FYI’s Community Engagement stream is defined by our engagement and partnerships with every aspect of the community we serve, from youth and families, to allied agencies and service providers, educators, advocacy groups, businesses and non-profit funders.

The Community Engagement stream focuses on a number of areas which include:

• Outreach and engagement with the community
• Providing meaningful opportunities for volunteers and placement students
• Leading the United Way fundraising campaign
• Organizing local community events such as our Annual Slam Jam Community Festival
• Developing and implementing an organizational mentorship program which focuses on offering resources to help build the capacity and organizational infrastructure of youth- led groups through training, one-on-one mentoring and partnership development.

Advocacy

FYI also aims to develop young people with a more profound understanding of civic engagement and citizenship. Therefore, this year we have engaged in various projects in support of this vision.

We are committed to educating the broader community and advocating on the issues that pose as barriers to the success of inner city youth. To this effect FYI is moving forward on a number of advocacy pieces relating to youth and policing. This is conducted in collaboration with other service providers and the Office of Provincial Advocate for Child and Youth.

Some other tables we are involved in are the Educational Attainment West, a YCF Legacy Initiative where we supported the development of an initiative which is focused on youth for whom existing educational supports have been ineffective.

We sit on the York Youth Coalition where we work with partners in the Weston Mount Dennis neighbourhood to advocate for youth in regards to increasing access to relevant services and supports as and when needed.

Build the Legacy: Agency Mentorship Program

Over the years FYI has been able to push the for-youth-by-youth model and with the help of a number of community stakeholders have been able to build its capacity to go from a community project to an incorporated youth organization.

Recently FYI was funded by the Youth Challenge Fund to create a mentorship program where we could share our learning’s with other youth organizations through a structured program and offer resources such as infrastructure building, admin space, etc in order to help these organizations build their capacities. With this program we aim to offer opportunities to assist youth-led organizations to continue doing their work more effectively within their community and be better prepared to advocate for change at the key decision making tables they have been historically excluded from.

For more information on the Community Engagement Stream contact:

Maria Bernard
Director of Community Engagement and Communications
maria@foryouth.ca
416 785  9900 ext 227