Capacity:
The Students Commission's Ability
The Students Commission's mission
is accomplished through implementing relevant interactive
workshops, hands-on training, and youth- driven
conferences. We utilize new communication technology and
long-distance learning. We create youth learning
resources such as CD-ROMs, web sites, videos, and print
guides, networks and partnerships in youth, government,
business, and educational communities. Given the
repertoire of expertise and experience, we are confident
that The Students Commission has the skills and capacity
to accomplish this project.
We have worked at the national and
international levels on a wide variety of issues and
concerns as identified by youth and they have published
their reports in both official languages. Youth in our
program have produced National Reports and
Recommendations on issues of concern to them: Violence,
Substance Abuse, Educational Reform, Racism, Western
Regional Issues, Issues of Atlantic Canada Use, Issues of
Aboriginal Youth, Suicide and Depression, Employment,
Child Poverty, Environment, Police/Youth Relations and
the Media. We then support youth carrying out projects
working at the local and provincial level, independently,
with their schools, with their youth groups, with local
or provincial youth/youth-serving organizations. We have
a decade of experience in running effective youth/adult
workshops and conferences.
All of our work and programs are
offered in English and French and our reports,
publications, videos, CD-ROMs and web sites are released
in English and French. We have a Francophone-staffed
office in Québec which leads the French
programming, and we attract Francophone youth from across
Canada. Our other 5 offices (Toronto, St. John's,
Vancouver, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, and soon to be a sixth in
Halifax) ensures the ongoing presence of local staff to
ensure partnership and other local aspects of the program
are effective. Our current staff capacity is 28 employees
spread across the country. We have strong interests to
open a seventh office in Calgary, Alberta and to support
the hiring of 3 new teen staff. Our partnership network
is strong and in place to be mobilized towards this
effort.
We have a very strong interest and
capacity in the areas of technology, media and
internet-based collaborative working tools. We know that
the media and technology are powerful tools for engaging
and communicating with youth. We own and operate our own
servers, wide area and local area networks, an electronic
conferencing system, video conferencing system. We have
the capacity internally for video, audio, radio, CD-ROM,
print and web site production and the and the processes,
courses, tools and staff to engage and train young people
in all of the above.
