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CITY OF VICTORIA YOUTH COUNCIL

2013-‐2014 Annual Report

To: City of Victoria Contact: Kimberley Stratford Community Recreation Coordinator – Neighbourhoods Parks, Recreation & Culture City of Victoria 1 Centennial Square, Victoria BC V8W 1P6 Submitted by: City of Victoria Youth Council Contact: Kluane Buser-‐Rivet Email: [email protected] Date: July 15th 2014

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REPORT SUMMARY P. 4

1. BACKGROUND P. 5 A. INTRODUCTION B. VISON AND MISSION C. ROLES

D. GOVERNANCE

2. MEMBERSHIP P. 6 A. RECRUITMENT B. MEMBERS 3. CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING FOR MEMBERS P. 9

A. ORIENTATION RETREATS B. WORKSHOPS C. RESULTS – CAPACITY BUILDING D. MEETING GUESTS

4. CORE INITIATIVES P. 11

A. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS FAIR FOR YOU(TH) B. PAID BY A YOUTH PROJECT C. ART MENTORSHIP PROJECT (AMP) D. BY YOUTH, FOR YOUTH WORKSHOPS IN MENTAL HEALTH, SEXUAL

EDUCATION AND HARM REDUCTION E. MONOLOGUE TO YOUR 12 YEAR OLD SELF VIDEO PROJECT F. PEDALBOX GALLERY G. BIKE FEST H. YOUTH POET LAUREATE PROGRAM

5. CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CITY OF VICTORIA P. 16

A. VICTORIA YOUTH CAUCUS B. BICYCLE MASTER PLAN C. CITY COUNCIL MEET & GREET D. COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN ON DISCIMINATION

6. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT P. 17

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7. MEDIA P. 18

8. FINANCIALS P. 18

8. WHAT IS NEXT? P. 19

THANK YOU P. 20

APPENDIX A – COMMUNICATION AGREEMENT P. 21

APPENDIX B – SELECTED QUOTES FROM THE END SURVEY P. 22 APPENDIX C – LETTER FROM MORGAN PURVIS 2014 YPL P. 23

APPENDIX D – CVYC FINANCIAL REPORT P. 24

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REPORT SUMMARY

The 2013-‐2014 City of Victoria Youth Council (CVYC) Term has much to celebrate!

From starting the year with 11 returning Members (an unprecedented 44% retention rate), to developing meaningful projects based on community needs, to ending with a massively successful Employability Skills Fair for YOU(th) event with over 100 attendees, 2013-‐2014 has been a great year of learning and growth.

Returning Members demonstrated the skills and leadership they developed last year, and new Members eagerly grasped what the CVYC is all about. A very diverse Membership provided new and interesting perspectives at the Youth Council table. We strengthened our ties to the City of Victoria through initiatives like the Victoria Youth Caucus, the Bicycle Master Plan and through interviewing City Staff in the summer of 2013.

After last year’s 17 events and projects, this year’s Membership honed in on four core projects: the Employability Skills Fair for YOU(th)!, the Paid by a Youth Project, the Art Mentorship Project and By Youth, For Youth Workshops. In addition to these core projects, the CVYC continued to lead youth engagement innovation in this City and country with our Youth Poet Laureate Program and the PedalBox Gallery. We were rewarded by excellent media coverage, both local and national, as well as an enthusiastic and encouraging community response.

When asked what their experience was like in the CVYC, Members responded with words like empowering, fun, exciting, passionate, incredible, positive and rewarding. We are so pleased to have the privilege of offering Victoria youth an opportunity to be heard and make change in their community. After all, if Members feel 66% more able to create positive change in the City of Victoria after being in our Council, we know that we are doing something right!

What follows is a fulsome review of our 2013-‐2014 Term, enjoy!

“My experience with the CVYC has been empowering. I've learned so much and met so many brilliant people. I feel entirely less helpless about wanting to make changes in my community”

2013-‐2014 Member

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1. BACKGROUND

A. INTRODUCTION

The City of Victoria Youth Council (CVYC) is a youth-‐driven initiative that offers opportunities for civic engagement to young people (aged 14-‐24) who live, work, hang out or go to school in the City of Victoria. The CVYC is hosted through a partnership between BC Healthy Communities Society (BCHC) and the City of Victoria and receives the support of BCHC staff as well as City Council and City Staff liaisons. This initiative focuses on youth empowerment, leadership development, community partnerships and capacity building as key mechanisms for enabling youth voices to be heard, understood, and shared with the City of Victoria Mayor, Council, City staff and the community at large.

B. CVYC VISION AND MISSION

The Vision and Mission were refreshed by the CVYC in 2012-‐2013:

Vision:

The CVYC envisions a vibrant and inclusive city where youth voices and perspectives are heard and valued.

