Youth Election, young people can learn about elections, political parties and candidates, and can vote among themselves. The results of the Youth Election do not impact national elections, but they are often talked about nationally. Young people’s voting results are highly interesting to adults as well.
How can you join in?
The Youth Election is organized by Nuorisoala ry (formerly Allianssi), which helps and supports schools and educational institutions in organizing the election. Ask the consulting teacher of your school’s or educational institution’s student association whether Youth Elections are being organized in your unit!
Read more about the election on Nuorisoala’s website:
Children and young people as the builders of their environment
The City of Vantaa wants to hear the thoughts and opinions of children and young people on all construction that impacts them. Such construction projects include, for example, the construction or renovation of youth centers, daycares, schools and educational institutions, as well as the construction and planning of parks, streets and traffic.
By including children, we can achieve a better city that is good for everyone. For this reason, the city hears out children and young people through the “Children and young people as the builders of their environment” model: In the model, a community inclusion plan should be created for every construction project which impacts children and young people. The plan particularly considers how children and young people can be heard.
Read more on the website:
Participatory budgeting
What is participatory budgeting?
You decide how the city spends the money! In participatory budgeting, the residents decide how the city should use its money. All Vantaa residents can come up with ideas for what the most important uses for the money would be in their neighborhood. Participatory budgeting has resulted in suggestions such as improving parks, increasing the hobby opportunities of children, open-air cinemas and concerts, along with many ither things. The city chooses all the ideas that are possible to implement. After this, the city’s residents vote for the best ones, which are then implemented. In 2024, the age limit for voting was 13 years.
How can you join in?
Participatory budgeting is organized regularly. You can read more and stay up to date on topical matters here:
Dialogue
What is dialogue?
Dialogue means discussion between two or more people.
Schools organize different kinds of dialogues in the form of group discussions, usually between 5–25 people. The discussion is held on a specific topic. An adult leads the discussion and gives opportunities to speak, and everyone can participate in the discussion. The aim of the dialogue is not finding solutions, but increasing the shared understanding of the matter at hand. Guided discussions often also result in ideas about how to proceed with the matter.
Sometimes, the matters discussed are written down and sent to the city’s decision-makers, for example, but this will be stated in advance. All discussions are absolutely confidential, and the student’s matters will not be shared with people outside of the discussion, unless they so wish.
How can I join in?
You can suggest organizing a joint dialogue to the school’s adults, for example, about a topic that interests you or a school subject. You can also ask the student association’s board or the school’s principal about organizing a dialogue.
Suggest a dialogue when you want to...
- Talk about an important shared topic in a group
- Learn something new and understand the different thoughts and experiences of others
- Get adults to listen to the important thoughts and ideas of children and young people
Different kinds of dialogues
Kid Dialogue is a discussion model for children and young people. Kid Dialogue brings together children, young people and adults as equals for a constructive discussion. The City of Lahti has developed Kid Dialogue on the basis of the Timeout dialogue method.
The Timeout discussion is a discussion model aimed at adults. The purpose of the discussion is not to solve problems, but to better understand others. The Timeout discussion was developed by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.
Read more about the dialogue models:
Committed Vantaa (Osallistuva Vantaa)
What is Committed Vantaa?
The city asks the residents of Vantaa for their opinions on the planning, organization and implementation of many matters. You can often make an impact by responding to surveys, which are open to everybody. You can find most planning-related surveys on the osallistuvavantaa.fi website.
Check out what you can make an impact on right now!
Organizations
What do organizations do?
There are several children’s and young people’s organizations in Vantaa. By being part of an organization, you can make an impact on the organization’s activities and more broadly. The city supports organizations in many different ways.
How can you join in?
If you are interested in organizations’ activities, you can contact, for example, the employees of your local youth center or the city’s Community Involvement Specialist (Riikka Nenonen, riikka.nenonen (at) vantaa.fi), who is in charge of cooperation with organizations.
Read more about local organizations and activities in the lähellä.fi online service (available in Finnish and Swedish):
Feedback service
What is the feedback service?
You can give feedback on the city’s services, activities and decision-making through the feedback service. Feedback can be given on different topics, and it will go to the city’s employees who are specialists in these topics. Different topics include the activities of schools, daycares and educational institutions, the city’s buildings, park and yard areas, streets and sports facilities, and many more. The feedback received will be utilized for the development of activities.
You can give feedback at:
Decision-making
Who decides about the city’s matters?
The City Council elected by adult Vantaa residents is the city’s highest decision-making body, and it is responsible for the city’s activities. The City Executive Board manages the city’s activities, administration and finances in accordance with the City Council’s decisions.
- The City Council’s members are trustees who are chosen through municipal elections. The City Council consists of 67 members 15 deputies.
- The City Executive Board consists of 15 trustees who are chosen by the City Council.
- Committees are smaller groups of trustees chosen by the City Council, who focus on more specific matters in the city’s decision-making. Vantaa has six committees: the education and learning committee, urban culture and wellbeing committee, urban space committee, urban environment committee, central election committee, and auditing committee.
- Influencing bodies represent various smaller groups of Vantaa residents and ensure that they also get to take part in and influence decision-making. Vantaa has five influencing bodies: the Youth Council, Council of the Elderly, Council of the Disabled, Advisory Committee for Multicultural Issues and the Swedish svenska kommittén.
- Municipal elections are organized every four years and are used to elect the City Council. Every resident of the municipality aged 18 and older can vote for the candidates of their municipality and run for office.
- The Mayor of Vantaa is Pekka Timonen. The Mayor is chosen by the City Council. The city’s activities are divided into four departments, which are managed by the deputy mayors. The departments are: the Education and Learning Department, Urban Culture and Wellbeing Department, Urban Environment Department, and Group Management and Business Development Department. The deputy mayors are Katri Kalske, Riikka Åstrand and Tero Anttila.
How can I take part in decision-making?
The representatives of the Youth Council participate in the activities of the City Council and committees and can submit proposals to the city’s decision-makers. You can make your ideas, thoughts and opinions heard through the representatives of the Youth Council, as well as through student associations and Influential Day.
Read more about the city’s decision-making: