Nanaimo Youth Resilience

In 2022, the City of Nanaimo was allocated $1.8 million from Public Safety Canada through the Building Safer Communities Fund. The funds would help to develop and implement a strategy to address gun and gang violence and promote youth resilience throughout the city.

In 2023, Council endorsed the Nanaimo Youth Resilience Strategy. The strategy has six focus areas, including:

1. Safe Youth Gathering Spaces – safe, free youth gathering spaces within existing facilities.
2. Youth Outreach – to expand youth outreach to provide basic needs.
3. Connecting Youth to Land and Water through Snawaylth (Teachings) – connections to land and water to strengthen mental, emotional, spiritual, and cultural resilience.
4. Youth Mentoring – connect youth at risk with diverse role models and significant, caring adults.
5. Enhancing Existing Programs – improve existing programs by adding new components that fill gaps and build protective factors.
6. Media & Communications – develop key messaging to highlight successful youth programs and to address discrimination and stigma against youth.

Rather than starting from scratch, we wanted to work with the community. In July, the City launched the Nanaimo Youth Resilience Grant application. 23 applications were received and scored based on five criteria. The top-scoring applications addressed the six focus areas and included opportunities for partnerships and coordinated activities. A steering committee made up of multi-sector representation guides and supports the implementation of the Nanaimo Youth Resilience Strategy and meets monthly.

To find out more about each of the funding recipients, and the programs they offer, click on the buttons below:

Should you have questions about the Nanaimo Youth Resilience Strategy or the Building Safer Communities Fund, please feel free to reach out to the staff identified under contacts on this page. If you have questions about the specific programs being offered, please use the contact information on each of the specific program pages.