Group of youth conversing

YMCA Social Innovation Project

What is Social Innovation?

In order to solve some of society’s biggest issues we need to come up with new ideas that allow people and organizations from multiple sectors to work together.  Through Social Innovation we can build imaginative solutions that bring people and organizations from across sectors together.

The YMCA Social Innovation Project, created in 2018 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the YMCA Peace Medallion in Oakville, aims to inspire youth (ages 13 to 24) and support their desire to build creative solutions and respond to complex social issues in their community.

The project is intended to extend the conversation started by the YMCA during Peace Week. During Peace Week each year, we talk about building and rebuilding conditions of fairness, inclusion, empathy, security, and respect for diversity in our communities.

This is an opportunity for you, to turn your passion for social change into a real, actionable project.

YMCA Social Innovation Project Grant Application

In order to solve some of society’s biggest issues we need to come up with new ideas that allow people and organizations from multiple sectors to work together. Through Social Innovation we can build imaginative solutions that bring people and organizations from across sectors together.

At the YMCA we have always been dedicated to finding ways to meet the needs of people in our communities. Our mission to strengthen communities in spirit, mind and body has always allowed us to develop programs and services that are innovative, creative and solve identified issues across Halton.

The YMCA Social Innovation Project will help youth between the ages of 13-24 years old understand the real and complex social issues in their community and provide them with the funds needed to build creative solutions to those issues.

We will announce the submission deadline for the fall 2020 in the summer. Applications will be reviewed, and a short list of applicants will be selected to pitch their project to a panel of community experts on November 11th. There will be 4 project winners selected to receive funding at that time. Successful candidates will have the ongoing support of project mentors who will help them develop business plans and manage their budgets and will be able to use YMCA connections to open doors to collaborative partners and stakeholders.

2019 Social Innovation Project Winners

Community Garden

A project that will allow the autism community and their families to grow organic vegetables and fruits throughout the year with hopes of selling whatever is produced at local farmers markets in the community.

This will allow the youth with autism to be active in the community, improve mental health, a source of physical activity and allow some source of income for those outside of high school.

YouthSAID

YouthSAIDYouthSAID is a networking group run by youth, for youth. It was created in 2010 to give youth in Halton the opportunity to speak freely on their issues or concerns and advocate for change for all youth.

Their mission is to positively affect the Halton CAS youth in care by making their voices heard so they can flourish in an environment that is conducive to bringing out their full potential. The advocacy group meets on a weekly basis from September-May for two hours on Thursday’s evening.

YouthSAID Has been a big part of implementing changes at the Halton CAS office; such as creating a youth zone area, offering input to the improvements during the youth life skills room renovations and being actively involved in program planning to ensure youth engagement and spearheading fundraising efforts to allow the youth to attend trips and mission trips through the me to we organization.

SOAR

SOAR is an educational organization with a mission of fostering a passion for entrepreneurship and innovation in 21st-century learners. Currently SOAR offers a variety of customized workshops for schools and community groups with a focus on the development of 21st-century skills and the teaching of innovation, entrepreneurship, and design thinking. The workshops are available in both English or French and are customized to suit the unique curricular needs of each individual school.

Website: https://soaredu.ca/

Anonymous Friend

This will be a free mental health helpline run entirely by students, for students.

The volunteer student mental health responders will be trained by professionals in each Oakville school. The responder’s role is to provide support and refer students to other resources only; they will not be giving any medical advice.

Students can call a 1-800 toll free number that gets directed to the responder on call when support is needed. What sets Anonymous Friend apart from other youth mental health helplines, is that the youth will be speaking to anonymous youth.

Website: https://www.anonymous-friend.com/