Streetjibe – an initiative of Street Kids International

Over the past three year I’ve been managing a project in York Region called Streetjibe – addressing youth poverty in York Region . Streetjibe is a three year capacity building initiative sponsored by Street Kids International. Our purpose is to strengthen and enhance the capacity of the youth service community which includes teachers, mental health workers, outreach workers, counselors, recreation workers etc. who are working with young people who are experiencing different levels of poverty and homelessness. Our goal is to increase the skills, collaboration and networking abilities of front line workers so young people will have improved access to relevant services.

I’ve facilitated 18 workshops in the second year of this project and maintained the Streetjibe online learning community blog. In the third year, a local organization will be selected to host a large community event or forum in 2009 that will showcase the assets of our youth service community and the steps and tools used by Streetjibe in establishing a practitioner learning community in York Region.

I designed the Streetjibe blog which is our online learning community showcasing Streetjibe workshops, important youth events and initiatives happening in York Region and a platform for sharing knowledge, networking and collaboration for youth workers and organizations.

Sarah Howes, a Family Intervention Counselor with Eva’s Place Toronto and Nancy Del Col from World Vision Canada shared their viewpoints about the Stigma workshop and the strengths of Streetjibe learning community approach to building worker’s capacity.