Mission:

The CVYC leads the community in enhancing youth engagement in the City of Victoria. We are a youth-‐led council advocating for social change and opportunities to empower youth within the community.

C. ROLES

The CVYC Coordinator fulfils the role of ally and champion to Youth Council Members as they turn ideas into action, providing administrative, budgeting, logistics and project-‐specific support. The CVYC Coordinator also plays the role of connector, bringing together partners and collaborators with similar visions to work together to enhance the CVYC’s impact in the community. Kluane Buser-‐Rivet has been the CVYC Coordinator since July 2012.

BC Healthy Communities provides mentorship and counsel to the CVYC Coordinator, meeting space for CVYC meetings, grant-‐writing support, CVYC member trainings and financial oversight. Furthermore, due to BCHC’s provincial network and social media reach, they have been able to enhance promotion of CVYC events and initiatives. BCHC’s Special Projects Coordinator Claudia de Haan works most closely with the CVYC.

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The CVYC’s City Council Liaison (Lisa Helps) has been an enthusiastic and effective champion for the CVYC’s initiatives. She spearheaded the creation of the Victoria Youth Caucus, attended Youth Council meetings, provided training workshops to Members, gave Council updates and promoted CVYC happenings on social media.

The CVYC’s City Staff Liaison (John Reilly) role has included administrative support, helping to set up the City Council Meet & Greet, attending CVYC meetings and presentations, supporting the setup of City Staff interviews and liaising with City Staff as needed.

D. GOVERNANCE

Last term (2012-‐2013), CVYC Members developed a thematic Ministry structure with an Executive Committee. This year, the Membership kept that concept in principle, but met more regularly on a project by project basis. The Executive met once a month at BC Healthy Communities’ boardroom at the Local Government House (525 Government St). These meetings covered higher-‐level topics including budget, strategic direction, project updates and evaluation. The Executive Meeting agenda would be developed by all attendees at the beginning of the meeting. We also held workshops and invited guests to these meetings.

The project-‐based meetings were held in the community (often at coffee shops) every few weeks. Project-‐based meetings were the space where Members problem-‐solved, developed project timelines, assigned roles and celebrated successes. At the Executive and project meetings, tasks like facilitation and time-‐keeping were shared among the Members and Coordinator.

2. MEMBERSHIP

A. RECRUITMENT

The CVYC Coordinator and returning Members used the following recruitment strategies:

What did you most enjoy about being in the Youth Council?

“I loved working with Lisa Helps.”

“Having Lisa Helps there listening and providing workshops.”

2013-‐2014 Members

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• Networked with the Saanich Youth Council and the Youth Service Providers Network to share the word.

• Ran a poster campaign in the community (local high schools, Camosun, UVic, recreation centres, coffee shops, etc.).

• Word of mouth from past and current CVYC Members.

• Presented to dozens of high school classes (Esquimalt High, L’Ecole Victor-‐Brodeur, Spectrum High School, Vic High, etc.).

• Put up posters and contacted Youth Workers at inclusive organizations like the Inter-‐Cultural Association, the Native Friendship Centre, the Victoria Immigrant and Refugee Centre Society and the Victoria Youth Empowerment Society.

• Promoted recruitment through social media (Facebook and Twitter) and our website (cvyc.ca).

• Used BCHC’s extensive network to spread recruitment information through their website, newsletter, e-‐bulletins and social media.

As this pie chart illustrates, the 2013-‐2014 applicants found out about the CVYC through a variety of ways, affirming our “diversity of tactics” approach’s success. Many Members were recruited by attending one of our events and chatting with the Coordinator (the Youth Political

2013-‐2014 Recruitment CVYC

Recruited at Event by Coordinator (17%)

Online (26%)

Word of mouth from other members (30%)

School presentagons (22%)

Posters (5%)

“I think [recruitment] was done really well this year, I liked the group interviews, and how returning Members came to them.”

“The process of recruitment was great and enabled the candidate to get a sense of what CVYC truly was before they committed to it.”

2013-‐2014 Members

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Forum in April 2013 was identified in particular). A quarter of applicants heard about recruitment online through Facebook, Twitter, Volunteer Victoria’s website and by Google searches. It is important to note that almost a third of the applicants heard about the Council from current and past Members. This also demonstrates the leadership of Members who took initiative to spread the word with their peers. This speaks to the value youth find in their experience with the CVYC. Similarly to last year, school presentations were also effective in recruiting about a fifth of applicants. Our posters supported other means of recruitment, and one applicant found out about the Youth Council simply through a poster on the UVic campus.

