Black Youth Coalition Against Violence (BYCAV)

http://www.bycav.com/

The initiative provides youth with opportunities to build skills and access employment. Youth coordinators organize semi-annual conferences for their peers, centred around issues they have identified as important to them.

The initiative has held three conferences to date, the Freedom Summit, the Blueprint Summit, which focused on financial literacy, and the Kuumba Nia Summit, which focused on arts and culture. The conferences, held at Ryerson and University of Toronto, have drawn approx. 600 youth in total. BYCAV also delivers monthly workshops called "The Truth" in community centres, libraries and schools, which focus on a theme such as education, leadership and employment.

BYCAV held a contest in partnership with other community partners called "Imagine a Community", which invited youth ages 14-22 to submit their visions for how to make their community a better place to live. BYCAV works with the winners to turn their ideas into reality.

Youth from priority neighbourhoods have had the chance to visit post-secondary institutions and actively participate in BYCAV events, giving them a taste for university life and helping them realize they could be successful there. BYCAV's youth leaders have built various employable skills - leadership, organization, project management, communication, community engagement - and gained experience planning large community events.