Program History

Raise It Up

Using all of the fantastic feedback and knowledge gained in our previous work with youth, we are going to deliver the Raise It Up youth program to hundreds of Vancouver students in the upcoming 2010/2011 school year.

Right now we are building strong working relationships with teachers, staff and community youth programs. By utilizing the most up-to-date social media tools, we will ensure important violence-prevention messages reach youth and youth programs in Vancouver and all across Canada.

Our hope is that everyone involved in this program will:

• see a significant shift in youth culture regarding gendered violence,
• feel safe enough to promote positive attitudinal change,
• become involved in events, outreach, and youth activism at WAVAW.

Youth in Action (2009)

In Spring 2009, with funding from the Department of Justice WAVAW put on three days of workshops for a group of 10 youth. Our goal was to inspire male and female youth to work together and take action and speak out against gendered violence. We delivered workshops on understanding oppression and privilege. By looking at the intersections of sexism, racism, and homophobia as root causes of violence, youth learned about becoming allies and leaders in their peer groups.

Many of the youth involved in these workshops went on to become members of WAVAW's first Youth Advisory Committee. This committee was created as a space for youth to come together, learn from one another, and be mentored by positive male and female role models.

Super Power Project (2007-2008)

In Winter 2008, WAVAW and Good Company Communications launched The Super Power Project. This project brought together two groups of BC teenagers to rethink power, smash stereotypes and share their personal and collective stories through video, animation and comics.

The youth attended several workshops where they developed the necessary critical thinking skills to question socially constructed gender roles. Armed with this information and newfound confidence, the youth developed new messages challenging what it means to be a boy or a girl.

This project concluded with these youth taking videography and animation workshops and integrating their new messages into exciting and dynamic media such as: videos, comic books and animations.