Youth Imagine the Future

CFKA Honours YIF with a Grant

Great news! The Community Foundation for Kingston and Area, (CFKA) has given us the grant we had hoped for. This funding will support our YIF fall 2025 program of presentations, workshops, a gallery show, the travelling show, and awards. This is such an immense relief!

Last year we increased our number of classroom presentations, the number of students reached, and consequently, the number of art and story submissions that we were honoured. Around 50 volunteer jurors to judge and decide which were worthy of awards!

The bulk of this amazing grant will be used to hire an administrative person to work for from October to January to support our growing administrative needs. We have been very fortunate with our last two year’s Submissions Coordinators, (Monica Monterro in 2024) who worked above and beyond the hours to help. We also had a wonderful education student from Queen’s University this winter, Elizabeth Hunt, who improved our website, took extra photos, etc. Elizabeth will inspire future students with excitement in whatever she teaches. 

YIF Co-hosts a Reading at Novel Idea - June 12th

Come to Novel Idea Bookstore in downtown Kingston (156 Princess St) on Thursday, June 12^th , 7:00 - 8:00 pm for a book launch of “Through the Portal” (Exile Editions, Toronto) and a reading of some hopeful eco-stories by author and YIF director, Jerri Jerreat and young YIF author, Jessi Paul. Jessi won First Place in our 2024 YIF festival for her delightful story about a youth in the future, struggling with grief, who resists the city’s pro-environmental changes. It is a beautiful story. Come, RELAX, have a delicious cookie, and listen to some exciting new stories.

YIF Wins Award from Retired Teachers of Ontario—RTO/ERO

RTO is an organization that represents over 85,000 retired educators from Ontario and across Canada. Its mission is to support healthy active living, social engagement, and political advocacy for seniors, for the environment.

RTO District 20 gave out their very first VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR to YIF’s Director, Jerri Jerreat, for her work with Youth Imagine the Future. Jerri gave a brief presentation at the annual general meeting on what YIF does, our mission, and invited other retired educators to join us as presenters to youth. 

YIF Travelling Show

Our travelling show has been busy! We have been taking it out into the community to various events, inviting people to see some beautiful, thought-provoking youth art, and answering questions. The show was at the Kingston Climate Symposium in January, and in February at an Intergenerational Open Mic evening held at the Seniors Centre. In April it was on display at the Juvenis Festival Storefront Gallery at the Cataraqui Mall, and also managed to pop into the Broom Factory for a Youth Open Mic event. Then in May the show was part of a Solarpunk fiction workshop at Wintergreen Studios and at the RTO Annual General Meeting.  Presently it is set up in the front window of NOVEL IDEA BOOKSTORE, our independent bookstore in Kingston.

NOTE:  If you belong to a group with an interest in youth mental health, climate action, social justice, or in the arts, please contact Nikki at [email protected] to set up a display at one of your meetings or events. Along with the YIF travelling art show, someone from our team can give a very brief 5 minute talk or 10 minute slideshow to explain YIF to your group,

YIF was at Wintergreen Studios this May!

YIF gave a one afternoon workshop in writing solarpunk fiction to young adult writers at Wintergreen Studios on Friday, May 23^rd. We included an introduction to YIF’s work, and the writers and others there, (there was a bioblitz going on with many people on site) were highly impressed and inspired by the YIF travelling show!

YIF at Online International Solarpunk Conference - June 21st

Solarpunk is an arts and social justice movement - using literature and the visual arts to envision and build a hopeful climate future where people, nature, and community are interconnected, sustainable, and just.  The Solarpunk Conference is organized by a passionate group of young academics from Canada and the U.S. each year, with speakers on on how we might move toward a kinder, sustainable world with social justice for all. The keynote speaker this year will be Prof. Philip Crosby from Philadelphia, a professor of Architecture and Environmental Design USA, who will discuss how cities can redesign themselves to meet the extreme climate events now common and to cut down on their emissions to help prevent more.

We will be there to introduce Youth Imagine the Future and a host a workshop for writers.

The Solarpunk Conference is online, accessible, and there are various ticket prices depending on what you are able to pay.

Learn more and register: solarpunkconference.com.

YIF at Kingston Climate Symposium – January 2025

The topic of Kingston’s Climate Symposium this year was: Rooted in Action: Empowering Youth to Grow a Sustainable Future. The keynote speaker was Autumn Peltier, (Jerri’s hero), an Indigenous Rights and Water Activist. There is a short, powerful documentary about her now called “ The Water Walker,” highly recommended.

Youth Imagine the Future was invited to have a voice in the panel on Sustainability through the Arts which you can watch on You Tube.

Book a YIF workshop in your classroom or school!

YIF is accepting bookings for September’s presentations and workshops in classrooms across the Limestone District and the Algonquin & Lakeshore District school boards.

Please tell any interested educators to send us an email with a suggested day in September to hold a place for your school. We try to see several classes in one school each day. These are placeholders, and the date can be moved after Labour Day. Email [email protected] to reserve a date!

Enjoy your summer and come join us at the reading June 12^th at Novel Idea! 7 pm!

-The YIF Team