B. MEMBERS

The CVYC Coordinator and seven returning CVYC Members screened, interviewed and selected 12 new Members1 from 19 applicants. There are a few important facets of the 2013-‐2014 Membership to note. The first is that we were strengthened by the return of 11 2012-‐2013 Members (a 44% retention rate) who took on strong leadership roles this term.

Another important fact is the excellent retention rate throughout the 2013-‐2014 Term, which is even better than last term’s 84%. This year, only one member out of 23 left the Council, for a retention rate of 96%.

This term was also strong in terms of diversity. We had an equitable group including a young mother, new Canadians, First Nations, people of colour, differently abled and LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans*, Queer) folks that ensure a broad diversity of voices at our table and an adequate representation of the

1 CVYC 2013-‐2014 Members were: Brenna Pauly, Caitlin Doherty, Chloe Mumford, David Shaw, Eira-‐Shay Barker, Emily Carson-‐Apstein, Eva Grant, Fairahn Reid, Genevieve Nevin, Nodin Cutfeet, Jenna Ren, Kimberlie Drapeau, Mohammed Rashead, Noah Spriggs, Philip Livingston, Roan Raina, Sam Larente, Sara Merner, Sarah Graham, Sheryl Zhou, Tessa Owens, Wieber Pengelly and Kelsey Hoi.

“Word of mouth is the most important way to draw people in I think. My mom saw a notice and encouraged me to apply, but I didn't do it until I had talked to people I knew who were already on the Council.”

2013-‐2014 Member

“I found the folks in the CVYC very welcoming and lovely. It was a real pleasure to meet so many intelligent and dedicated young people.”

“I really enjoyed getting to know so many wonderful and driven people younger than myself.”

“I liked how we are from all over Victoria, and have different interests, but we have all come together and been able to work together on these projects which are common interests.”

“I liked working with a group of diverse people.

2013-‐2014 Members

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diverse youth in Victoria.

An overview of Members’ bios can be found on the CVYC website at: http://cvyc.ca/Members?

3. CAPACITY BUILDING AND TRAINING FOR MEMBERS

A. ORIENTATION RETREATS

For our Orientation Retreat on November 2nd 2013, the Coordinator and past Executive Members hosted a day of learning and socializing. One member noted that this was “one of the best experiences of [her] year.” The agenda included a presentation of last year’s CVYC initiatives, a meet and greet with our City Council Liaison Lisa Helps, developing a communication agreement (see Appendix A), doing a member skills inventory and some planning for the new term. The Retreat finished with an ice cream social.

At the Retreat, the Members undertook a goal-‐setting exercise. Here are some of their responses:

INDIVIDUAL GOALS FOR THE YEAR (ME):

Meet new people, complete projects that make me feel fulfilled, do a project involving music mentorship between schools, stay creative, stay positive, gain experience creating a successful event, learn public speaking and group facilitation, gain employment, be healthy and involved.

COLLECTIVE GOALS FOR THE YEAR (US):

Help a variety of people, develop workshops for high school students, open spaces for youth artists, address youth employment, involve City of Victoria Official Community Plan policies in our projects, achieve higher attendance at events to reach more people, explore youth mental health, create an open environment for all abilities and explore partnerships with the Saanich Youth Council.

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These individual and collective goals are a powerful reflection tool. This term, we achieved so many of the collective goals as a group. For example, we addressed youth employment through our Employability Skills Fair for YOU(th)! in June 2014 and provided open spaces for youth artists with the PedalBox Gallery.

Based on feedback from last year, we also offered a mid-‐year Retreat in April 2014. Our time then included a facilitation workshop, team-‐building exercises, budgeting, a visit from Mayor Dean Fortin and a conversation about ensuring accessibility (financial, etc.) at our events and First Nations territorial acknowledgements.

B. WORKSHOPS

In 2013-‐2014, our workshops for Members included anti-‐oppressive facilitation, media training and project planning and management. Our Council Liaison Lisa Helps also provided a number of workshops including topics like: “Writing a press release”, “Turning an idea into action at City Council” and “Finding your voice”.

C. RESULTS -‐ CAPACITY BUILDING

A core principle of the City of Victoria Youth Council is to build the capacity of our Members. We do that through proactive experiential learning in the context of event and project planning, developing strategic direction and working with City Council and Staff. For many Members, the CVYC is their first leadership experience where they are given the trust and skills to make their ideas come to life. The CVYC also holds space for proactive discussion of systemic and circumstantial issues facing youth in our community.

Without a doubt, the 2013-‐2014 Term was very successful in building the confidence and skills of the Youth Council Members. The results from our End of Term Survey illustrate this success. After their term, Members felt 34% more equipped with tools to address issues they see in their community. They understood the steps involved in planning an event or project 22% better. Their confidence in their own skills and abilities rose by 15%. Members felt their ideas and opinions were 25% more respected in their community. They also felt 14% more proud of their involvement in the community, 19% more confident at addressing issues in their community and 19% more comfortable expressing their opinion in a group of peers.

