FAQ
1. What is the Youth Challenge Fund?
2. What is the 'YCF approach'?
3. Is funding restricted to the 13 priority neighbourhood areas?
4. I’m involved with a youth-led organization in one of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. How can I receive support from YCF?
5. Can individuals donate to the Youth Challenge Fund?
6. What is the role of the Trustee?
7. What is the role of the Partnership Steering Committee?
8. How was the Board appointed?
9. Will the Youth Challenge Fund be sustainable? How will it make a long-term difference in neighbourhoods?
1. What is the Youth Challenge Fund?
The Youth Challenge Fund has invested in youth-driven initiatives that use creative, collaborative approaches to engage and provide opportunities for young people in Toronto’s 13 priority neighbourhoods. Initiated by the Government of Ontario, the Youth Challenge Fund is governed by a Partnership Steering Committee made up of a broad cross-section of community leaders. United Way Toronto is YCF’s trustee, providing allocations and fund development support.
2. What is the 'YCF approach'?
YCF’s approach to youth development is grounded on four pillars:
- Youth-led: Youth leadership is at the core of all YCF initiatives. They brought their ideas to the table; community partners lent support to help bring these ideas to fruition.
- Community-based: YCF targeted resources to 13 neighbourhoods in the city most in need of investment to ensure solutions to existing problems were rooted in the communities where these young people live.
- Collaborative partnerships: YCF mobilizes, convenes and engages youth, community service organizations and institutions to build relationships with each other and develop skills to work in new, more effective ways.
- Systemic change: By putting youth at the centre of community development, YCF is changing the way institutions work with young people and ensuring programs are more relevant, successful and sustainable.
3. Is funding restricted to the 13 priority neighbourhood areas?
The agreement that established the original board stipulated that programs funded by YCF were primarily focused on the 13 priority neighbourhood areas determined by the City of Toronto’s Strong Neighbourhood Strategy.
4. I’m involved with a youth-led organization in one of Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. How can I receive support from YCF?
Though YCF is no longer accepting funding applications, we continue to work with youth-led initiatives to support their development and implementation. These initiatives will have a lasting impact by creating spaces for youth and encouraging young people to work together – with other youth-led initiatives, community organizations and public institutions – to better the lives of youth in these communities. As part of a youth-driven organization, we encourage you to seek out opportunities to partner with the young people currently working to develop these initiatives. Please contact Nation Cheong, Director of Community Engagement & Grants, at (416) 507-3293 or ncheong@youthchallengefund.org.
5. Can individuals donate to the Youth Challenge Fund?
Yes. Individuals who wish to make donations to YCF may do so through our secure online donation system, or they can send donations to United Way Toronto, marked Youth Challenge Fund, or call 416-777-2001.
6. What is the role of the Trustee?
As YCF’s trustee, United Way Toronto is committed to ensuring all funded initiatives are supported up to 2013. Since 2006, UWT has provided allocations and fund development support for YCF, which includes research, community engagement, support to the board and financial administration.
7. What is the role of the Partnership Steering Committee?
The Youth Challenge Fund’s Partnership Steering Committee (PSC) is an eight-member committee whose primary role is to provide oversight and ensure that the work of funded initiatives continues under the YCF mandate through 2013. The PSC is co-chaired by Toronto Argonauts CEO Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons and youth representative Stefany Hanson. It is made up of a broad cross-section of community leaders, including representatives from the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto, United Way Toronto and members of the original YCF board.
8. How was the Board appointed?
The original Youth Challenge Fund board was chaired by Toronto Argonauts CEO Michael 'Pinball' Clemons. The board was community-based, with representatives from the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto, United Way Toronto, and the community at large. Every attempt was made to develop a community board that has the necessary range of skills, experiences and perspectives to govern YCF, and to reflect the diversity of perspectives and communities who live in Toronto, and particularly in the priority neighbourhood areas.
9. Will the Youth Challenge Fund be sustainable? How will it make a long-term difference in neighbourhoods?
The Youth Challenge Fund is working to build the long-term capacity of the youth-serving sector. It has focused on supporting initiatives that transform the way young people living in the 13 priority neighbourhoods engage with their community. As such, YCF has targeted funding to initiatives that will have a lasting impact on the lives of youth by:
- Creating new spaces in the community for youth to meet face to face, work together and build relationships.
- Connecting young people with organizations across the city with the resources required to bring their ideas to fruition.
- Building the ability of youth to advocate for themselves and plan for their own futures by connecting them with experienced mentors in the community.
- Facilitating relationships with our partners across the city – from community-based organizations to public institutions – in order to ensure they continue to form strategic collaborations with youth.
The Government of Ontario is currently in the process of evaluating programs funded by YCF. Results of this evaluation will be available in early 2011.