Our vision… Communities where all young people flourish.
Our mission… To build healthy communities by training and equipping young people to lead change. Activating all sectors to work together towards an asset-building culture.
PURPOSE:
- To address and prevent specific problems faced by youth, and to advance education by providing programs, workshops and training on topics such as leadership, self-esteem, mental health, positive gender roles, employment assistance, and career coaching.
- To address and prevent problems faced by youth and their families by providing accessible online portals that provide resources, training, workshops, and links to community resources and experts in various fields to assist youth and their guardians/parents with issues they face.
- To carry out activities ancillary and incidental to the above charitable purposes.
On this page:
We bring together expertise in education, mental health and business to give our approach balance and ensure that the whole community has representation.
Healthy Youth Network uses Search Institute’s Developmental Assets Framework to guide our work, focus our efforts and evaluate outcomes.
We follow Search Institute’s Developmental Relationship Framework to guide our interactions with youth and effectively engage them.
By embedding assets & relationships in young people’s lives, we improve mental health, reduce at-risk behaviour, and create better outcomes.
Our History
Founded in 2009, The Healthy Youth Network (formerly Healthy Community-Healthy Youth Flamborough) is a collaborative of parents, community groups, schools, businesses, agencies and organizations working together to create a community that builds the assets youth need to flourish!
Over the past 10 years, Healthy Youth Network (formerly Healthy Community- Healthy Youth Flamborough) has found support in partners like the John Howard Society, YMCA, Public Health, Rotary Clubs, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Hamilton Police Services, and school boards.
During this period our work has been focused on defining the problem, developing key relationships, educating the community on the importance of assets and piloting projects that can address the need.”
– Penny Deathe, Founder
In 2020, Healthy Youth Network incorporated federally as a not-for-profit organization and received charitable status in September 2021.
Now, we are taking active steps to collaborate with our partners, community and youth to implement sustainable ways of working together to achieve positive outcomes.
Learn more about becoming a Partner
A New Look
In 2019, a Senior Leadership Team, representing the education, mental health and business sectors, was put in place to determine the future of HC-HY. To meet the needs of the broader Hamilton community and provide the flexibility to expand into other communities, the team renamed and re-launched as The Healthy Youth Network.
With the support of our partners, including the YMCA of Hamilton, Brantford & Burlington who had taken on the role as our backbone organization, we have federally incorporated as a not-for-profit. As we set this new course, we are forever grateful to all the organizations and volunteers who have supported us from the very beginning.,
We’ve been building new partnerships and networking with existing ones like the The City of Hamilton, HWDSB, HWCDSB, Flamborough Chamber of Commerce, Hamilton Public Health, Gigit Marketplace, and many more. Meet our Strategic Partners, Community Partners and Program Partners.
As a collective impact network, our vision is to build capacity and improve outcomes of community organizations that support children, youth and their families.
Our 2023 Priorities:
Organizational:
- Increase the number of community partnerships by 25% to strengthen local youth support services.
- Embed developmental relationships in all our programs and interactions with youth.
- Integrate Youth Impact Team members to play an active role in all our programs.
- Explore and further build the values of diversity, equity and inclusion in our community.
Program:
- Launch a What’s Your Path Portal and Speakers Bureau.
- Effectively engage male students to see themselves as allies in preventing violence against women. Encourage more male participation in HEART.
- Develop a communication strategy and continue to build the online portals to improve awareness of local resources and to increase service coordination.
- Attract at least 5 new community partners to participate in the annual Paint Challenge Event and increase school involvement.
We Believe
- In a “Train the Trainer” model. Through training and mentoring older youth to mentor and guide younger youth, they are able to build important skills.
- All youth have interests and passions (sparks) that can inspire and motivate them.
- Healthy *Developmental Relationships are the foundation young people need to flourish
- Through collaboration, we can create communities that work together to achieve better outcomes for youth.
- Everyone has a role to play in building healthy relationships and helping young people to be successful
Our Strategy
Train and develop
- Youth leaders
- Youth serving agencies & organizations
- Youth teams and clubs
- Parents
- Educators
- Community groups
- Businesses
- A network of caring adults
Help young people
We believe youth are co-creators of their community and need to be empowered to do so. That’s why we train and equip young people to lead change, whether it’s through mentoring, online training, assessments, asset identification, focus groups and beyond. Our model is designed to always be preparing the next generation to thrive.
