Speaking Rights Youth Forum
42 participants (22 youth and 20 staff) from 16 youth-serving key partner organizations across Canada. The 16 key partners were selected from among 400 Speaking Rights partners across Canada based on their internal capacity, motivation, and successful experience implementing Equitas’ educational programs. All 15 youth-serving organizations are key pillars in their communities, mostly serving youth (and other community members) that face increased barriers to participation, such as newcomer and refugees, Indigenous youth, girls/young women, LGBTQI youth, youth-in-care). The youth ambassadors participating in Speaking Rights National activities were identified by staff because of their demonstrated leadership capacity and motivation to be involved in a year-long initiative.
By the end of the National Youth Forum, participants should be better able to:
· Engage in more effective communities of practice and collaborative relationships with youth organizations across Canada
· Capture and document their ideas on how to make Canadian Communities more respectful and inclusive (i.e., sharing key message related to youth-led strategies for community change)
· Dialogue with influencers, decision-makers and key stakeholders around issues that are important to diverse youth