As part of Communities Building Youth Future’s commitment to youth engagement, we aim to build meaningful opportunities to engage young people - we believe that we can learn a lot from youth. We believe that youth perspectives, beliefs, and visions for the future should shape our work and we want to share these with changemakers across the country. The following blog showcases the voice of youth with lived/living experience.
We are Step Forward. We are a diverse, multicultural group of motivated postsecondary students from the Calgary Metropolitan Area. We noticed that people experience homelessness and transience were the most vulnerable to the Covid-19 pandemic because access to basic needs services became limited. To address this social concern, we came up with a solution. In a team of 5 people, our vision was to directly deliver packed meals and hygiene products to the transient population around the city of Calgary.
We were given the opportunity to apply for the RAVE community emergency grant that is worth $5,000 from Action Dignity. The entire application process took us 1 month before we received the grant. During that 1 month, we asked our team members if they knew anyone who would be willing to donate items for us to distribute. Surprisingly, our team members had connections to the Dashmesh Culture Centre and Soap for Hope and both community partners played a huge role in helping us initiate the project. The Dashmesh Culture Centre generously offered to make us 100 meals weekly and Soap for Hope donated 80 hygiene kits.
Here are some accomplishments and tips that we want to share with you!
We couldn’t have achieved our vision without the funding and support from Action Dignity. The RAVE grant made a huge difference in alleviating our financial burden. We were able to purchase a variety of necessary items requested by people experiencing homelessness and transience such as masks, toothbrushes, and socks. This experience taught us to become more empathetic, aware, loving and giving to others. As a team, we are proud to see our idea transform people’s lives!
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