Some of the greats have sung "that the children are the future", and it is programs such as the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative that let them lead the way.
The Youth and Philanthropy Initiative was founded by Julie Toskan in Toronto in 2002 who formally established the Toskan Casale Foundation; the original Canadian creators of MAC Cosmetics. With values rooted in the experience of the MAC AIDS Fund, when value-driven decisions were made to empower the public to stand up for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities, YPI teaches secondary school students across Canada, the UK, as well as New York City the fundamentals of philanthropy by giving them the opportunity to play a direct role in making a financial grant to a local, grassroots social service organization in their own community.
YPI currently has seven schools in NYC, 112 in the UK including Scotland, and now 185 across Canada. Brentwood College was the first school in British Columbia to implement it, and it was first introduced to the school by one of its previous teachers Clayton Johnston, who is now the school's director of admissions. That initial year two decades ago, Johnston started the school's first YPI with just a small group of students in his classroom going out into the community.
"Mr. Johnston thought it was a great initiative and we have been doing it ever since with the exception of a few years where it did not fit into the way we structured the program," said school YPI leader Mark Wismer. "The Toskan family, who made all their money in cosmetics, decided that they wanted to give away their fortune over time. They didn't want to make all the decisions, but rather to communities, and allow people within them to make the decisions in order to help these small organizations that do a lot of hard work within the community. We've now had YPI back at Brentwood for the last six years and it is one our paramount projects."
Wismer, who runs the school's YPI alongside five other teachers, took over as lead teacher several years ago, but has been involved with the initiative since his first year at Brentwood in 2009. The YPI model began as an idea to strengthen support for local social issues by empowering young people to determine where grant dollars would be best put to use in their communities.
"Every year the Toskan Foundation gives out $5,000 grants to schools all across Canada," said Wismer. "They have a big corporate sponsor with TD Bank as well but they give out hundreds of thousands of dollars each year."
When Johnston first introduced the program, it did not need to be an entire age cohort at that time but since, the Toskan Foundation has required that the initiative is done entirely by one grade level, so at Brentwood the YPI is led by their Grade 9 students who are in their foundation year.
"One of the goals for our Grade 9 program in general is to get them out into the community, so they know where they are going to school." said Wismer. "We exist sort of within a bubble here where the kids fly in and everything is provided for them on campus. They may walk uptown, or venture off campus for sports but for the most part they are stuck in Mill Bay, so going into Duncan to see the local areas is a great experience for them."
There were 85 Brentwood Grade 9 students who were divided into 21 groups of four that took part this year, with 25 charities within the valley that meet the criteria and conditions as they have to be both locally based and focused on helping people. It is roughly a five-week project where students spend 17 classroom hours on it, as well as hours outside of class. They start by choosing their charities, then do their research, organize visits, then put it all together and plan out their presentation.
"There are about seven groups per classroom and we have all three classes compete," said Wismer. "What is really great about this initiative is that it gives our students access to learn about their local community. The students are required to study a charity within the Cowichan Valley, and no two groups are allowed to do work on the same charity. It can't be one looks at climate change or helping animals, they all need to choose one that is focused on helping people. I love how much this project stretches them, the buy-in that they all have for it. For most of them it is the first time that they have to formally present in front of a large audience, and I could just see the progress that they all made as they got deeper into it. Even the difference between their classroom presentation and their presentation as a whole group was just incredible."
Wismer said despite a large number of their Grade 9 students not being from the area they all become very invested in their local charities and truly believe in the great work that they do, and by the end of the project just want to win the grant for their selected charity. Some of this year's finalists presented for local charities such as Cowichan Basket Society, Roots of Empathy who take mothers and their babies into the classroom to build empathy with young school children, KidSport Cowichan, and Cowichan Hospice, which was awarded the grant last year.
This year's heartwarming finals, which lasted approximately an hour and a half, were held on the evening of Feb. 13 in the atrium of Brentwood's new academic building with a gala feel and 130 in attendance including local MP Alistair MacGregor, as well as parents and representatives for the various valley charities that the students were presenting for. The winning group is then selected by a panel of judges who are made up of school administrators including both the head and deputy heads of school, as well as five of Brentwood's student leaders.
"It was a really great night," said Wismer. "This initiative is all about getting young people more involved with helping out in their community, the Toskan Foundation really have this altruistic long term view that if they get young people involved with local charities within their community early on that it will stick with them throughout their lifetime."
All presentations are required to be between eight and 10 minutes and must look at the social issues that the charity covers at the global, national, provincial, and local levels. The group that represented Cowichan Hospice made the finals again this year, and four students involved were from countries overseas where they were not familiar with hospice or that type of care for the elderly.
"It was really eye opening for them and that is really neat stuff," said Wismer.
At the end of the five moving and detailed presentations where students looked at things like poverty and homelessness, the panel of judges took a short break to make the difficult decision on which one stood out most, which happened to be one on how poverty can affect children and their access to sports. This year's winning group consisting of young athletes Meredith Berry (volleyball), Libby Code (basketball), Cormac Wismer (basketball and soccer), and Miguel Navarro (basketball), who were one of the first groups selected to choose their charity with KidSport Cowichan being their top choice as for them it hit home the most.
