Information Session: Youth Engagement Research Project

Community Development Halton (CDH) is offering a new year-long volunteer opportunity for youth in the City of Burlington! CDH is assembling a team of Youth Researcher Volunteers, currently residing in Burlington, to conduct research on volunteering in the City of Burlington. Youth will be trained to conduct research on the facilitators and barriers to volunteering faced by those 14 to 24 years of age.

The mandatory requirement for high-school students to complete 40-hours of volunteering was implemented about 20 years ago. Since then, questions have arisen about how this requirement affects youth. Originally intended to promote volunteering in youth, concerns have arisen on whether this requirement has turned volunteering into a transaction (i.e. volunteering to get the minimum 40-hour requirement). 

Further, some organizations have moved away from recruiting youth volunteers or may have shifts that don’t work well for youth. We are interested in exploring what it takes to empower youth to volunteer, and how organizations can change their practices to…