United for YOUth: Our Curriculum, Your Voice
Why United for YOUth?
Through collaborative partnerships with youth-serving community organizations and schools, United for YOUth strives to get the best-in-class ShEvalesco life skill curriculum directly into the hands of youth champions, and in turn, empower youth with the knowledge, skills and tools they need to thrive.
Focused on three critical life skill pillars, mental health and resilience, financial literacy, and workplace readiness, this curriculum aims to instill youth with the ‘real life’ knowledge they’re calling for so that they can confidently navigate life.
How it works
Our curriculum covers three essential life skill pillars with seven workshops. Each topic is broken down into a series of seven workshops that explores these concepts in a digestible, relevant and relatable way.
THE CURRICULUM
mental health
& resilience
- Self-Awareness & Thinking Traps
- Boundary Setting
- Failing Up
- Self-Compassion
- Stress & Anxiety
- Sadness & Depression
- Self-Care
financial
literacy
- Financial Wants vs Needs
- Budgeting
- Banking Basics: Accounts & Services
- Everything Credit Cards: Part I
- Everything Credit Cards: Part II
- The Workflow of Earning Money: Paycheques, Deductions & Taxes
- Bonus Mini Workshop: The Personal Tax Credits Form (TD1)
workplace
readiness
- Assertive Communication
- Personal & Professional Self-Advocacy
- Decision Making & Accountability
- Navigating Criticism &
Feedback - Informational Interviews & Networking
- Mentorship
- Wage Negotiation
By licensing the curriculum, partners have access to the resources, materials and support needed to facilitate the program directly with youth. This includes:
- A slide deck for each workshop
- A comprehensive, scripted facilitation guide for each workshop
- Handouts and instructions for interactive activities
- Additional resources & helpful websites
ShEvalesco will work collaboratively with community partners to facilitate train-the-facilitator sessions in accordance with the selected pillars.
Want more information? Please head over to our United for YOUth FAQ.
Community Accessibility Fund – Mental Health & Resilience Curriculum
We are delighted to announce that ShEvalesco’s Community Accessibility Fund is available for the Mental Health and Resilience pillar until June, 2024.
What does this mean?
Our Community Accessibility Fund is another way we aim to get our life skills curriculum into the hands of more youth-serving organizations and communities. Through this fund, we are able to provide organizations access to our curriculum and train-the-trainer sessions either on a sliding scale or entirely free of charge.
The Community Accessibility Fund prioritizes organizations who:
- work with female-identified or gender diverse youth, and/or;
- work with equity-deserving groups.
ShEvalesco would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canadian Red Cross and the Public Health Agency of Canada for their support of the United for YOUth Mental Health and Resilience programming.
Thank you for supporting us as we pass the empowerment torch to community partners on their journey to lift up and empower youth!
Now Available!
Community Accessibility Fund – Workplace Readiness and Financial Literacy
Our Community Accessibility Fund for our Workplace Readiness and Financial Literacy pillars is now available for organizations to access in Fall 2023. Please contact our Program Manager, Ivy, at ivy@shevalesco.ca to get started.
United for YOUth Program Funders
We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Red Cross for their support of the United for YOUth Mental Health & Resilience programming, and of Vancity for their support of the Workplace Readiness & Financial Literacy programming.
Thank you for supporting us as we pass the empowerment torch to community partners on their journey to lift up and empower youth!
Frequently Asked Questions
YOU ASKED, WE ANSWERED.
Click on a topic to jump to it, or feel free to browse the list of commonly asked questions below.
Eligibility
If your organization exists to uplift and empower youth, you are eligible! We frequently partner with secondary schools, community schools programs, non-profits/charities, social assistance organizations, leadership groups and special interest groups.
The United for YOUth curriculum targets youth ages 12-18, inclusive of all equity-deserving populations.
