After 10 incredible years of partnership with schools and community centres across the GTA, Youth To Youth will be closing its doors at the end of this program year. Let’s look back at some of the highlights and milestones of the past 10 years!

2010

  • Youth To Youth Comes to Right To Play: In 2010, Toronto educator Nanci Goldman worked with RTP to integrate Horizons into RTP’s program offerings in the GTA. Horizons originally linked private schools with model schools and offered partnered learning opportunities of various kinds. At RTP, Horizons became Youth To Youth and play became an integral component of the program, that continued to connect private schools and model schools to play together.
  • TDSB Partnership Established: In order to work directly with Model Schools , RTP developed a formal partnership with the Toronto District School Board.
  • MLSEF Partnership Established: The Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Foundation (MLSEF) began funding the Youth To Youth Program, supporting it to empower youth across the GTA.

2011-12

  • Partnering with Evergreen: Our 9-year partnership with Evergreen enabled us to offer outdoor education days at the Brickworks to Model School students!
  • More than 490 Youth Leaders lead programming across Toronto!

2013

  • Over 1,900 children and youth reached
  • Driftwood students perform Airband Competition at Crescent School: There were many great connections established between partner schools in the early days of Youth To Youth. One example was between Driftwood Public School and Crescent School. Students from Driftwood performed at the Airband competition in the Crescent School auditorium in front of the entire school!

2014

  • Supporting Community Centres: In addition to working with public schools, in 2014 we partnered with the Wellesley Community Recreation Centre to train older youth in employability readiness skills. Youth Leaders were trained to lead outcome-based programming for younger children in the centre. This laid the foundation for the future growth of our work with community centres across the GTA.
  • 10 out of 15 Youth Leaders secured summer employment
  • Recess Play: The Y2Y model was adapted to support individual Model Schools to host an entire Y2Y program on their own. For the first time, Youth Leaders in Model Schools were trained to design and lead inclusive play programming for younger students within their own school. After piloting with 7 schools, this became the core Youth To Youth program model up to today, growing to reach more than 70 schools by the 2019-20 program year.
“The best thing has to be being with the kids and teaching them to love and respect each other as much as they can.”- Y2Y Leader

2015

  • Y2Y Advisory Committee: The Advisory Committee was launched with long-term program supporters who helped to develop the vision for first ever Y2Y Symposium.

2016

  • 94% of Youth Leaders report having increased motivation to make change in their school/community after participating in the Symposium.
  • Youth To Youth Symposium: The first ever Youth To Youth symposium was designed to Connect, Celebrate, and Activate the strengths of the amazing Youth Leaders. It was held at Evergreen Brickworks in May and was attended by 25 schools and 250 Youth Leaders. The Symposium would become the culminating event of the program for the following 3 years.
  • Building Teacher Capacity: To expand teacher support in schools, Y2Y hosted its first Teacher Training at the Evergreen Brickworks. Teachers learned how to implement the Y2Y program in their schools, with coaching support from Y2Y staff. This fueled growth of the program to over 50 sites.
“It is really one of the most fun and helpful trainings I’ve participated in”- Y2Y Program Mentor

2017

  • Additional Qualification (AQ) Course Launches: In partnership with ETFO, Y2Y adapted an AQ course called Inclusive Classrooms part 1 for Ontario elementary educators. This was known as the Y2Y Level Up Project because it deepened the connection between education curriculum, inclusive school environments and the impact of the Y2Y program. The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS) was a core funder to this program enhancement.
  • Ted Rogers Scholarship: Y2Y partnered with the Ted Rogers Scholarship Fund in 2017 to offer 5 post-secondary scholarships to Youth Leaders who showcased leadership and care for others throughout the program year.
  • 48 Program Mentors were trained by Y2Y and 15 teachers gained additional qualifications in 2016-17.
  • Increased Community Centre Reach: In 2017, Y2Y began a formal partnership with the City of Toronto to reach 10 Community Centres across the City. As a kick-off, Y2Y hosted a centralized training for City Of Toronto Youth Outreach Workers.

2018

  • Supported Early Childhood Educators: In 2018, Y2Y entered into partnership with the Learning Enrichment Foundation to support after-care sites across the city. As a part of the partnership, Right To Play hosted 3 centralized trainings for over 100 staff throughout the year. These staff would apply their learnings and bring outcome-based play into their spaces.
  • Level Up Expansion Project: With continued funding support from MTCS, Y2Y and ETFO added a second cohort of educators to the AQ course, supporting 45 educators to know how to create more inclusive schools and classrooms through the Y2Y program!

2019-2020

  • Adapting to play at home: In response COVID-19 pandemic, Y2Y created a number of remote resources for schools to access play in the home including a 25-day BINGO challenge and other remote activities.
“I've learned to see things from a different perspective.”- Youth Leader