In terms of hard skills, Members improved their ability to develop and manage budgets (28%), their public speaking (9%), their conflict resolution skills (5%) and their ability to compromise and cooperate in a team (6%). See Appendix B for quotes from the End of Term Survey.

“The Retreat this year was so amazing! I loved it.”

“The Retreat was lovely, and the icebreaking games were good.”

2013-‐2014 CVYC Members

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D. MEETING GUESTS

This term, we had the good fortune of welcoming many knowledgeable guests at our Executive Meetings. This included City of Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin, Maureen Sawa (CEO) and Kirsten Anderson (Teen Librarian) from the Greater Victoria Public Library (GVPL), Julie Potter and Kristina Bouris from the City of Victoria, our Council and Staff liaisons Lisa Helps and John Reilly, Jodi Mucha and Claudia de Haan from BC Healthy Communities and more. Each guest gave Members valuable insights into their understanding of community engagement and development. Welcoming these guests also lead to collaborations like the Youth Poet Laureate working with the GVPL and the CVYC working with Julie Potter from the City of Victoria on receiving feedback for the Bicycle Master Plan.

4. CORE INITIATIVES

A. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS FAIR FOR YOU(TH)!

In numbers: over 100 youth attendees, two dozen employers, youth employees and agencies that answered hundreds of questions and five stellar Youth

Council volunteers and event organizers!

The goal of the Employability Skills Fair was to combat youth unemployment and underemployment in a creative way, and to give youth the knowledge and tools to find meaningful work. We invited prominent employers and business owners to speak about what makes a resume stand out in their profession, and we invited youth employees to give an insider’s look into the job market.

“I really enjoyed seeing the project evolve -‐ being able to see some finished projects such as the Employability Fair was really great.”

2013-‐2014 Member

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In addition to employers and employees, we had Resume and Cover Letter Stations as well as mock interviews facilitated by GT Hiring Solutions, WorkLink and Beacon Community Services. Youth Council Members also prepared a “What Not to Wear: Interview Edition” booth. Snacks and beverages were donated by Silk Road, Starbucks, The Joint Pizzeria and the Market on Yates.

Some employer highlights were Shellie Gudgeon, City Councillor and owner of Il Terrazzo, Chris Shurety, owner of The Patch (a popular local clothing shop), and BC Healthy Communities and The Didi Society representing the non-‐profit sector.

On the youth employee side, we were joined by folks like Léon from the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, Caroline from the Habitat Acquisition Trust and Zoei from the Solstice Café who all shared personal stories and insights.

With such a positive community response for this first Employability Skills Fair, we have our sights on making it an annual event.

B. PAID BY A YOUTH PROJECT

The Paid by a Youth Project is designed to strengthen relationships between young consumers and businesses and raise awareness of the role of young consumers in the local economy. This initiative came out of discussions at the Youth Council table about how a majority of Members experienced discriminatory behaviour in shops like being followed around by a security guard or being looked down upon by shop employees. Members developed this project idea to address those concerns and show how youth are positively affecting the local economy with their purchases.

How it works is that we will provide participating businesses with stickers to be displayed at their tills with a poster explaining the project. A sticker will be put on the store copy of the receipt of every customer between the ages of 14-‐24. Then, at the end of the sample period

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(between 2 and 10 days, depending on the businesses’ desire), the Youth Council will count what percentage of overall store purchases are made by youth. This data will be used to bring awareness to the role of young consumers in Victoria. A report on the findings will be written, including anecdotes from young shoppers who have felt discriminated against because of their age. This report will be distributed to local businesses for them to gain an understanding of the key role young consumers play in our economy, and to draw their attention to ageist discrimination in retail.

Two CVYC Members and the Coordinator met with Ken Kelly from the Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) to receive his feedback on the initiative and his support in approaching local businesses.

CVYC Members designed the sticker logo and the posters and will support the completion of the report by surveying their peers. They are also approaching local businesses for participation in this project.

The CVYC is seeking the participation of at least three local businesses. We are currently designing the till and community posters promoting this initiative and recruiting participating businesses. We are planning to have this initiative wrapped up and the report finalized by winter 2014.

The advantages to participating businesses are the following:

• Building a better relationship with youth • All participating businesses will receive the data, which can be helpful to trace customer

demographics • Promotion on social media by the Youth Council • Participating businesses will be featured on community posters

C. ART MENTORSHIP PROJECT (AMP)

The Art Mentorship Project (AMP) pairs passionate high school and university/college aged youth with middle school students to provide free artistic instruction in a variety of disciplines, including visual art, music and performance. AMP aims to help mentors develop teaching skills and encourage self-‐expression in youth who otherwise might not get a chance to develop their artistic skills. This project will culminate in an art show at the end of the period of instruction to showcase the new skills developed.

