Synapcity Youth Engagement Workshop Session
Today’s youth are as intelligent, ambitious and driven as ever. From entrepreneurship to engagement to advocacy, young people are proving they have what it takes to lead in the years to come. In a world of rapid change, our youth need the right mix of skills to thrive. Those skills are being taught by several organizations across our region. For this Synapcity Session we are spotlighting some of the incredible youth driven engagement initiatives in Ottawa today.
Joining us will be several organizations who are actively working with young people to encourage more engagement, advocacy and entrepreneurship. First up we are excited to welcome the Ottawa Youth Engagement Committee (OYEC) from Youth Ottawa. OYEC consists of youth working with the City of Ottawa to inform decisions and actions that help make our city a better, safer and more equal place. The goal of the program is to assure that youth are valued stakeholders in our municipality and to amplify the voices of the diverse communities of youth in Ottawa. Fahma Khalif, OYEC’s Coordinator, will be speaking along with several of their project leads.
We’re also excited to have Youth Action Now along to join us as well. They are a group of diverse and dynamic young people taking action in our community. They come from a wide range of backgrounds, beliefs, orientations and identities and share a common commitment to justice and to creating a world that is fair, inclusive and sustainable. Inspired by their late co-founder, Paul Dewar, they collaborate with allies, friends, mentors and supporters. Youth Action Now supports youth-led grassroots initiatives aiming to promote positive change in Ottawa-Gatineau. Responding to priorities identified by young people locally, YAN offers resources, mentoring, and networking opportunities to groups with members aged 14 – 24.
We’re also proud to have Youht4Youth (Y4Y) Canada along to speak about the important work they are doing to engage youth in our communities. Y4Y creates and manages projects to improve the lives of youth in Canada through arts, culture and health education. Founded and led by female Indigenous youth. Supported by volunteers. They work on several projects including Talk Overdose, which helps to reduce the stigma of drug addiction and saves lives in communities across Canada. They also run several indigenous led cultural workshops which teach activities such as beading, moccasin making, cooking and more.
We’ll also be featuring some incredible youth oriented entrepreneurs such as the Innostation Project. Innostation is a non-profit organization that aims to help students acquire a wide range of skills that are needed in the workplace by giving them opportunities to develop their skills and put them into practice. Their vision is to help close the skill gap in the job market by helping students develop skills they need to be successful professionals. They do this by offering various workshops and webinars to help young people learn valuable skills. They also curate a podcast and publication which allows young people to develop their writing and communication skills. Lina Nada Maach, Innostation’s Founder & President will be along to chat about the project.
Just added: We’re excited to let you know about a few more speakers we have lined up for our evening on Youth Engagement. Joining us will be a representative from CHEO Youth Net. YouthNet / RéseauAdo (YNRA) is a bilingual, for youth by youth, mental-health program at CHEO. YNRA offers alternative support services for youth aged 13 to 20. They work at reducing the stigma surrounding mental health and illness through prevention and intervention programs, education, research and advocacy. All their programs are led by our trained facilitators, who are all aged 20 to 30 and are supported by a clinical social worker.
Next up are excited to have the Smart Youth Network Initiative along to speak about their plans to launch an Ottawa chapter. They are a team advocating to equip Youth in Uganda with skills for Development. They believe that personal development and education are the way to end poverty. They build the capacity of Youth to contribute in Community transformation through; Civic Education | Peace & Human Rights | Climate Action | Economic Empowerment.
More speaker announcements to come! We’ve got quite an evening in store for you. Be sure to register now and join us on September 26th to chat Youth Engagement in the Ottawa area.