Youth Engagement in Community

Background:

At a time when rural communities are struggling with complex challenges, new leaders who are able to rise to the challenge, unbridled by traditional thinking or established patterns of action, are in high demand. Unfortunately, young people, who can bring fresh ideas to the table, are consistently under‑utilized in addressing the leadership needs of the community. Youth represent the future of rural communities, yet rural areas across Canada have experienced an overall loss of their youth over the last three census periods. Furthermore, this trend will likely continue with seventy‑four percent of 15 ‑ to 19‑year‑olds indicating that they intend to live in an urban community.

HeartWood Centre for Community Youth Development (HeartWood) is a non‑profit organization established in 1989 that offers youth development programming to over 3,500 youth annually in Nova Scotia. HeartWood collaborates with community leaders, private citizens, agencies, groups and all levels of government to promote and support community‑based youth development. Through its involvement in youth programming, HeartWood discovered that youth felt a strong need to be heard and included in community development, but they often felt left out. The Youth Engagement in Community model was developed by HeartWood to engage youth as partners in building a better future for themselves and their communities.

Model Description:

The Youth Engagement in Community model is an action‑oriented approach to empower and engage youth by creating an environment where young people can bring about positive community change.

The process involves the creation of Youth Action Teams comprised of rural youth and community development stakeholders. Heartwood provides the Youth Action Teams with a process, tools and best practices to mobilize youth to identify their community's needs and develop specific actions to address them. Through this process, youth are recognized as an untapped human resource, who have a valuable contribution to make in rural communities.

The overall goal of the model is to encourage rural youth development, and generate new human capital, community partnerships and networks, resulting in the increased capacity of rural communities to develop.

Project Funding:

The Rural Secretariat will fund this project with $1,010,100. Funding for this research initiative is derived from the five‑year, $55‑million renewal of the Canadian Rural Partnership, announced in June 2002.

Research Objectives:

• Gather evidence on the model's application and utility as an approach to both community and youth development.

The research activities supported by the Rural Secretariat's Models for Rural Development and Rural Community Capacity Building Program (The Models Program) will contribute to the understanding of what approaches (models) to community development and capacity building work in rural, remote and northern communities. The information collected will be useful for all levels of government to support their decisions on programs and services for rural Canadians, as well as future policy directions.

Community Sites:

The Youth Engagement in Community model will be implemented through Heartwood in three sites outside of Nova Scotia, namely, Eastern Townships (Quebec), Nain (Labrador) and Mount Stewart (Prince Edward Island).

For more information, please contact: