Vital Youth initiative cultivates leadership, philanthropy in Victoria

By Leah Baade

The Victoria Foundation’s Vital Youth initiative is currently entering its eighth year. Working with more than 100 students in seven local high schools, the Victoria Foundation is pleased to offer this experiential learning program that teaches community leadership and philanthropy.

Previously named Youth in Philanthropy, the program has been renamed this year to reflect the valuable community impact of Victoria’s Vital Signs® Students are encouraged to identify their individual and group values and then use the Vital Signs® report to explore challenges and opportunities within their communities.

Victoria's Vital Signs

“This group of students was exceptional – smart, provocative, challenging and engaged. We met early in the morning and in spite of busy schedules one of the team members was able to visit READ,” said Claire Rettie, Executive Director, Victoria READ Society.

“In a social and funding climate that is increasingly challenging, working with these young people provided me with a much-needed burst of energy.”

Last year, student committees granted a total of $17,500 to 16 local charities. Each of the grants made a valuable contribution to various issue areas identified by participants of theVictoria’s Vital Signs® survey.

Participating schools include Belmont Secondary, Frances Kelsey Secondary, Oak Bay High, Reynolds Secondary, Victoria High, St. Michaels University School, and, in partnership with the Saanich Peninsula Foundation,  Stelly’s Secondary School.

For the first time ever this year, and with the support of TELUS, the Victoria Foundation will launch the Youth Vital Signs report as its own publication. The launch will take place on Saturday, November 19th at the TEDx Victoria Youth event.

Leah Baade is Vital Youth and Social Media Coordinator with Victoria Foundation 

Congregation connected to community through Victoria’s Vital Signs

By Leah Baade

Reverend Allen Saunders is a get-things-done kind of man. He finds a need and he fills it. As lead minister at First Metropolitan United Church, he is full of energy for our community – members of the congregation and the city he lives in.

The church houses the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria (ICA) in the low-income housing complex on the church property. It’s also a stepping-off point for many of the church’s outreach endeavours. From supporting initiatives such as Our Place, Inner-City Dinners and Out of the Rain Shelter for street youth, to recreational outlets for youth in the form of a basketball team, or for drop-in recreation. Still other initiatives focus on the environment and sustainability, health and wellness, music, and youth.

Rev. Saunders leads an active congregation of 627 households at the downtown Victoria church; the 1915 heritage building is a hub of belonging and leadership in our community.

So what’s the connection to the Victoria Foundation? Rev. Saunders regularly bases his Sunday sermons on the findings of Victoria’s Vital Signs.

To coincide with Rights of the Child Day, he highlighted some of Victoria’s challenges and achievements that were identified by our youth respondents. And just last month, his sermon took a serious look at what Victoria graders identified as the top five issues in our community, noting that homelessness, cost of living, addictions, housing and mental illness are all interrelated.

The Vital Signs indicators play a valuable role in how the congregation at First Metropolitan decides where there are challenges that need to be met. They help to prioritize opportunities for outreach. A shortage of funding for the arts in Victoria-area schools means an extra-special opportunity for a music program at the church. Cost-of-living constraints find Rev. Saunders pondering a community kitchen program that would facilitate community building and a sense of accomplishment as participants cook for themselves and each other.

Victoria’s Vital Signs is a key tool for the church in its strategic planning process. While putting together its vision for 2020, First Metropolitan is able to examine future staffing needs and identify the church’s greatest potential for redevelopment.

It’s evident that Rev. Saunders has an inspiring effect on his congregation. Parishioners travel to this church each week from as far away as Sidney and Sooke. First Metropolitan’s message reaches much further than the back pew as he encourages each and every member of the congregation to put their faith into action as soon as they step out the doors.

Leah Baade is Youth in Philanthropy and Social Media Coordinator with Victoria Foundation.