Featured Grant: Youth Grant

YOUTH GRANT

Skidegate Youth Centre

The pandemic made planning difficult for grant recipients like Hiit’aGan.iina Kuuyas Naay Skidegate Youth Centre (SYC), where in-person activities were often curtailed by public health restrictions. However, SYC successfully adapted their 2020 programs to meet community needs in a difficult time, using several Gwaii Trust Youth Grants to help them along the way. For example, budgets stayed flexible as programming changed. Though SYC had to cancel two planned events – a science-andcreativity camp and a hide tanning event – the organization was able to reallocate funds from Spring Programming toward COVID-safe activities. SYC instead purchased musical equipment that would allow teens to take lessons on guitar, ukulele, or drums. They also received a grant supporting Haida Crafts and Language Sessions that took place between January and June. Youth and their families participated in traditional singing, drum-making and beading workshops held online with Haida elder Sgaalanglaay Gaamdamaay Vernon Williams Jr. And finally, funding for Fall/Winter Programming supported a series of remote activities to help teens learn about food sovereignty, plants, traditional medicines, and the Xaayda Kil language. Participants followed a photo-based scavenger hunt and attended educational sessions online. As part of the program, they also received care packages of healthy food delivered door-to-door by volunteers. By keeping youth connected and active through these and other programs, the youth centre was able to promote emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being while passing Haida traditions forward.

Left: L-R Roseanne, Dale, and Maya. Photo credit Clayton George. Right: Sgaalanglaay Gaamdamaay Vernon Williams Jr.