An online and paper version of the AMP application form has been developed. We have some confirmed mentors from promotions on social media and at our events. We are currently recruiting more, as well as middle school students. A recruitment poster is in the works.

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The Members’ plan is to recruit mentors and mentees over the summer and begin the instruction in the fall of 2014, with the initiative culminating in winter 2014.

D. BY YOUTH, FOR YOUTH WORKSHOPS IN MENTAL HEALTH, SEXUAL EDUCATION AND HARM REDUCTION

This initiative came about because Youth Council Members felt frustrated about two things. First, that when young people are taught about some of the most important life skills, it is almost always in a lecture style session led by an adult. Second, that many relevant and essential topics like mental health and harm reduction were not being covered at all in the first place in a school setting. The CVYC decided to explore the possibility of developing some participatory, youth-‐led dialogue based workshops on topics like mental health, harm reduction and sexual health.

We are currently exploring partnerships and sharing resources with organizations like Island Sexual Health, Aids Vancouver Island’s Youth Outreach Education, the Victoria Police Department, the BC Schizophrenia Association and the Bipolar Disorder Society.

CVYC Members will be attending workshops from Island Sexual Health and Bipolar Babe in August 2014 to learn how to be educators and see some examples of youth education that are currently happening in Victoria on mental and sexual health.

E. MONOLOGUE TO MY 12 YEAR OLD SELF VIDEO PROJECT

This is an ongoing project initiated in the 2012-‐2013 Term. A first short video has been developed for this project that aims to allow older youth the space to reflect on their experience of being a young person in Victoria. This video project focuses on empowerment and anti-‐bullying by sharing life lessons from individuals that have “been there, done that”. We will continue to do filming in the 2014-‐2015 term, and the finished product will be shown in Middle Schools throughout Victoria in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Victoria.

https://vimeo.com/99108445

F. PEDALBOX GALLERY

Initiated in 2013, the PedalBox Gallery is Victoria’s first mobile bike-‐cart art gallery. This year, many exciting opportunities arose for

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PedalBox: the Play on Words literary arts festival at the Greater Victoria Public Library in August, Culture Days at Centennial Square in September, a Bicycle Master Plan discussion put on by the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition in November, the Midnight Mystery Bike Ride, Thinklandia, a handful of events initiated by PedalBox, the Limelight Youth Art Experience, Art Jammers youth art drop-‐in at the Cedar Hill Rec Centre, and the Reclaim the Streets public art symposium at Open Space.

PedalBox showed the work of 7 emerging young artists and was able to pay them an artist fee. The diverse projects ranged from mirror sculptures to tea party performance art.

This project has now been passed on to the Ministry of Casual Living, a local art collective.

G. BIKE FEST

Last term (2012-‐2013), $500.00 was carried over from the budget into this year for a Bike Fest. Due to the new Membership’s other priorities, Bike Fest did not happen as planned in the fall of 2013. However, the Membership was still interested in using those funds for relevant work, so the CVYC used the money to participate in two biking events and to sponsor one more youth artist for the bike powered PedalBox Gallery. The first biking event was the Esquimalt Bike Fest and the second was Mountain Equipment Coop’s Bike Fest. At both events, the CVYC facilitated participatory discussions about why, or why not, youth cycle. We also hosted a draw for bike safety items and functional accessories. The youth artist sponsored with these funds is a Metis currently studying visual art at Camosun College.

H. YOUTH POET LAUREATE PROGRAM

The City of Victoria Youth Poet Laureate Program was established in October 2012 and has continued to flourish as Canada’s first and only Youth Poet Laureate Program. Aysia Law completed a very successful first year in December of 2013, and passed on the torch to Morgan Purvis, who is our 2014 Youth Poet Laureate. Please see Appendix C for a letter from Morgan detailing her experience so far as Youth Poet Laureate. This year, the funds to make the 2014 Youth Poet Laureate program came from Reliance Properties Inc.

“I was up island, and someone went out of their way to praise Victoria for having a Youth Poet Laureate -‐ and Morgan is such a great ambassador for the city, and a representative of the arts in general!”

-‐ Mayor Dean Fortin

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5. CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CITY OF VICTORIA

At the end of the 2012-‐2013 CVYC Term, Members identified strengthening ties with the City of Victoria to be a priority for the next year. That goal was definitely met this year through the initiatives you see below. 2013-‐2014 Members understood the role and responsibilities of municipal government 61% after their term on the Youth Council. They also felt 40% more heard by City government, and increased their belief that youth have power in the City of Victoria by 37%.

