With hammers and hardhats the Habitat for Humanity group explains why the charity would benefit from the $5,000 grant.
Students in the Grade 10 Civics classes at Widdifield Secondary School have entered a new interactive field of study titled the ‘Youth Philanthropy Initiative’ (YPI).
The YPI students research grassroots charities in the community, and then present their findings to fellow classmates and instructor. Based on the points earned in class, the top five groups moved on to the next round that would be scored by faculty and student representatives. The catch is that the top group from this round of public presentations secures a donation of $5,000 from the Toscan Foundation for their charity.
Mark Hopper who teaches the course says the students control their own project start to finish including the selection of working groups to the charity they study.
“The only thing we look at is the questions that they are going to ask and we have to check and make sure it is a viable charity in the community.”
“I think that it gives them a sense of informed sort of citizenship, what you have to do or what it takes to be involved in the community. Not everybody is as fortunate in the community as a regular households, I think in grade 10 they (students) get a sense of there are charities out there and what exactly they do,” he says.
The YPI combines in class learning with practical community experience through researching grassroots community charities, proposal writing, public speaking, evaluation, and analysis.
The Toskan Casale Foundation launched the Youth Philanthropy Initiative in 2002 with the mandate of empowering youth to participate in the development of their communities, engaging them as dedicated volunteers, while preparing them to be future community leadership.
“They set this program up across Canada, and there are 71 schools across Canada that are doing this, we’re just fortunate that Widdifield is the first one this semester. There are others following next semester in this area,” states Hopper.
Hopper says he has watched a transformation in his students from the beginning of the unit to the public presentations.
“I think it’s kind of funny because when they start off, the first day explaining local grassroots communities, they don’t really know what that means.”
“But after they get more and more involved, they go and do the interview … some of them end up washing dishes or hammering a nail that sort of thing. They get their own sense of being a volunteer, that it’s helping people that are less fortunate.”
Hopper says he enjoyed watching his students take on the projects and grow as individuals as they became more involved.
“I think the big thing is the first day you are trying to explain local grassroots to them, yet they have all of this information they have to learn in a very short time because curriculum is so hard based,” he explains.
“But when they came back after the Christmas holidays and they had done their interviews, they had a different smile about them and they understood how things worked.”
The top five groups represented the Gathering Place, PEP Place, the North Bay Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and the Santa Fund. Hopper says his students were all nervous presenting their topics, and regardless of which group wins the money, overall they all enjoyed the process.
“They’re sad a little if they don’t win, but they’re also happy because of the opportunity they had to look at things in the community.”
The winners will be named at the end of the second unit. Hopper also added that he hopes to keep the program at Widdifield as long as possible.
