During SWB's Transition Planning during 2010, knowledge management, equity and communications continually came up as the major "blind spots" for the organization.  As a result, SWB staff and Board developed a new strategy to launch a Learning Centre, that would document and harvest all the incredible work happening within the network.  The other core piece was to find more effective ways to communicate and share the value of the network's stories and impact to a larger public narrative so that stronger partnerships could be built.

"Girls Action Foundation is pleased to support School Without Borders' initiative to explore how to create the conditions that best support effective youth-organizing. In the past, we have worked with School Without Borders as a fellow intermediary organization. We have had the opportunity to see their hard work, innovation and important support to grassroots, youth-led initiatives. We are now looking forward to collaborating and sharing our thinking, practice and strategy to strengthen the role of intermediary organizations."  
– Valerie Plante, National Network and Communications Director, Girls Action Foundation 

"Schools Without Borders has the potential to play a unique role in the movement toward youth centered organising in Ontario. Their successful track record as an intermediary creating the meaningful and productive relationships in Toronto between diverse and vibrant players in the youth sector indicates they could play this role at a provincial level. My experience of large scale change initiatives in Canada and internationally leads me to believe this is a critical role in seeing an acceleration in the transformation of the sector." 
– Tim Merry, Berkana Institute

“Aeroplan has been very proud to partner with SWB since May of 2006 when we launched our Beyond Miles donation program. Their leadership has vision and dedication combined with a reliable work ethic that allows for a business relationship with a creative, youth focused organization that is making a difference. SWB has grown in influence through hard work. They are fiscally responsible, always available via email, and truly an inspiration to work with.”
- Alden Hadwen, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Aeroplan

Youth Organizing is about young people having agency, seeing issues in their community and doing something to address it. It is a fundamentally human practice that we can all relate to – be it seeing the need for sport and starting a pickup game of soccer or identifying the need for community space and setting out to build it. The beautiful simplicity of Youth Organizing is rooted in improving the quality of life for both oneself and a broader community.

This report starts by providing a clear picture of what organizations, groups and young leaders have identified as key learning’s necessary for supporting Youth Organizing.

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In 2008, SWB helped shape a report that investigated and developed action steps towards building a social infrastructure that would foster sustained support for self-determined youth organizing work in the Toronto area.  
The report was prepared with support from the Funders Alliance for Children Youth and Families and the Laidlaw Foundation.

Click here to download the short version.
Click here to download the long version.

Ignite The Americas Youth Arts Policy Forum (Ignite) is an initiative that brought together young artists, cultural industry professionals and government policy experts from across the Americas to explore and develop effective ways to amplify the power that arts and culture has in building social inclusion and generating economic opportunities.

Ignite was planned and organized by the Department of Canadian Heritage (PCH) in full partnership with the following youth arts organizations: Canadian youth Arts Network (CyAN), Comcausa Arte e pensamento, la familia Ayara, Manifesto Community projects, The Remix project, Schools Without Borders (SWB) and yo! The Movement; and the support of the Inter-American Committee on Culture (CIC) of the organization of American States (OAS).


To download the report, please click on the links below:
English:  ignitetheamericas.ca/ITAReport_en.zip
Spanish: ignitetheamericas.ca/ITAReport_sp.zip
Portuguese: ignitetheamericas.ca/ITAReport_po.zip
French: ignitetheamericas.ca/ITAReport_fr.zip

In March 2008, the Grassroots Youth Collaborative (GYC) held a two-day forum entitled, “From the Roots Up! A Youth- Led Forum on Building Safe & Healthy Communities”, which brought out 250 youth from the racialized and marginalized communities that we work and live in to discuss tangible and concrete policy demands to improve the quality of life in our communities. This forum led to both a report and documentary that outlined the root issues facing youth in the GTA and the responses and policy recommendations that they put forward to all levels of government.

Click here to download the report.