A. VICTORIA YOUTH CAUCUS

The Victoria Youth Caucus truly got off the ground this term after having been developed in May 2013. This initiative brings together youth and City Councillors to discuss important and relevant Council Agenda items. The goal of this project is to allow youth a medium by which they can give their feedback and have it be brought to Council as a “youth report”.

Lisa Helps facilitated six Youth Caucus sessions this year, sometimes with the support of her fellow Council Members. We intend to continue to expand this project next year as it is so valuable.

B. BICYCLE MASTER PLAN

In spring 2014, the CVYC received a presentation from Julie Potter, who works in civic engagement at the City of Victoria. She asked us for feedback about the City’s revamping of the Bicycle Master Plan and also asked for support in spreading the word about the online survey. We were happy to work with the City to promote this as cycling is a hot topic at the Youth Council table.

C. COUNCIL MEET & GREET

This Term’s Council Meet & Greet with City Council was a great success! All Councillors were present as well as many Youth Council Members. Talk at this Meet & Greet

“I am really pleased with how much involvement we had with the city.”

“Getting the chance to work with City Council [was a highlight].”

“I loved the insight into municipal politics and the chance to collaborate and undertake ambitious projects with other youth.”

“I have gotten to understand how local government works a little better.”

2013-‐2014 Members

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went from tangible project and event planning to more heart-‐centered sharing about how to find confidence, how to foster passions and how to pursue dreams. Inspired by the Meet & Greet discussions, City Council Liaison Lisa Helps gave the CVYC a workshop on “How to find your voice” at our March Executive Meeting. Furthermore, Councillor Pam Madoff followed up to connect us with City Staff for the Art Mentorship Project.

D. COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN ON DISCRIMINATION

In 2012, the City of Victoria Youth Council and VIPIRG (Vancouver Island Public Interest Research Project) came together to create the Community Action Plan (CAP) on Discrimination working group based on the Youth Council’s findings in their Racism and Discrimination Survey. Now, the CAP group meets once a month in the Council chambers with a dozen other organizations and Councillors Lisa Helps and Marianne Alto. The Youth Council remains actively involved to speak to youth’s experiences of racism and discrimination in Victoria.

E. CITY STAFF INTERVIEWS

Similarly to last summer, the CVYC will be undertaking a City Staff Interviews project this August. Last year, we built great connections, recognized synergies and established working relationships with six City Staff, and this year we would again like to meet with at least six. CVYC Members are trained as interviewers and receive an honorarium for their time.

6. COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

The CVYC has always been very plugged in to community initiatives in the City of Victoria and the Capital Regional District. This year, we participated in a number of exciting events including the United Way Youth Council Development Day, Esquimalt Bike Fest, Mountain Equipment Coop Bike Fest and the Youth Now Awards, for which one of our Members was nominated. At the MEC and Esquimalt Bike Fests, we surveyed youth to see what encouraged them to hop on their bikes, as sustainability and health have always been a big topic at the Youth Council table. As mentioned previously in this report, we were also supporting the City of Victoria’s efforts to revive the Bicycle Master Plan. The Coordinator also attended the HYPE Conference and a Youth Engagement Round Table Dialogue facilitated by the Coordinator of the Saanich Youth Council.

Through our community involvement, we have learned that youth engagement is certainly an emerging field and priority for many organizations and local government in the City of Victoria. The Youth Council and Coordinator have often found themselves in roles where they are helping other groups and individuals come to a place where they understand what authentic

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youth-‐driven initiatives looks like, as opposed to youth program participation, as illustrated in this Spectrum of Youth Engagement developed by BC Healthy Communities.

7. MEDIA

This year, the CVYC had many great media successes. This included an increased following on Facebook (148 likes) and Twitter (96 followers), a brand new redesigned website and some great coverage in print and on the radio. Similarly to last year, the Youth Poet Laureate program was our most mediatized initiative. On the marketing side of things, we printed more CVYC buttons, business cards and had a CVYC banner made.

