Finding the right recipe for a successful project is always a challenge. In Rivière des Prairies, 12 young people have discovered that the perfect café demands a lot more than a few decadent drinks and some yummy treats. Their discoveries led them to create Café Le Spot – a project they could all work towards and believe in.

The three key ingredients in building Café Le Spot have been: 1. Creating a space where young adults can feel accepted for who they are; 2. Developing a place where people can take part in a variety of activities; 3. Providing a space where youth can express themselves in a positive way.

Café Le Spot, which is organized and run entirely by young people, is open four days a week. It is already causing a stir – attracting between 20 and 40 young people aged 18 to 25 every day. To mobilize and engage young people, Café Le Spot has incorporated elements from a “Recipe for Success” for involving young people in decision making, developed by the Boscoville team (Rivière des Prairies YouthScape partner). The winning mix includes:

• Clearly define roles and areas of action so that more young people will
  be able to shoulder responsibility and get involved.
• Put young people in positions where they can make use of their strengths so they feel more capable and more able to participate.
• Provide opportunities for young people to genuinely influence decisions, so more young people will be willing to participate in decision-making.
• Empower young people to believe in what they are doing and help them feel they are contributing, so more young people turn out and get involved.
• Provide supportive leaders that can help young people understand and work with existing community structures.

Importantly, Café Le Spot was entirely organized and implemented by the young people themselves. “Nathalie guided us at our meetings and always presented both sides of the question so that our decisions would be as informed and fair as possible,” said Tatiana, a Café Le Spot participant. “But we always had the last word, we made the decisions and we took responsibility for them.” “I was always struck by the harmony in the group,” says Nathalie. “Everyone felt able to present their ideas without fear of being judged by others.

They had very different life experiences and came from different backgrounds, but they figured out how to make use of their differences to develop their community project with respect… they saw a need in their community and they threw themselves into filling it!”

Café Le Spot allowed the participants to work as a team, make decisions as a group, carry out a project from start to finish, and brainstorm unique ideas. They discovered and worked with individual and group strengths and limitations. This allowed them to maximize their contributions to the project and to their community. The young participants actively engaged with community partners to develop better connections between youth and adults. “Working with community leaders who believed in the project and could open doors for it was also a critical factor,” says Nathalie. “Without [the community’s] wholehearted collaboration, the project could never have gotten off the ground.”

On opening day, Café Le Spot participant, Ernest said: “I felt I really mattered. I finally realized the project was for real and I could apply in practice things I had learned at school. I felt I was growing up, was finally doing something constructive, and had become a responsible adult.”

Café Le Spot was a 32-week component of an employment-creation program for dropout youth removed from the work force. Although the project end date has come and gone, participants are exploring the possibility of turning the café into an on-going co-operative venture – a permanent structure supported and managed by youth. A recipe for success indeed!