Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement (CEYE)

Projects and Resources

• Toronto Police Service- PEACE
• Ontario Students Assembly on Electoral Reform
• Saskatchewan Educational Policy Reform
• Youth Engagement Strategies in Vancouver
• CEYE Index

Toronto Police Service - Peace

A project designed to involve Toronto youth with local police to reduce youth gang involvement and gun violence.

The project:

• Showed youth how to use leadership skills in positive social action with police.
• Developed video, print, public services advertisements and workshops to educate youth in schools and communities.
• Police found the project contributed to a reduction in gun-related violence in Toronto
• Initiated partnerships between youth and police, a including first-ever training session given by youth at Police College, and a first-ever mandated series of joint police/youth presentations in Toronto schools.

As a result of the project, youth engagement has become a key element of the Toronto policing strategy to reduce violence.

This highly successful project is expanding to other communities.

Students Assembly on Electoral Reform

CEYE helped two organizations, The Planning Desk, and Student Vote Canada, develop and implement the Students Assembly on Electoral Reform in the Province of Ontario in 2006-2007.

The Assembly was the “under 18” wing of the Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform and engaged younger citizens in democratic renewal.

CEYE presented a report to the Citizen’s Assembly and the Province of Ontario documenting the views and recommendations of some 3,500 Ontario high school students about electoral reform.

Saskatchewan Educational Policy Reform

CEYE engaged youth, parents and communities in educational policy in Saskatchewan.

The goal was to improve the quality of learning in communities and to reduce drop-out rates, particularly for Aboriginal children and youth.

CEYE advised teacher-training curriculum on empowering approaches to engage youth in learning and overall decision-making structures within school communities.
 
The Centre promoted practices to engage youth in the classroom and in policy on school community councils.

An important part of the project was adult ally training for educators. Adult ally training provides the necessary skills for creating meaningful youth-adult relationships that encourage youth development.

The principle of youth engagement is now part of the provincial policy frameworks of Saskatchewan Learning, including Saskatchewan’s Action Plan for Children.

Youth Engagement Strategies in Vancouver

The Centre is working closely with the City of Vancouver to evaluate and learn from engaged youth in the city’s Youth Outreach team.

The Youth Outreach team supports organizations and departments throughout the city, involving youth in planning and decision-making, including drug policy, homelessness, and urban planning.  

Youth engagement is now part of the City of Vancouver’s drug prevention plan and work of the Youth Outreach Team. The Centre has an on-going partnership with the City of Vancouver and the Youth Outreach team has improved its ability to sustain youth participation.