News Releases

News Release

Communiqué

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, February 10, 2004 - The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) will hold a youth event, called Banking On Youth, in Toronto on February 10, 2004. The event is being held in partnership with other criminal justice and community organizations.

"Banking On Youth is an innovative way to foster the potential of young Canadians and to engage them in an open dialogue on the importance of building strong and safe communities in Canada," said the Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The event will feature guest speakers, action planning sessions leading to action-oriented crime prevention projects, and a series of workshops. One of these workshops will allow youth to learn about corrections from the perspectives of both an ex-offender and a parole officer.

"This initiative represents an excellent opportunity for people involved in the criminal justice system to share their experiences and empower young people to take action against crime in their communities," said CSC Commissioner Lucie McClung.

As well, two of the workshops will be webcast to allow additional schools to participate online. After the event, youth from schools, ethnic associations, and community organizations will be able to apply for funding to implement crime prevention projects in their communities.

For more information contact:

Ms. Diane Russon
Regional Communications Manager
Correctional Service Canada
Ontario Regional Headquarters
(613) 545-8210

Or visit the Web site at www.bankingonyouth.org.

BACKGROUNDER - CSC Partners for Banking On Youth

Governmental organizations involved in criminal justice issues are working together to share their experiences and knowledge in crime prevention to support youth to take action in solving their issues. For example, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Crime Prevention Centre and local police.

The Banking On Youth project would not be possible without the support of national and community-based organizations that strive to create opportunities for young Canadians to be involved in crime prevention projects. The following organizations are part of this initiative:

Empowered Student Partnerships (ESP)
ESP is a student-led partnership between the Toronto Police Service, the Canadian Safe School Network, ProAction, and Toronto city council and school boards. The primary focus of ESP is to empower students to plan, organize, and implement a year long initiative in their local schools and communities. For this project, ESP has been instrumental in identifying schools and students to participate in both the forum and the webcast.

Students Commission (SC)
Together with its sister organization, TG Magazine, the Students Commission is a non-profit youth organization that provides youth with a forum to voice their concerns, direct public policy, learn new skills, and promote positive change in their communities. The Banking On Youth event is being hosted by the Students Commission.

East Metro Youth Services (EMYS)
EMSY is an accredited, community-based, multi-service mental health centre for youth aged 12 to 24 and their families in Toronto. The centre provides quality mental health and community development services to the Scarborough area. For the Banking On Youth event, EMYS is presenting workshops.

ESTEEM Team Association (ETA)
The ESTEEM Team Association is a national not-for-profit organization composed of athletes who are dedicated to inspiring youth to reach their full potential. Esteem Team athletes have experienced many of the same challenges youth are facing and can spark imagination, excitement, and share the lessons of life learned on the playing field. An Esteem Team athlete will present a workshop at the event.

TakingITGlobal (TIG)
TakingITGlobal is an international, youth-led organization that uses technology to bring together young people in over 200 countries. TakingITGlobal's aim is to Inspire, Inform, and Involve young people from all over the globe to make a difference in their communities. TIG is a partner in the development of the Banking On Youth Web site.

BACKGROUNDER - Banking On Youth

Banking On Youth is a pilot project developed by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Its objective is to empower young people to help make their schools and communities safer by implementing crime prevention projects. The project has four components: a one-day youth event, a live webcast, a Web site, and a funding program for youth-led community projects.

The goals of Banking On Youth are:

• To empower young people to contribute to building safe schools and communities by providing them with the venue, information, tools, and funding they need to take action;

• To leverage technology to connect youth from different schools and ethnic backgrounds in both rural and urban areas, and facilitate the exchange of ideas between them; and

• To encourage partnerships within and between governments, youth, non-governmental organizations, and community groups.

This initiative is a model of youth empowerment that has the potential to become a coordinated approach for the government to engage and interact with youth on other issues.

Funding for this initiative comes from the Government of Canada's Learning and Innovation Seed Fund (LISF) and Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.

Banking On Youth - Event Overview

Event - The event is being held on February 10, 2004. It consists of workshops, action planning sessions, and facilitation training for youth. At the event, students will discuss issues that affect them and come up with action-oriented solutions that they can implement in their schools or communities.

Webcast - Two of the event workshops will be webcast live to four schools connected via the Internet. The students will be able to propose questions to the workshop presenters during the session. All of the workshops will be filmed and digitized to enable schools and youth organizations in other communities to view them after the event.

Web site - A Web site, located at http://www.bankingonyouth.org, was developed to extend the reach of the event and to support the youth in implementing their action plans. It enables youth to share ideas, report on progress, access tools, recruit team members, and interact with experts.

Action Bank - Funds will be made available to youth as an incentive for them to follow through with their action plans. They can apply for up to $500 ($5,000 in total) to implement their project. A youth advisory committee will determine which projects should receive funding. CSC is working closely with the National Crime Prevention Centre to administer the funding program.