TakingITGlobal

47 Partner Appreciation Partner Appreciation Partner Appreciation Each year, our #RisingYouth team has formed partnerships with community organizations who have helped to support youth in accessing the grant through outreach efforts. Over the past year, over 100 organizations from every Province and Territory across Canada worked with us as Awareness and Impact partners. In addition to formal partnerships, we had extended networks of community organizations reaching out and encouraging youth to apply. This resulted in over 32.5% of applicants who said that they heard about the opportunity through an organization. We are grateful to our partners who have supported youth in this process of both applying for the grants as well as offering mentorship and support through to completion! During the first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic, front line youth drop-in centres had to close their physical doors to youth in accordance with public health guidelines and we would like to commend the incredibly adaptive approaches that groups have taken throughout these trying times to remain open and available to youth. In the fall of 2020, our Partnerships and Outreach Team organized consultations with 13 organizations to gain insight on the following: • A deeper understanding of the challenges organizational partners are experiencing during COVID-19. • Perspective on the challenges youth accessing their programs/services are facing during COVID-19. • Insights on how #RisingYouth can support organizational partners to generate more referrals. • How #RisingYouth grants to be leveraged to address emerging barriers/needs identified by youth. There were a number of barriers identified by partner organizations that spanned across regions: Staff Capacity • Organizations were overwhelmed and struggling to keep employees from burning out. • Front line workers were at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. • Emerging needs/gaps require ongoing re-prioritization of programs/service delivery. Program Modifications • Transitioning program to online/virtual engagement. • Digital literacy, procuring the right equipment for organization and accessibility to youth. • All partners indicated they had transitioned entirely or predominantly to online programming. SECTION 4 SECTION 4 SECTION 4

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