I wanted to say a few words about an event I attended last week that was an amazing and inspiring thing to behold. It was the Identify 'N' Impact Awards Ceremony, put on by the Toronto Youth Cabinet.

Held at the Lula Lounge, a fabulously chic venue, the TYC presented a total 8 awards including categories such as the Enabling Collective Action Award and the Community Impact Award. Peppered between awards was some of the best entertainment I've seen in a really long time. Matthew, a speaker on behalf of No One is Illegal, shared his incredible story about fighting the Canadian government for status, Dwayne Morgan inspired us all with his spoken word performance, Stolen from Africa wowed the crowd with their movement music and KG sang soulfully and truthfully. There was even a spontaneous performance by Romeo, an attendee from the Griffin Centre, that was sensual and fun.

This event is an amazingly good time and really highlights all of the amazing things youth in our city are doing. I was blown away and warm all over from the glow and buzz in that room - such a cool evening!

Another important initiative that I want to say a few words on is Youth Line's new outreach project - Youth Line Loves Sudbury! The Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line provides information, referrals, and emotional support to youth across Ontario. The Youth Line is run for youth, by youth and offers confidential, non-judgmental peer support, both over the phone and via instant messaging. Their primary goal with the project is to raise awareness of the Youth Line’s services within the community by building strong, lasting connections with youth, community agencies, and adult allies within Greater Sudbury. We've just begun our Young Community Leaders project in Sudbury as well, and I can say from the perspective of someone who grew up in Northern Ontario, that I am thrilled, proud and very much encouraged by these amazing youth initiatives that are starting to take place in our northern communities. Finally we're starting to recognize the need to give youth a voice not only in designated times and spaces, but everywhere, all the time. Kudos Youth Line and best of luck!

Contact TYC at: www.torontoyouth.com
Contact Becky about the YL Loves Sudbury project at: becky@youthline.ca

Hello all,

A few updates for you from the world of ICA Canada...

Courage to Lead, a non-traditional leadership program with an emphasis on personal growth and reflection, kicked off on October 21st with 18 people signed up for the course. This course is about the foundational context for leadership and is not about leadership skills development. Courage to Lead has struck a cord with people all around the world, perhaps because of its simple message: if you relate authentically to life, to yourself, to the world, and to society, you can not only begin the process of social change from where you are right now, but you can be a leader as well. Christian Naacht, who has worked with ICA Brazil, has been working on the Portugese translation of the book which should be available soon.

Duncan Holmes, Dereck Strachn, Wayne Nelson and Jo Nelson walked in the Toronto Marathon to raise funds for our Listen to the Drumming Program and further ICA Canada's support for HIVAIDS programming by our African ICA colleagues. They each walked a half-marathon - 13 miles-21 km. At the end of it all, they were sore, tired and absolutely elated to have expended their energy on behalf of their colleagues. The marathon is an annual fundraising initiative of LTTD and traditionally one of our most successful and exhaustingly fun ones too!

Hello one and all and welcome to our maiden blog! My name is Staci, I'm the Director of the Youth as Facilitative Leaders program here at ICA Canada and I'm one of many people who will be offering their musings about our work here at ICA as well as other relevant events/themes/thoughts that come our way.

YFL is a youth-driven mentorship and leadership training program aimed at arming young people 15-30 years with the facilitation tools they need to create real and positive change in their communities. We offer public courses, fee-for-service trainings and run community projects as part of our ongoing work. The most notable project of late is our Young Community Leaders project that we're running in North Bay and Sudbury. It's a fantastic initiative that aims to train youth in their respective communities and get them starting their own projects to better their neighbourhoods.

Listen to the Drumming, ICA's other program, works to strengthen sister ICAs in Africa through volunteers, research development and professional training to effectively meet the challenge of HIV/AIDS. The African ICAs address HIV/AIDS through a comprehensive approach that includes: legal rights training for woman, HIV/AIDS prevention education, voluntary counselling and testing services, microcredit based programs and home based care services.

Please see our website - www.icacan.ca - for more info or our TIG group for YFL or Project page for the Young Community Leaders project.

Stay tuned for more from ICA Canada very soon!
Staci