Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
April 27, 2009
TORONTO, ON // Change the world! That's a lofty goal and the promotional message behind the 2009 Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge, a partnership between the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration (MCI) and Ontario volunteer centres. The event encouraged teens to make a difference by committing to five hours of volunteering during National Volunteer Week (April 19th-25th). "I think it all kind of boils down to getting the most out of your own life and doing the most with your life...we're all kind of frustrated by the world that we see and there is so much injustice...so it is about getting off your couch and just making that first step to make a change in the world," says Charlotte Arnold (Degrassi: The Next Generation), one of the celebrities supporting the campaign.
Now in its second year, the idea grew from a desire by the MCI to engage more youth volunteers and to organize something on a provincial basis. They approached the Ontario Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN) and out of the discussions came the idea to put a focus on youth engagement during National Volunteer Week. In 2008, seven volunteer centres piloted the Change the World Challenge. This year, an additional 13 got involved with the Challenge (see "A Snapshot of…" for a listing of the 20 volunteer centres).
10,000 Canadian youth changing the world
"The goals for the first year were modest," reflects Cathy Taylor, spokesperson for the OVCN and executive director of one of the participating volunteer centres (Guelph-Wellington). "Many of us hadn't used Facebook before so we didn't have a strong goal other than piloting the idea. This year, the Ministry felt strongly to have a provincial target and the 2009 goal is for 10,000 youth to volunteer five hours each." The goal is based on population size so each volunteer centre has a different target.
Each of the 20 volunteer centres organized the Challenge a bit differently. In Guelph-Wellington they decided to organize a day of action during National Volunteer Week. The idea was to pre-empt the panicked calls in June from high school students who need to finish their 40 hours of community service (a mandatory requirement for high school graduation in Ontario). For those who had completed their hours, it was all about finding out about other needs in the community. Youth met at a central high school location and after a brief welcome and introduction, they were bussed out to their respective volunteer placements. At the end of the day, pizza was waiting for them back at the high school and there was a reflection time.
Typically, it can be difficult for organizations to involve short-term volunteers or youth volunteers. So, what kinds of activities did youth volunteers do for the Challenge? Taylor admits, "It's absolutely a challenge to this Challenge!" However, her volunteer centre in Guelph-Wellington received some very creative responses when they asked member agencies to submit volunteer opportunities for the Challenge. While there were the more typical ideas like community clean-up projects (rivers and parks), tree-planting, and stocking foodbank shelves, there were also opportunities like volunteering at a donkey sanctuary and projects associated with the upcoming Fairy Fest.
Learning about community
Youth signed up and chose their first choice of volunteer placement and an alternative. "We tried to make it as easy as possible for the agencies and as meaningful as possible for the students," says Taylor. "We wanted them to learn about our community. People recognize the foodbank and the seniors' centre but they stop and ask, 'We have a donkey sanctuary? Who knew!' If a youth has a sporting background, they know about volunteer opportunities with sports and recreation but maybe not in social services. Or, youth know about where their parents volunteer."
A snapshot of... |
Who: Change The World Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge
Mandate/Mission: A way for Ontario teens to make a difference in their lives and communities through volunteering. The goal is for 10,000 Ontario youth (in 20 communities) to volunteer for five hours during National Volunteer Week, April 19-25, 2009. Local volunteer centres plan a wide range of volunteer activities to suit youth interests.
Locations:
Volunteer Halton
Community Link North Simcoe
Volunteer South Simcoe
Helpmate Community Information and Volunteer Bureau
Information Niagara
Pillar Nonprofit Network
Volunteer MBC (Mississauga Brampton Caledon)
United Way of Cambridge and North Dumfries
United Way Windsor-Essex County (Volunteer Centre)
Volunteer and Information Lennox & Addington
Volunteer & Information Kingston
Volunteer Quinte
Volunteer Hamilton
Volunteer Action Centre of Kitchener Waterloo & Area
Volunteer Action Centre of Thunder Bay
Volunteer Bureau of Leeds and Grenville
Volunteer Centre of Guelph/Wellington
Volunteer Centre of Toronto
Volunteer Centre of the Blue Sky Region (North Bay)
Volunteer Ottawa
(Youth from communities other than these 20 were able to sign up for the Challenge and log their hours on the Change the World website.)
You can also find the Change the World Challenge on YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace for more information, photos, video and comments.
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While it is too early to know the feedback from the 2009 Challenge, the feedback from the inaugural Challenge was positive and youth enjoyed getting involved. The benefit for the participating community agencies was the materials from MCI (like t-shirts and other promotional material). "They know that if they organize something, youth will show up," remarks Taylor. "And because volunteer centres take care of the recruiting, they will get students out. We see that community organizations really do want to find ways to engage youth and this could be a new opportunity for them as an organization and hopefully a percentage of the youth will stay involved."
For volunteer centres, the benefit is all about increasing awareness of National Volunteer Week, making it relevant, and engaging a demographic that volunteer centres want to tap. The Challenge provides an opportunity to meet with high schools and engage school boards in a way that some have not done before. It was also the first time that MCI worked with all volunteer centres in this way. Explains Taylor, "Elected officials attended events around the province and volunteered alongside the youth. They got to see how valuable National Volunteer Week is as well as the contributions of youth volunteers."
Volunteer centres and new media
The Challenge was also an introduction for many volunteer centres into new media like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. Taylor found that has created a spin-off in her volunteer centre's other work; before the Challenge, her volunteer centre didn't have a Facebook group but they got so much interest, the volunteer centre continues to maintain its Facebook page.
In order to make the 2009 Challenge a good fit for youth, MCI established a youth advisory committee. This diverse group of 13 Ontario youth provided feedback on the logo, the types of volunteer opportunities, proposed Facebook page content, gave advice to volunteer centres about how to promote to youth, and spoke at events.
To make the event even better in 2010, there will be an immediate evaluation of the 2009 Challenge completed by both agencies and volunteers. Then in six months, there will be an online survey to find out things like whether the youth went back to volunteer, what they learned, if they are volunteering elsewhere, etc. Taylor is excited and says, "This event has come a long way in one year. There's lots of energy around it." So watch out world for the Challenge in 2010!
Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.
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