An Incredible Year of Shared Achievement (Impact Story 2024 - 2025)
From April 2024 to March 2025, our Preteen and Youth Programs at Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House experienced an incredible year of connection, transformation, and shared achievement. Working with newcomers, our participants often arrive as strangers, to each other and to these lands, but through our programs at the House and in different schools in the neighbourhood, including: Youth Space, Preteen Program, Youth Action Committee, the REAL Project, Neighbourhood Crew, and Cook Up Your Future, our youth are able to forge bonds which help secure them in their new home, and their continued journeys through life.
An incredible year of shared achievement
The REAL Project, an anti-violence leadership program, expanded into new leadership opportunities, including Youth Voices United and the first stages of Bridges to Belonging, a teen-to-preteen, high school transition mentorship initiative. We also celebrated several long-term participants graduating from high school and securing spots in university programs, often with scholarships and grants we supported them in applying for.
The Youth Team also evolved this year. We welcomed a new staff at the beginning of the year and continued to focus on building a strong and fun team throughout the year. Teamwork is essential within the youth team, as we work very closely to get through the busy days, we count on each other and together we have more fun. The team lifts each other up and adapts on the spot. In youth work, unpredictability is the norm, plans shift, challenges arise, but our shared commitment to safety and growth serves as a guiding principle to help us navigate tough situations.
The highlight of the 2024-2025 year was our annual camping trip, an exhausting but deeply rewarding tradition. For many teens, it was their first overnight adventure, their first time sleeping under the stars. Around the campfire, laughter transitioned into meaningful conversations about life, hopes and dreams. Taking 20 youth camping requires a lot of planning, but it's in those unforgettable moments that we’re reminded exactly why this work is so meaningful.
Looking back, what stands out isn't always checkmarks on a list, but the moments which make up daily life working with youth: singing together on bus rides, sharing space when someone is struggling, and the way a group of strangers slowly became a community. Those are the memories that will stick with us, long after the years over.