2016

Third Annual Employability Skills Fair

The Employability Skills Fair provided young people between the ages of 14 and 24 with the skills and resources they need to find employment. In 2016, the Employability Skills Fair was organized by the City of Victoria Youth Council, GT Hiring/Work BC, and the Quadra Village Community Centre.

2015

10 Year Celebration

The CVYC celebrated its 10th year in existence by enjoying some cupcakes, reflecting on the past and envisioning the future of the Youth Council. Over 40 past CVYC members, Coordinators, liaisons, and community members attended the event!

“The CVYC opened my eyes to how wonderful our city is, especially the great opportunities and value given to youth voices.”

Life Hacks

Life Hacks was a learning day that combined peer to peer learning with expert voices for friendly and practical tips to save young people time, money and stress. The event was inspired by a conversation at Youth Council regarding all the knowledge members wished they learned in school such as such as sexual health, emotional wellbeing, nutrition, food sexuality and financial literacy.

Second Annual Employability Skills Fair

CVYC provided youth with the resources they need to apply for jobs in the greater Victoria area. The Fair shared information about cover letter and resume writing,sector-specific employment (for example, in retail or the trades), mock interviews, how to dress for an interview, volunteer opportunities and more.

Mental Health Forum

The Mental Health Forum provided space for discussion about existing mental health services available to youth and how they could be better supported. Over 20 mental health practitioners, community members and youth attended the event to share their valuable knowledge and opinions.

Art Mentorship Program (AMP)!

The Art Mentorship Program (AMP) brought together young artists (14 to 19 years of age) and established artists for a two month art mentorship from January to April.

2014

Youth Q&A with Victoria’s Mayoral Candidates

The City of Victoria Youth Council (CVYC) and Youth for Change and Inclusion (YCI) co-hosted a Q&A with Victoria’s Mayoral Candidates on Friday, October 24 from 1.00 to 2.00 PM. Candidates who running to be Victoria’s next mayor answered questions from the audience about their vision for youth in the community. This panel-style event was a great opportunity to learn a bit more about local politics and to have your voice heard!

PedalBox Gallery

The PedalBox Gallery, a former Youth Council project, is Victoria’s first mobile bike cart art gallery. Showcasing exclusively art made by young folks under the age of 24, and paying them for their work, PedalBox seeks to showcase young creative voices in Victoria in a sustainable and innovative fashion. In May 2014, the Pedalbox gallery was transferred to the Ministry of Casual Living.

Youth Poet Laureate

The CVYC initiated Victoria (and Canada’s) first ever Youth Poet Laureate project. Supported by the Victoria Poetry Project and Il Terrazzo, the 2013 Youth Poet Laureate Aysia Law had great success engaging her peers with poetry workshops, feature performances and a wildly successful Diversity Slam!

My City. My Community. My Life.

This was an opportunity to learn more about and add youth voice and perspective to key issues identified in the 2011 CVYC Youth Survey. The Summit was an opportunity to contribute to a vision for Victoria by youth and with youth’s interests in mind!

Engaging Youth on Our Terms

Engaging Youth on Our Terms is a project led by CVYC Executive Member Simon Nattrass. The goal of this project is to facilitate better communication between youth and non-profit organizations. We had a survey and also several meetings to discuss the effectiveness of different outreach tools that are directed towards youth.

Earth Walk for Peace and the Planet

CVYC supported the Earth Walk for Peace and the Planet. We set up a booth at the event with information about the CVYC and a “speaker corner” where event participants wrote up their responses to a question on a big chalkboard to spark discussion.

Justice Activism in Youth Legal Literacy

Justice Activism in Youth Legal Literacy (JAYLL) is a CVYC project, an evolution of the Legal Literacy project. Quick re-cap: In the 2006 CVYC Youth Survey, homelessness/affordable housing was identified as an issue. To respond to this, the CVYC hosted a homelessness forum in 2007. One specific issue that was found through this forum was that of homeless youth’s backpacks being taken by the police. This sparked the “So Busted!: Youth Discussion Series on Justice, Community, and Youth in Victoria” discussion series that took place in 2008. What we found through these discussions was that many youth are unsure about what justice is and do not find our justice system accessible. We formed the Legal Literacy project, and set about to address this issue. The product was the Street Legal Booklet, which is a guide to youth rights that is aimed to facilitate the first stages of the justice system–relations between youth and police. JAYLL is currently working to distribute the Street Legal Booklet and create a workshop to accompany it.

2009

The Age to Engage

This was a youth conference in every sense of the term; a youth coordinated it, youth made up the planning committee, youth attended it, and youth presented at different workshops. On April 29, 2009, the conference took place. Our day-long conference had three keynote speeches and a morning and afternoon workshop session. A total of twelve organizations were represented by 21 youth speakers! We would like to acknowledge the LifeCycles Project Society and Youthcore for their financial support, and UVic and the City of Victoria for their in-kind support.

2008

Stoked to Vote! Civic Literacy Campaign

In November 2008, the CVYC took up its second campaign to improve youth participation in a local election. After offering printed brochures and an accessible info-booth during the 2005 race, the Youth Council decided to step it up in the big ’08 with an all-candidates debate focused on specific youth issues, an online and in-print poster campaign and a canvassing strategy to draw young people to the polls.