Provincial Youth Ambassadors (PYAs)

Provincial Youth Ambassadors (PYAs)

Role of PYAs

Are you a part of the 2SLGBTQ community and between the ages of 16-29? Are you interested in creating spaces and opportunities for queer, trans, and Two Spirit youth to come together in your region?

From April 2019 – March 2020 LGBT Youth Line is running the Provincial Youth Ambassador Project (PYAP), and we want YOU to be a part of it!

We are looking for 15 Provincial Youth Ambassadors (PYAs) who will spend 10-15 hours/month each connecting with other youth in their region, and across Ontario!

Each Youth Ambassador will:

  • Have support from 2 coordinators;
  • Attend bi-weekly PYAP virtual meetings;
  • Attend local meetings with partners;
  • Attend a 2-day leadership retreat in Toronto on May 4th and 5th(expenses paid);
  • Research and compile local resources and organizations that offer 2SLGBTQ-positive programs, groups, or services in your communities;
  • Conduct outreach and focus groups for the needs assessment (includes logistics and facilitation of 1-2 focus groups in your region, and outreach to get survey responses);
  • Identify opportunities and conduct outreach at events and festivals targeted at youth and/or 2SLGBTQ communities (this includes local Pride events);
  • Create a resource (eg: toolkit, workshop guide, online resources, arts-based resource) to support their community based on the needs assessment findings;
  • Attend a closing session in Toronto in March 2020 (expenses paid).

As a group, PYAs will work together towards the project goals. Individual PYAs will take the lead on various activities, based on their own interests. PYAP Coordinators will support PYAs to develop skills and complete each activity of interest. These include:

  • Developing and conducting a needs assessment to understand the needs of 2SLGBTQ youth in Ontario, including:
    • developing priorities, creating survey questions, and developing focus group facilitation outlines;
    • Compiling data and results to create a long and short report of the findings;
    • Breaking out data and creating smaller reports for specific communities and/or regions (eg: Indigenous youth, trans youth, rural youth etc.);
    • Working with designers to develop public resources for service providers, educators, and youth.
  • Organizing and hosting community launches (8 in total), including:
    • Logistical coordination of the event (eg: venue/date, food, outreach, etc., expenses paid)
    • Determining speakers/performers and focus areas for individual launches

Youth Line is prioritizing the participation of Indigenous youth in this project, as well as Black youth, and youth of colour. We are also aiming for a large portion of representation from Northern Ontario, and rural/suburban communities across the province.

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of – apply now! Applications are due by March 29th!