Highlands Youth For Christ

Sharing Recipient Stories

2024 Dufferin County Community Grant Recipient
$3,675

Sharing our story

The generous grant received from the Dufferin County / Headwaters Communities in Action funded a nine (9) month intern role with Youth Unlimited YFC Highlands. The intern focused on building a girls program, and building relationships with the youth in our Dufferin community programs. The program is called Superwoman, created by YFC Netherlands, and has expanded to 13 different countries, with this being its introduction in Canada. The two year program is designed for girls ages 12-18. Through the games and activities girls have opportunities to grow in self esteem, talents and confidence. The target of the program is to help young girls entering the stage of puberty discover who they are while in a safe environment, through relationships built with the leaders.

Attending Youth Unlimited YFC drop-in programs in Orangeville and Grand Valley enabled building strong relationships with the girls in these communities, and gauged the needs this program could fill. Some of the needs include belonging, feeling valued, loved and seen, plus needs for a safe space, and mentorship/guidance. This program completely fits the needs of young women today, being a benefit to those who attend in local communities. Some of the responses received include, “This is awesome, can I share it with my friends?” “Yeah I want to come as long as I don’t have work or school.” A male suggested we invite one of his friends, as he noticed she needs some people to hang out with.

The internship enabled revising the Superwoman program to best fit our needs locally and within the context of Canadian culture. Time was also given to creating volunteer training and introduction help-sheet for the program, as well as recruiting & training two volunteers.

In building relationships with young girls in these communities, there was a bigger need in our Orangeville location, and so that is where we decided to pilot this program. The intern and two (2) volunteers have spent this fall promoting this program and connecting with those invited. Launching in Orangeville is anticipated in late November. Through the grant provided, the preparations were met to ensure this impactful program can be carried out over the next two years, led by volunteers plus be expanded into other YFC communities as well. Thank you Dufferin County!

Youth Unlimited YFC Highlands; Teri Overton, Ministry Operations Manager
office@highlandsyfc.com; 519-941-0690; yfch.ca; yfch.ca/superwoman