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Vegreville Youth to Benefit from new Project
Vegreville Youth to Benefit from new Project
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
The Town of Vegreville recently was approved for funding under Alberta Health Services’ SOARING project.
Community Development Coordinator Mehrsad Masoumi, said the Town of Vegreville will be receiving between $2,000 and $4,000 to develop and operate a local program in 2025.
Masoumi explained, “The SOARING project stands for Strengthening Opportunities for Adolescent Resilience, Inclusion and Growth. It’s a program that supports youth engagement and subsequent projects planned and implemented by Alberta youth to address barriers to living healthy, safe and active lives.”
Since they are in the pre-planning stage at this point, Masoumi said, “As of now, activities are not decided upon yet because our next steps are to bring together youth and brainstorm ways to address the community barriers. However, the grant guidelines provide the direction of the approach and the key terms to consider:
· Foster healthy, supportive relationships among youth, adult supports and community members.
· Build skills upon the capabilities of youth.
· Engage youth in hobbies, passions, activities that contribute to healthy lives.
· Mental, emotional, spiritual, social and physical well-being.
· A sense of belonging and contribution to one’s community.
When asked: What types of issues are youth in Vegreville and area facing, and how can a program like this assist them? Masoumi replied, “This question will be answered by the youth when they come together and come up with issues they are facing. So, we don’t want to anticipate what they would contribute to it.
However, last year these areas youth had revealed:
· Families are facing socio-economic barriers; youth do not get the same opportunities to participate.
· Limited recreational facilities for youth to access.
· Transportation is a barrier to accessing services or programs
· Lack of healthy food options and low cost of unhealthy food choices and restaurants.
· Drugs and alcohol being used by youth.
· Youth mental health not being valued by adults.
A program designed by youth could include creating opportunities for mentorship, it could entail bringing in presenters or resources to the youth so they can build the skills they want to develop. As well as, creating intergenerational programming that fosters volunteering amongst youth.”
