The Ontario Coalition for Children and Youth and the Metro Youth Council merged in 1998 to make sure that they would have enough funding to keep the spirit of their organizations alive. OCCY and MYC were funded by the provincial and municipal governments respectively. This new organization was incorporated as the Ontario Young People's Alliance.

But the government priorities were changing, and would no longer provide either organization with the amount of money they needed in order to continue to do their work.

OYPA staff wrote a proposal to the Trillium Foundation to provide 'core funds' (meaning enough money to pay for basic things like rent, phone, staff) as well as programming.

Although the funding was less than requested, the proposal was successful. The Trillium Foundation was OYPA's only funder between the years of 1998 and 2001. This support was critical; without it OYPA may not have been around today.

For more information about the Trillium Foundation, and their grants, please click on the logo above, it will take you to their website!

Staff at OYPA started communicating with staff at the Laidlaw Foundation in 2000. There was a connection between OYPA's youth engagement process and Laidlaw's Youth Engagement Programme.

Staff at OYPA proposed to use funding from the Laidlaw Foundation to launch the Keepin' it R.E.A.L. Project, an initiative that would create Real, Effective, Activist, and Local spaces for young people to share ideas, experiences, and projects.

The proposal was very successful. OYPA was given funding to do its programming, and to support the development of the internal organization. With the grant, OYPA was able to put up its website, and put out The R.E.A.L. Hookup, the on-line match list created by TakingITGlobal. Two contract staff were hired to support OYPA programming.

Our contact at the Laidlaw Foundation is Violetta Ilkiw who has offered support to OYPA and its staff for the past three years, and who herself, is an amazing, intelligent, and powerfully healing force in the world!

Agora Foundation

The Agora Foundation, in partnership with the Laidlaw Foundation, supports OYPA by trusteeing our funds. This means that OYPA is able to give charitable receipts through the Agora Foundation when we receive donations. This means a potential donor will get some money back at the end of the year because they have made a donation to a charity.

Agora Foundation's Executive Director, Leslie Wright, has come on board as a support to OYPA staff. Her encouragement and skills are helping the Agora Foundation reach out to, and support small and/or emerging non-profit organizations.

darkdaughta.com:electronic emancipation

darkdaughta.com is the electronic home of Cultural Critic, Community Organizer, and R/evolutionary T.J. Bryan a.k.a. Tenacious. For the past year, T.J. has provided OYPA staff with consultation, facilitation, strategic planning, visioning, and evaluation. Her choice to truly be and live in radical ways has nudged OYPA into another stage of its evolution.

T.J. is a creatrix (meaning a powerful womyn who makes powerful things happen), and has invited OYPA to participate in some of her creations including Mamawork: a symposium about the revolutionary politics of mothering against the grain, and left-k: a grant for radical queer youth of colour.

Through these partnerships, OYPA board and staff have been able to push, stretch, and rip apart the boundaries of 'youth engagement' to include new ways of understanding community organizing as it relates to young people.

Check out her website, and engage in dialogue with her. She'll rock your world too!

PowerCAMP National

OYPA and POWER Camp National developed an organizational partnership in 2003 when OYPA joined the POWER Camp National Network.

Since then, we have participated in the Transforming Spaces: Girlhood, Agency and Power Retreat, and Conference by supporting the organizing of the event, providing an anti-oppression workshop, and by speaking on a panel.

The wimmin at POWER Camp National are inspiring. They represent to us an organization that acts, teaches, and learns in ways that truly change the world.

Tatiana Fraser, the Executive Director, has offered OYPA board and staff strategic planning, development, research and evaluation support. If you are in Montreal, check out their vibe and space, they are great people doing important work.

 

Thank you, everyone for your support of the Ontario Young People's Alliance. The journey continues... Onwards!