Community Accessibility Fund
The Community Accessibility Fund eliminates barriers that may prevent community organizations from participating in the United for YOUth program. For qualifying organizations (those that serve equity-deserving populations), ShEvalesco either fully or partially subsidizes the annual license and train-the-facilitator costs for the first year of program participation.
Participating in United for YOUth through the Community Accessibility Fund is dependent on funding availability and eligibility of the participating organization. Please reach out to us to learn more.
Getting Started
Of course! We are happy to provide access to a Shared Curriculum Resources Google Drive folder, where you can find the following:
- A one-page summary for each of our curriculum pillars (Mental Health & Resilience, Workplace Readiness and Financial Literacy)
- A slide deck for each pillar that (a) summarizes each workshop, (b) outlines key learning objectives and ( c) provides excerpts directly from the facilitation guides
Click here to access the United for YOUth Shared Curriculum Resources folder.
If you would like a deeper dive into our curriculum materials (i.e. a full facilitation guide), please get in touch with our Program Manager, Ivy, at ivy@shevalesco.ca.
Yes, we are happy to provide partners with the opportunity to sign on for multiple pillars. Keep in mind that there are limited spots available for the Community Accessibility Fund, and they fill up fast!
We recognize that not everyone is an expert in mental health, financial literacy or workplace readiness. That’s precisely why we created United for YOUth in the first place – to empower organizations with the knowledge and resources to get this life-skill material out to the youth they serve. Our curriculum model is set up such that your organization will be trained on our curriculum and equipped with everything needed to run the workshops with ease. As a part of the ShEvalesco family, we are always available to support you along the way.
Please email our United for YOUth Program Manager, Ivy, at ivy@shevalesco.ca to sign up. Make sure to include your organization name, what you do, and any questions you may have. We will then work collaboratively to determine your eligibility and create an action plan that works best for your organization.
Training Requirements
Yes, train-the-facilitator sessions are required to participate in the United for YOUth program. These sessions are available in an in-person (for the Greater Vancouver and Lower Mainland regions) or remote format. The duration of the training is 5-6 hours total, and can be delivered in one day or split up into several sessions based on your preference.
Yes, 20 people maximum per training session.
Folks who attend the session must be those who (a) will be facilitating the programming and (b) work with youth between the ages of 12-18.
The train-the-facilitator sessions are hands-on and interactive. An overview of each of the seven workshops is provided along with key learning objectives. We utilize a co-facilitation approach to explore curriculum content, key interactive activities, and discussion topics. Participants can expect to gain experience facilitating the curriculum in real-time.
Our community partners also have the opportunity to opt-in to a one hour facilitation skills training, ideal for organizations who have less experienced facilitators. This portion of the training examines best practices for youth-focused facilitation, with special care given to the topics of neurodivergence, pronoun usage, and territory acknowledgements.
Train-the-facilitator sessions are conducted by members of our ShEvalesco team who are registered clinical counselors. Our trainers have both clinical counseling and program facilitation experience with youth and emerging adults.
Use the Curriculum
Once the train-the-facilitator sessions have been completed, our Program Manager will send you access to everything your organization needs to facilitate the curriculum. This includes digital copies of scripted facilitation guides, slides (PDF and PowerPoint format), instructions and documentation for interactive activities, and additional resources.
For the curriculum documentation that we provide, there are no curriculum edits or customizations for those participating in United for YOUth through the Community Accessibility Fund; for those participating in the program outside of the fund, there are additional costs for curriculum customization. We do, however, encourage each and every community partner to tailor their facilitation style and content to the circles of youth they serve, integrating personal experiences and perspectives into the curriculum.
It is important to note that ShEvalesco strives to foster open, transparent and collaborative relationships with our community partners. Our curriculum is critically evaluated each year and changes are made annually based on partner feedback and suggestions. In other words, we want to see your youth’s needs and voices reflected in every workshop we offer – and we’ll be coming to you for help!
Still can’t find what you’re looking for? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our Program Manager, Ivy, at ivy@shevalesco.ca