In early May this year, Kimberley will play host to Connect, a youth action summit, that will bring together youth from across the Columbia Basin to inspire them to be involved in their communities.

The conference takes place May 3 to 6, 2012 at the Kimberley Conference and Athlete Training Centre. The theme is Connecting with Communities and the summit will feature engaging speakers, planning sessions and networking opportunities, all directed towards assisting attendees in creating a day of action in their own community.

Basin youth aged 15 to 29 qualify to attend, although the CBT's Michelle D'Entremat says that this particular conference tends to attract the younger side of the demographic, from 15 to 24.

There is capacity for 100 youth to attend and the CBT covers all the costs - transportation, lodging at Trickle Creek Inn and meals.

"We will have a panel of speakers talking about how youth can get involved in their community and what they get out of it. We will offer a series of workshops to put together action plans for different community events."

It will be a combination brain storming, event planning session, D'Entremat says.

"We are looking for tangible events to come out of this, events that the youth can take back to their communities and work on."

Ten youth will also have the opportunity to take part in a media team for Scratch Magazine, a CBT publication.

She says the CBT has done youth forums in the past which have always been well attended and gone really well.

Any youth wishing to take part in the forum can check out the agenda and apply for a place at cbt.org/connect