The community grant program provides an excellent opportunity for residents to receive financial support in running initiatives that bring the community together. As residents, we have a deep understanding of the various issues that need to be addressed through our experiences living in our community. The grant program allows for many residents to act upon their proposed solutions in order to better engage the community.
Coming from the perspective of a youth, I realized that not many people of my age group were interacting with the community and not aware of the many resources they have access to. It would be great to see young adults, and adults in general become more familiar with each other. Using this as a motivating factor as well as my passion for gaming, I decided to start a weekly competitive gaming program targeting this age group. There are many gamers within the community, especially within the younger generations. However, there are very few opportunities for people to go out, socialize and play games in person. Much of the gaming is done in isolation at home. Tournaments are hard to find and often come with a lot of restriction such as location and affordability. By starting a gaming program with organized tournaments and prizes that cater to the players of our community, I hope to strengthen the social cohesion within our community and create new relationships among young adults.
I am glad to announce that our program has been running for a couple of months now and is very successful in bringing out youth from our community. Not only does this program provide a safe space for youth to hang out during the week, it also gives an opportunity for people to learn from each other and be connected with the variety of other resources offered by the centre.
I encourage others who believe they have ideas to engage the community and are passionate about their project to seek support through the grant program and other resources offered by the community. Once you are aware of the available resources, it becomes much easier for you to ask the right person for your needs.