For Bridget Glassco, the recent Community Update event for the KFL&A Unnamed Youth Project felt like a real turning point. She describes it as “a wonderful way to mark this next phase of the Unnamed Youth Project,” after months of collaborative work, movement, and engagement behind the scenes. Now, she says, the project is finally ready to “move full speed ahead,” with youth, partners, and staff all in place to bring the vision to life. Over half a million dollars in funding from the Community Foundation’s Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul Community Impact Fund was announced at the event to support the initiative over the next three years.
The Unnamed Youth Project grew out of a group of adult leaders from community organizations, school boards, municipalities, and public health, who knew “something needed to be done” reduce early exposure to substance use and build resiliency for children and youth in the region. Early on, they explored the Icelandic Prevention Model and even referred to themselves as the Planet Youth group after submitting a proposal in that direction. Over time, however, it became clear that something essential was missing. As Bridget puts it, “youth were not involved at that point,” and the group understood “it was not appropriate for adults to name this initiative.”
That realization is where the project’s unusual name comes from. “For the time being, we said we would refer to it as the Unnamed Youth Project, realizing that youth should be the ones to name it,” Bridget explains. At a youth symposium in the spring, young people were invited to suggest names or keep the existing one. “One of the options was to stick with Unnamed Youth Project,” she says, and that option turned out to be “quite a popular” choice. The name is not written in stone, but Bridget says youth will make the final decision.
As Project Manager of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Resilience Coalition of KFL&A (ARC), Bridget is deeply engaged in learning about upstream, evidence-informed approaches to child and youth well-being. The Unnamed Youth Project now applies best practices from the Icelandic Prevention Model while centring youth voice and leadership, including through a Youth Advisory Circle that is beginning its work in earnest. One of the first tangible steps will be launching the ActivPass App, a digital version of the well‑received ActivPass program “designed to connect youth to leisure activities in a format they prefer.”
For Bridget, that focus on accessible, positive activities is vital. “This work absolutely strikes close to home,” she shares. “I have teenagers, and I can see the ways in which each of the domains the Unnamed Youth Project focuses on, peers, leisure time, family, and school, have helped them and their friends build resiliency, and I can see where there could have been improvements.” Teenagers come in and out of her house, and the family is involved in sports, which has given her a front‑row seat. “You can see how central those positive experiences have been to their health, their sense of belonging, to connecting them with other caring adults” she says. For her, tools like the ActivPass App are one way to extend those same kinds of opportunities to more young people. “By working together and listening to what youth are telling us, our community can expand positive opportunities that foster long-term health and wellbeing for every young person in our region”.
