YouthScape Gathering: Change Starts with Youth!

From November 26-29, 2009, 50 individuals gathered in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia, to relive the achievements of the YouthScape national initiative and engage young people, policy makers, educators, practioners and funders towards a common goal of advancing the YouthScape “community based. youth paced” movement. The Gathering was co-hosted by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development and LifeCycles.

The purpose of this proactive Gathering was to:

• Learn from each other about the specific tools, practices and ways of being that allow for youth engagement strategies to grow in our organizations and to cultivate new community engagement
  

• Showcase young leaders who are working with the YouthScape movement as peers with adults working in the youth engagement field

• Identify next steps for sustaining the momentum created by YouthScape in our communities and through the national network so that we can continue collaborating and keep moving this exciting work forward
  

• Celebrate and acknowledge our successes, our challenges and understanding where the opportunities to grow might exist next
  
  
  The Gathering featured:
  

• Discussions about the principles and practices, reflex-ions, and ripples of the YouthScape journey

• A Public Forum which created an opportunity for youth, city councilors, practioners, businesses, funders, educators and others to learn about what it means to engage youth in community development through parallel learning circles that discussed youth engagement in practice, funding youth initiatives, and stories from youth

• Youth Voice: A youth-led presentation linking the five YouthScape communities together through individual community recounts of their triumphs and challenges, projects and initiatives that engage young people across Canada

• An open marketplace for participants to present workshops and discussion topics on the 5 pillars of YouthScape: youth leadership, learning community, diversity, engaging the unengaged, and comprehensive community initiative.Topics included: linking together the 5 pillars – where do we go from now; how people in our lives have become part of our learning community; youth using leadership skills to create their own projects; and many others   

• An Urban Photo Safari where participants explored Victoria’s rich culture and history as well as local hotspots and YouthScape projects
  
  
  Call to Action!
  
  We emerged from the Gathering with an idea of creating a tool that grasps the concepts of YouthScape in a concise and creative manner to be shared with funders, educators and practitioners to expand the YouthScape movement.
  
  Ideas that came forward included a report, letter to the field, art pieces and murals, and a video.
  
  The YouthScape community decided together that a Door Crasher video would be the most ideal way to get more people excited about youth engagement. This video will showcase the different communities of YouthScape and highlight our achievements and dreams of a youth engaged Canada – stay tuned for the final production!
  
  Thank you:
  
  This event would not have been possible without all the hard work of the YouthScape partners and advisory, the generous financial support of the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.
  A special thanks to all of you as this collective support has allowed young people—from Victoria to Halifax—to participate in this exciting event.  We trust that this investment will nurture the growing seeds of change for exciting youth actions with far reaching ripples within communities across Canada.

Community Partners:

HeartWood (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Boscoville 2000 (Riviere des Prairies, Montreal)
United Way of Thunder Bay (Thunder Bay, Ontario)
Child and Youth Friendly Calgary (Calgary, Alberta)
LifeCycles (Victoria, British Columbia)
Youth Engagement and Action in Hamilton (Hamilton, Ontario)

National Partners:

International Institute for Child Rights and Development (Victoria, British Columbia)
J.W. McConnell Family Foundation (Montreal, Quebec)
YouthScape National Advisors

Event Sponsors:

The Canadian Commission for UNESCO
J.W. McConnell Family Foundation (Montreal, Quebec)
International Institute for Child Rights and Development (Victoria, British Columbia)

 

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