CVYC IN THE MEDIA

I. General Media

Employability Skills Fair article in Times Colonist:

Nanaimo Councillor Pitches New Youth Advisory Council:

http://www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/226178601.html

II. Youth Poet Laureate Media

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http://www.mondaymag.com/entertainment/248393431.html

https://www.stmarg.ca/sms-‐now/news/poetry-‐voice-‐2014-‐sms-‐finals

http://www.martlet.ca/news/victorias-‐new-‐youth-‐poet-‐laureate-‐looks-‐to-‐propel-‐youth-‐arts/

http://www.nexusnewspaper.com/2014/02/05/the-‐writings-‐on-‐the-‐wall-‐a-‐poet-‐laureate-‐an-‐activist-‐and-‐a-‐writing-‐professor-‐weigh-‐in-‐on-‐words-‐and-‐the-‐power-‐they-‐hold/

http://www.timescolonist.com/victoria-‐names-‐second-‐youth-‐poet-‐laureate-‐1.792318

CBC Radio Documentary: http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/documentaries/2014/06/22/youth-‐poet-‐laureate/

8. FINANCIALS

See Appendix D for a detailed financial report and break down of the expenses and revenues received through the City of Victoria, additional fundraising and partnerships.

8. WHAT IS NEXT?

A. SUMMER 2014

Hiring and training new CVYC Coordinator Workshops by Island Sexual Health and Bipolar Babe Youth leading Evaluation interviews with City Staff Recruitment 2014-‐2015 (into Fall 2014)

B. FALL/WINTER 2014

2013-‐2014 term Orientation Retreat Renewal of City of Victoria MOU Completion of “Paid by a Youth” and “Art Mentorship Project” Recruitment of 2015 Youth Poet Laureate Municipal election awareness and youth-‐based events

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THANK YOU!

Every year, the City of Victoria Youth Council is thrilled to receive the support and encouragement of so many community Members and organizations. First, the CVYC would like to acknowledge that we do our work on the lands of the Esquimalt, Songhees, Lekwungen and Coast Salish people.

Secondly, the support of City of Victoria Staff and City Councillors has been invaluable this year, and we look forward to strengthening our relationship in the coming years. We would especially like to thank Lisa Helps, our City Council Liaison and John Reilly, our City Staff Liaison for their tireless energy, ideas and support throughout the 2013-‐2014 Term.

Of course, we would be nowhere without our amazing Members. Thirdly, we would like to express many thanks and congratulations to the 23 Members that made the 2013-‐2014 term what it was. Each and every one of them contributed unique skills and ideas.

Fourth, a special thank you to our collaborators and funders this year! As our cornerstone funder, we so appreciate the City of Victoria for valuing the contribution youth make to our City.

To finish, a fifth and final thank you to BC Healthy Communities, our host organization! BCHC has been incredible supportive of the CVYC, providing hands on help to the CVYC Coordinator and providing provincial scope and perspective to our initiatives.

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APPENDIX A – CVYC COMMUNICATION AGREEMENT

This Communication Agreement was developed entirely by Youth Council Members at our Orientation Retreat on November 2nd 2013. This Agreement guided our communication at meetings and events throughout the year.

• Baseline: Respect + creating safe spaces • Be conscious of when others are speaking • Engaging (if possible) with the last point • Allow ideas to be fully expressed • Respecting other people’s ideas (even if you don’t agree) • Allowing everyone to share ideas • Disagree with the ideas, not the person (and respectfully) • Respecting schedule and people’s time • Keeping ideas clear and concise • Being aware of how much you are speaking • Have a volunteer write minutes, then email them out for those who miss meetings • Beginning meetings with a recap, end with a summary • Active listening • Ask the group if there are questions before moving on to a new topic • Always ok to ask for clarification (especially with acronyms) • Ask people about their opinions, play to strengths • Be conscious of triggers (it’s ok if you need to leave) – trigger warnings • Use “I” statements • Acknowledge Unceded First Nations territories, respect history • Refocussing – use a “parking lot” of ideas • Using different (and appropriate) methods of facilitation and group discussion depending on

context • Acknowledge imperfections, being called out on stuff is an opportunity for learning

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APPENDIX B – SELECTED QUOTES FROM THE END OF TERM SURVEY

What was your experience like in the Youth Council?

It was a very incredible experience for me -‐ a great association with passionate people who are empowered about making positive change in society.

It was great and a lot of fun. It was exciting to see how our projects played out and fantastic to be with such an amazing team of youth.

It was a positive experience, lots of team-‐building skills, communication, and learning how to organize and put tasks into action.

Joining the CVYC has been a highlight of my two years in Victoria.

It was a lot of fun. I had a great experience meeting and working with awesome people and helping organize an amazing event to help youth in the community.

It was very positive, over the past two years I have been able to meet and connect with people that have similar interests for the community as me.

What did you most enjoy about your experience in the Youth Council?

The people, the shared leadership/equality, encouraging autonomy and agency among members.

Most of all I enjoyed working on projects which I felt would have some impact on my community. It was exciting to think that my hours with CVYC would be able to educate and interest people in my community on the issues I feel passionately about.

Learning and growing with my peers, finding out what was needed from us and what would and wouldn't work.

Coming to a compromise/consensus and feeling good and proud about moving forward CVYC opened up a lot of community opportunities for me.

