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YOUTH & INTERGENERATIONAL 
ISSUES

VISION2030

ABOUT

Organizations across the globe in all sectors are grappling with how to best support workforces that may contain up to 4 different generations, as well as how to best support youth in organizational decision-making roles.

This sector priority will focus on supporting ENGOs to better engage youth staff and to foster effective intergenerational workforces, through two complementary programs.


ENGOs have significant work ahead to foster better intergenerational harmony in the workplace, support youth leadership development, and become truly welcoming and inclusive to youth. When it comes to intergenerational workforces, significant challenges exist to manage differing workplace expectations, culture, and ways of working.

Youth-Friendly ENGOs

Apathy is Boring helps organizations better engage youth as key decision-makers and foster more youth-friendly working environments. For nearly 10 years, their Youth-Friendly Program has been offering services including brainstorms, audits, guides, workshops, and presentations to help organizations create more welcoming and inclusive spaces for youth. Their goal is to bridge the gap between the current approach and what needs to happen to get youth involved in a meaningful way.

Each year Sustainability Network will facilitate A is B to deliver this annual cycle of training and support:
- A public webinar available to all
- An online series of three linked interactive workshops for ENGOs
- Two or three organizational audits from the ENGOs who complete the workshop series
Erika De Torres is Impact and Development Director at Apathy is Boring and architect of Youth-Friendly ENGOs. They completed an MA in Political Science at McGill University and a BA in Political Science from Simon Fraser University and previously worked with a number of nonprofits in Vancouver and North Vancouver. They facilitated workshops on anti-discrimination and anti-oppression, obtained grants and funds, organized conferences, festivals, concerts, workshops, collaborated with partner organizations and worked directly with youth and young people to support them.
Youth Climate Lab (YCL) was founded in 2017 as a response to the absence of opportunities, spaces and resources for young people to take ownership of the climate crisis. They envisioned a world where young people - no matter who they are or where they are from - were supported to catalyze local and global action rooted in climate justice.
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Each year Sustainability Network will facilitate YCL to deliver a 4 component suite of offerings to help environmental organizations better understand youth engagement best practices:- Two webinars focused on providing set of tools to support ENGOs in designing youth engagements, both programs and through social media- Two highly interactive feedback sessions where attendees will be able to submit questions and projects ahead of time for feedback.
Cory Witter is Executive Director of Youth Climate Lab. Cory has worked in the nonprofit sphere since 2017 with a focus on finance, operations, and business development for youth-focused organizations. Her passions revolve around climate justice, food security, LGBTQ+ social justice, mental health, and empowering youth. Cory is a graduate of Dalhousie University and the John Molson School of Business at Concordia.

Intergenerational Workplace

Intergenerational Workplace is designed to help ENGOs come to terms with managing the diverse needs, expectations, and ways of working of multiple generations to smooth organizational friction. This workplace challenge relates to the corporate sector, government organizations, as well as the non-profit sector.

We are building out our relationships with qualified educators and service providers who are conversant on this topic, understand the sector and ENGO context, and can share workplace strategies to effectively deal with these challenges.

In 2024 we held an introductory webinar with Josée Garceau in the spring and will have Kate Viana of Nontoxic Nonprofits leading a 3-part workshop series on building an effective intergenerational ENGO workplace.

Vision2030 offerings will be posted HERE.  To receive email announcements, SIGN-UP here.

© 2024 Sustainability Network