Idea by Family Service Toronto:
The Neighbourhood Youth Alliance is a partnership established in 2007 between local youth and four organizations: Neighbourhood Link, Neighbourhood Centre, Children’s Peace Centre, and Family Service Toronto. Since 2007, the youth have participated in many programs and experienced the thrill and impact of building their community. They created a mentorship program, Be That Role Model, where 22 youth learned essential leadership skills through arts and skills-based activities. They launched a neighbourhood website, www.Yellinks.ca, to keep the youth informed. They created Youth 2 Youth - a leadership group for young men who are working together to overcome barriers. They identified the need for entrepreneurship training and secured funding to explore careers in aviation and the music industry. Today, the youth sit on various local committees addressing public health, education and environmental concerns.

In spite of all their achievements, Crescent Town youth experience the constant disappointment of not having a physical space in which to gather, learn and plan. Research on youth culture indicates that youth centres are effective when they give young people somewhere to go; something to do; and a space of their own. Crescent Town youth have a lot to do but nowhere to do it.

Sitting in the midst of this high-rise dense neighbourhood is The Massey Goulding Estate, a 5,000 square foot heritage home in the middle of the Taylor Creek Park forest. It is a peaceful, natural and very beautiful setting – a piece of the country in the middle of a very urban area of Toronto.

With Aviva funding, Crescent Town youth will create their own centre at The Massey Goulding Estate, helping them to become an example of youth entrepreneurship, innovation and collaboration for the children living in the area.

If you like this idea vote HERE!

About the competition:
The Aviva Community Fund was created by Aviva Insurance to allow Canadians to vote for what's important to them and have it come to fruition. Aviva has deemed it their corporate responsibility to be active in charities through event participation, local fundraising initiatives and resource donations. Their major corporate support is directed to two organizations, United Way and an organization aligned with our global charity program "Street to School", which recognizes that every child living or working on the street has the right to fulfill their true potential.

To be eligible to propose your idea and get funding to make your idea happen, it must be:
- action oriented within Canada
- the idea should be able to be fulfilled using a reasonable portion of the Aviva Community Fund, which totals $1,000,000. Aviva is going to fund a minimum of one Small Idea (up to $50K), one Medium Idea ($50K - $100K), and one Large Idea ($100K - $150K), so don't feel you need to hold back. Also, ideas should be self-contained, meaning they don't need funds to be pooled (for example, partially funding research on a particular health issue)
- should be able to be completed by December 2012

For more information on the proposal and to VOTE go HERE !