Being able to work and learn from so many different people.

Discussing issues that are important to everyone and brainstorming how to tackle those problems, I always learned the most through those sessions.

I enjoyed being able to pick our own projects, that we think are important and something we think would engage youth in Victoria.

The group discussions and how everyone was always very open and respectful, we didn't take ourselves too seriously.

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APPENDIX C -‐ PROGRESS LETTER FROM MORGAN PURVIS, 2014 CITY OF VICTORIA YOUTH POET LAUREATE

Dear CVYC,

Things over on the Youth Poet Laureate front are going really wonderfully. I have performed at a variety of functions, including a public forum about violence against women hosted by MP Murray Rankin, the Victoria Spoken Word Festival and the Greater Victoria Public Library's Teen Writing Contest! Performing for City Council was a lot of fun, and performing at Janet Rogers' event LitARTCity with dancers and musicians responding to my poetry was definitely a highlight. I've also been talking about youth arts and poetry in the media. I've been featured in articles in Monday Mag, The Martlet, The Nexus, and The Times Colonist. This weekend, I was featured on National Radio; CBC Sunday Edition did a story about me!

As fun as they are, all the performance and media opportunities are not the real meat of what I've been up to. Since beginning the position in January, I have taught about 20 poetry workshops in high schools. Hanging out with young people, helping them express themselves, and connecting with them in a meaningful way-‐ that has been my favourite part of the role. Victorious Voices High School Slam Championship was amazing, both the performances, and helping the teams prepare. I have taken on a mentorship role with a young woman named Angela, who is a 14-‐year-‐old writer/artist and student at Lambrick Park High. We write and create together, and are becoming fast friends. My hope is that I will be able to bring her to perform alongside me at some of my gigs in the fall.

Also in the works for the fall include a partnership between myself and the library system. We are developing a program sponsored by the GVPL which will allow teens to get spoken word coaching from me at the library, and then enter the Victorious Voices Competition. The library will also be featuring some of my poetry as displays in the branches this fall. Plans are well under way to bring approximately. 100 high school students to workshops and performances at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in October. I will be travelling to Ottawa in August as the Poet of Honour at YouthCanSlam, which is a festival that hosts the Candian Youth Slam Championships.

All in all, I have been busier than I ever imagined, with a huge variety of work, and I have learned that simply being close to high school students, and truly listening to them, is an incredibly transformative experience. Youth in this city are brilliant, fiery, funny, poignant, fierce and beautiful. They are heartbreaking and healing. I believe more and more every day that they are powerful beyond what most people recognize. Being the Youth Poet Laureate isn't really about speaking on behalf of the youth at all; it is about facilitating the platforms so that young people can speak for themselves. It has been and continues to be an honour and a privilege. Many thanks, CVYC!

Morgan Purvis

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APPENDIX D – CVYC FINANCIALS 2013-‐2014

* Other PedalBox Gallery expenses have been paid through the CRD IDEA Grant, received in the 2012-‐2013 term

CVYC REVENUES 2013-‐ 2014 (Date: July 15, 2014) REVENUES City of Victoria -‐ Annual Grant 20,000.00 City of Victoria -‐ Honorarium Culture Days – PedalBox Gallery 200.00 Ministry of Casual Living – Donation PedalBox Gallery 100.00 Reliance Properties Inc. -‐ Donation for Youth Poet Laureate project 3,250.00 Cash Donations -‐ Youth Poet Laureate Event 313.14

TOTAL REVENUES: 23,863.14

CVYC EXPENSES 2013-‐ 2014 (Date: July 15, 2014) EXPENSES

CVYC Coordinator 12,240.00 CVYC Meetings (Snacks, Supplies etc.) 1,385.08 Travel 92.50 Telephone (text-‐only phone CVYC Coordinator) 197.07 Printing 145.71 Web Costs (hosting/support) 190.91 Marketing & Design (CVYC banner) 183.48 Training & Development (CVYC Retreat, Presenters Honorarium etc.) 391.29 Honoraria (CVYC Media & Member Support) 90.00 Special Youth Projects:

> All Project Related Expenses Meetings/Supplies 9.62 > Art Mentorship 724.47 > Pay By A Youth 286.52 > Employability Fair 844.86 > By Youth For Youth Workshops 318.20 > Pedal Box Gallery* 300.00 > Youth Poet Laureate 3,563.14

CVYC Evaluation (CVYC Member – City Staff Interviews) 900.00 BCHC Administrational Support 2,000.00

TOTAL EXPENSES: 23,862.85 Difference: -‐0.29

2013-2014 CVYC Annual Report [Final] · 4"! REPORTSUMMARY" The201332014CityofVicto riaYouth"...

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