"They were all confident, had a well-researched topic and were able to deliver their information really well," said Wismer. "All being athletes they really connected with the idea of the importance of sports and youth. Miguel's family came to Canada from Mexico when he was young and were not well off, so they were able to use KidSport Victoria to support him. They had a great hook, felt passionate about it, and together were just a well-oiled machine."
KidSport Cowichan which has been operating in the community since 2010 is committed to raising money so that all kids can play sports. The local chapter is community-funded and relies on donor support to sustain their granting program. KidSport Cowichan chair Deb Savory Wright came to meet with the four students at Brentwood College, where to prepare for their presentation they learned more about how the local charity provides grants to families so that they can afford registration and equipment fees.
KidSport Cowichan funds children to play a season of sport, which includes covering the cost of sport registration fees up to $500 per child per season of sport. Last year KidSport Cowichan funded a total of 248 kids to play the sport of their choice for one season which equals almost $75,000 in grants given to local sports associations to benefit kids who desire to play sports. According to Wright, with the increasing volume of grant applications, the need for donations is higher than ever this year.
KidSport Cowichan hosts their annual Andy Hutchins ‘Swing Fore the Kids’ Charity Golf Tournament in September and are now in the process of gathering some folks who would like to help organize this year's nine hole event. Those interested can either email kidsport.cowichan@gmail.com or message them on Facebook.
"It was really a great experience for us," said Meredith. "She was really welcoming and it was so nice to just get insights on what it's like to be a charity in Cowichan."
All four students felt privileged to take part in the annual YPI project and embrace the journey that led to their final presentation; an experience none of them will soon forget.
"It was great," said Meredith. "We learned how to work with each other which brought us closer, and it also got us out into our community which was really fun."
"It was such a great experience and I really loved doing it," said Cormac.
"I thought that it took a lot of hard work, and I feel that this project really meant a lot to us," said Libby. "I think it is really important to recognize how privileged we are and to realize that not everyone gets the same amount that we do. Even watching the other groups present you could tell how important this initiative is. All of these charities are doing so much for people in need within our community and I think that is really important for all teenagers to be aware of."
"It was a lot of fun, and really cool to be able to work with the community on a school project," said Miguel. "Sometimes with us living here on campus, we don't notice that people are out there living their lives and struggling day to day. We all really like sports, so we really connected with Kidsport, especially me because I used the program when I was younger which really helped me get into basketball."
"Having Miguel share his story was extremely impactful, it continues to highlight just how important and vital KidSport Cowichan is to our community," said Wright. "We work very hard to help ensure financial barriers are never the reason a child does not have the opportunity to play a season of organized sports. Sport skills are life skills and every child should have the chance to experience organized sports."
Alongside one of Brentwood's student judges Ping Thamrongnawasawat, MP Alistair McGregor presented the winning group with the $5,000 cheque for KidSport Cowichan on Feb. 13. This was the first time KidSport Cowichan was selected as the recipient of the annual grant and the students were thrilled to present the local charity with the cheque on March 13.
"We feel inspired and extremely grateful to receive this donation," said Wright. "The money will be used to continue to provide funding for kids from families that need financial support to help cover the costs of sport registration fees. Last year KidSport Cowichan saw a 37 per cent increase in applications from the previous year. For a very small run charity that is run 100 per cent by volunteers that is a huge jump, directly impacting how much money we must now fundraise in order to meet the growing demand for support. We are incredibly grateful for YPI, which will certainly help us with our fundraising goals. Without the support of initiatives like this, and from other community groups, local businesses and generous supporters we would not be able to help ensure youth in our community all have the opportunity to play organized sports."
The four young athletes were thrilled to be able to support KidSport Cowichan.
"It was great to be able to put the hard work here at the school into something good and to see it pay off with being fortunate to give $5,000 to KidSport," said Cormac.
"Being able to give back to a charity really opened our eyes, and is something that not everyone would get to experience and have the privilege to do which was very cool," said Meredith.
"It was just a really great experience to know what goes on around you," said Miguel. "Other charities provide food for those who can't afford it. Here we have the privilege of playing sports three times a week, while some kids struggle to play once."
"For the students I think the biggest take away every year is just the amount of charities and niche groups that are in our communities that need support and don't get it in a lot of ways especially at the local level, and where it is really tailored to meet the need of that specific community," said Wismer.
"I think that the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative is truly an amazing program and fosters a true awareness of giving back," said Wright. "I honestly cannot think of a more impacting program that gives young people a hands on opportunity to learn about, and participate in philanthropy. It instills a culture of generosity and empathy while really empowering students to make a real difference in their community. I was incredibly moved and in awe of the hard work, creativity, and thought provoking quality of each of the presentations. The winning group truly understood the impact our charity has on helping ensure that all kids have the opportunity to play sports, and did just an incredible job with presenting that to the audience.
