Youth To Youth has just completed its second year of an amazing partnership with the Learning Enrichment Foundation (LEF). The Learning Enrichment Foundation is an organization that manages, among other things, a large group of after-care programs in schools across the city. Educators supervise children each day both before and after school in many schools that also have Youth To Youth Programs.

Through this partnership, Right To Play has delivered 3 successive half-day Professional Development workshops for LEF early-childhood educators and staff to support their confidence and skills to facilitate structured games that the promote play-based learning. Right To Play staff have had the opportunity to visit many of the sites and see their great work in action!

This fall, Youth To Youth and the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) completed another successful Additional Qualifications Course for ETFO Certified Teachers. The course includes in-person workshops with Right To Play staff on both ‘play-based learning’, and ‘using play to promote equity in the classroom’. Over 50 new teachers successfully completed the ‘Inclusive Classroom Part 1’ course this year.

This winter Right To Play and Kids Code Jeunesse (KCJ) launched a new partnership all about playing through technology. Expert facilitators from KCJ came into select Y2Y schools and facilitated coding workshops for Youth Leader groups! The workshops were an incredible success and it was inspiring to see how many talented students we have in our programs.

Canada’s National Ballet School (NBS) develop physical literacy and artistic engagement with Youth Leaders across the city through workshops, and in the past at the Symposium. Using dance as a form of play, NBS encouraged Youth Leaders to communicate thoughts, emotions and ideas through movement, and to continue to express their leadership skills and autonomy through making their own choreography. Y2Y wants to thank Canada’s National Ballet School for their contribution and enhancement to the Youth To Youth program over the years!

This past year Youth to Youth wrapped up an incredible 7th –year of partnership with Evergreen. This partnership has given schools and Youth Leaders many opportunities to explore the outdoors and learn about the natural environment. From nature hikes to habitat builds, Evergreen has offered outcome-based programming in alignment with Y2Y’s values of youth voice, inclusion, innovation and collaboration. Time and time again, youth have expressed joy in the ability to engage in outdoor play while building their leadership and teamwork skills. For that, Y2Y is grateful for this long standing partnership that has proven successful year after year!