young & free press features post-secondary students highlighting arts, culture & special events … and starting up new community-building projects, too!
Headquartered in St. Thomas, Ontario, the business is run by consultant Andrew Gunn, who is the owner and general editor, along with three young entrepreneurs — Avelea Thorne, Carley Shearon and Madison Comfort. Together, the young & free press team showcase arts & culture in the region and beyond, travelling far & wide to gather fresh ideas to inform their own projects at home — to date, this includes well over $3.5M in new parks, murals, education programs, environmental sustainability initiatives, tourism offerings & more. The goal is always to incorporate the youth perspective (with a bit of a subversive streak, pushing for new ideas and opportunities).
So, how did all this start? Well, Andrew volunteered with a Thames Valley District School Board program in 2017-18, and had the task of connecting students to real-life businesses and experiences in the London & St. Thomas area. Along the way, he noticed the decline of local news and event coverage, the lack of interest in community stuff amongst the students, and decided to challenge the students to develop a media platform in which teenagers could be the journalists. Three high school students from St. Thomas took on the challenge — Maddie King, Jenn Klassen, and Alex Popen — and soon a fourth student, Emily Stage, joined the group. The community embraced the idea, sponsors came on board, and suddenly the concept looked more like a private-sector business than a student project.
Late in August 2018, the team decided to take the leap, develop the young & free press brand, and get to work as entrepreneurs and content creators! Andrew made the media outlet a division of his consulting firm, which focusses on working with donors and sponsors to fund, manage and sustain innovative community projects. All the students involved really embraced their roles, and along with highlighting local culture & events, they began to assist as ‘youth consultants’ to develop new initiatives.
Right now, there is a lot of talk about the need to ‘engage youth’ at the local level, and this is exactly what we have done! We have worked in collaboration with the Downtown London Business Association, Tourism London, Museum London, the Downtown Simcoe BIA, Norfolk County, St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation, Railway City Tourism, Southwest Ontario Tourism, Municipality of Central Elgin, Farm Credit Canada, Fanshawe College, Covent Garden Market, the Forest City Film Festival, London Children’s Museum, Downtown Strathroy BIA, Thames Valley District School Board and other organizations to promote businesses and events and develop new community-building projects.
Follow along on our Instagram page for updates on all our activities!
Andrew Gunn and Madison Comfort of Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press