We have had a long history working alongside The Students Commission of Canada. The relationship began in 1999, when our CEO was asked to provide a Keynote Address at a national youth gathering focused on child poverty as part of their national project at the time, Sharing Resources 2000.
In the more than 18 years since, our partnership on projects, initiatives and events with the Students Commission has spanned the country and an entire generation of young people. Currently we are supporting their efforts in key areas:
The Residential Services Youth Panel
Working alongside the Students Commission, the Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth and the Ministry of Children and Youth (Ontario), we are supporting the work of a team of young people in/from the care of government services who are providing advice, guidance and insight to the Government of Ontario following up on the recommendations of the 2016 Because Young People Matter Report of the Residential Services Review Panel.
As the youth provide insight into the development of the Blueprint being designed by the Ministry, we support the Students Commission in the design and delivery of the process with the young people with a particular focus on ensuring the process meets the young peoples physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs throughout. This includes teachings and ceremony, individual support and facilitation.
Sharing the Stories
This platform, designed by the Students Commission after 25 years of providing support and services to organizations in helping determine the outcomes of their programs, provides youth-serving organizations with the capacity and consistent tools to evaluate their youth programs, activities and initiatives. Their platform supports both youth and organizations in tracking outcomes and telling the story of youth programs, activities and initiatives more readily, rigorously and efficiently. Used as a tool by the Ontario Trillium Foundation Youth Opportunity Fund to support their grantees across Ontario, our role is as a support for the Indigenous grantees and in particular supporting the relationship development, protocol and engagement and ongoing advice and guidance to Students Commission staff.
Kingston Youth Strategy
Youth 2 Kingston (Y2K) is a region initiative of youth advocating for youth. Though originally focused on the city of Kingston, their reach now expands throughout Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, (KFL&A). They seek to define the needs of youth in Kingston and area through social media, community outreach, social programs and activities. They provide an ongoing opportunity for municipal government, community organizations, businesses, and individual residents to listen to young people, to hear their ideas and recommendations on how to better serve youth throughout KFL&A. The Students Commission has been the backbone organization for Y2K since its inception and has helped, along with the many local partners, secure long term funding from various sources to support the ongoing work of the Y2K team.
As part of the original team of architects for Y2K on behalf of the Students Commission we were excited in 2013 to help shepherd the strategy through its final stages of development and acceptance by 40 local community organizations and the City of Kingston City Council. Since then our engagement has continued and included support and capacity building for local Students Commission staff who were leading the project, speaking at events and ongoing relationship development in Kingston.
The Canada We Want
Earlier this year our team supported the development, design and execution of the Canada We Want national conference hosted by the Students Commission. With several members of our team involved in the planning prior we also supported the recruitment and engagement of Indigenous partners in Canada and the participation of Indigenous youth at the conference. Onsite we provided cultural supports, youth support and training for facilitators prior to the event beginning. As always, we were humbled to meet so many amazing young people from across Canada and are grateful for the opportunity to be a support at another Students Commission conference.
Learn more by visiting the Students Commission online.
Be sure to find them on CanadaHelps and learn how you can support their important work in Canada.