Putting the ‘Change’ into ChangeTheWorld ChangeTheWorld - Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge Ontario Volunteer Centre Network We are the voice for Volunteer Centres and volunteerism in Ontario. Change makers and leaders in support of capacity building and sustainable community engagement for the non- profit / volunteer sector in Ontario! The OVCN is an unincorporated network of 24 Volunteer Centres in Ontario, guided by a volunteer steering committee. Our mandate is to provide a provincial network and voice to strengthen the individual and collective ability of Volunteer Centres in Ontario to promote and develop volunteerism. Key Learning & Action Plan Summary Canadian youth are leaders in their own right; based on the 2010 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Parcipang (CSGVP), the highest rates of Canadian volunteers are among youth between the ages of 15 to 24 (58%). Youth are one of Ontario’s greatest assets! Building a resilient Ontario Volunteer Centre Network (OVCN) to co-deliver the ChangeTheWorld - Ontario Youth Volunteer Challenge (CTW) demonstrates leadership by inspir- ing and sustaining meaningful youth volunteer engagement opportunies. It requires that every Volunteer Centre (VC), individual (staff / volunteer) and community service member organizaons take collecve acon towards the planning, implementaon and evaluaon of targeted acvies to support youth engagement. This document is based on the ‘unified voice of volun- teers and Volunteer Centres’ surveyed during the 2013 CTW Campaign, outlin- ing the purpose of the OVCN-CTW Acon Plan for 2014. The following Acon Steps and Acvies were selected to encourage the development of a strate- gic alliance of all collaborators to ensure the success of CTW. By uning to- gether, we can co-create pathways to encourage community engagement, accountability and team building to succeed in strengthening the far reaching social and economic impacts for youth. WHY? The aim of the proposed ‘Putting the Change into ChangeTheWorld: Action Plan’ is to summarize the identified next steps, based on VC recommendations, that relate and connect the CTW Campaign to the overall health / sustainability of the Network. The key objecves are to; Build the capacity of Volunteer Centres via knowledge-transfer Inspire and support meaningful youth engagement opportunies Take collecve acon to inspire and strengthen leadership via communi- ty service and volunteer engagement Develop an outcome-based evaluaon model Leverage successful CTW events to sustain ongoing youth engagement opportunies (for VCs and the OVCN) HOW? Check out the ‘Legend’ on the next page and identify your ‘ICON’ to start taking steps on Activities listed with your ‘ICON’ to ensure we succeed in taking collective action! Be sure to communicate with your team, and member organizations to forge an alliance! Photo (top) courtesy of United Way Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, CTW 2012. Photo (bottom) courtesy of Information Orillia, CTW 2013.