Youth Mental Health Grant Recipients
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Kindred Foundation Youth Mental Health Grant Awardees
The Kindred Foundation Youth Mental Health Grant is focused on providing financial support to Canadian organizations providing mental health services to Black and/or 2SLGBTQ+ youth across the country.
2024 Awardees
Project Title: Grounded Roots: De-colonial Nature centered healing techniques for QTBIPOC Neurodivergent youth
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Funding: $29,950
Offering alternative models of mental health support for Two-Spirit/Queer/Trans BIPOC neurodivergent youth through a series of 12 workshop events within their Neuro/Diversités program.
Ideas for the series include herbalism, rituals & ceremonies, ancestral connection, foraging, bodywork, hydrotherapies, nature at play, land stewardship, breathing and Sweatlodge.
Art + Health (Trustee: Taibu Community Health)
Project Title: “and still I rise” (2nd cohort)
Location: Toronto and Greater Toronto Area, Ontario
Funding: $30,000
Mental health initiative for Ethiopian and Eritrean survivors of Gender Based Violence.
Group therapy sessions: 8 group workshops over an 8-week period.
One-on-one therapy: 10 individual sessions with a therapist for each participant.
Food box subscriptions to the one-on-one therapy participants in partnership with FoodShare Toronto and Kitchen Table Talks.
Project Title: “Peer Support Program”
Location: Northwest Territories
Funding: $30,000
Expanding in-person and virtual peer support for 2SLGBTQIPA+ youth.
To dedicate more staff hours for responding to peer support requests, creating systems navigation resources and improving staff training.
Provides financial support to youth for gender-affirming care.
Project Title: “Pieces of Me”
Location: Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area, Ontario
Funding: $30,000
Focusing on Black youth from under-resourced communities, film arts is used as a medium to safely discuss, de-stigmatize and explore various issues around mental health.
Mental health group coaching sessions.
8 sessions of therapeutic art interventions focusing on photography.
Film production workshops where each participant will lead the creation of a short film that tells the story of their personal mental health journey and other aspects of their lives.
Trans Support NL (Trustee: Quadrangle NL)
Project Title: “Families In Transition — Growing Together”
Location: Newfoundland and Labrador
Funding: $29,780
To develop & facilitate a 6-month program for 12 trans, nonbinary, gender diverse (TNBGD) youth and their families.
Includes workshops, individual counselling sessions with a certified counsellor, and connection-making activities allowing space for peer support and learning opportunities for youth and caregivers.
2023 Awardees
Black Men’s Therapy Fund (Trustee: Black Mental Health Canada INC.)
Initiative Title: “We Are Each Other's Harvest: Storytelling and gardening as pathways to Black flourishing and mental wellness”
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Funding Amount: $29,024.00
An eight-week wellness program that guides youth through writing their own personal story. The program includes guided group discussions and workshops, with the tactile experience of gardening, resulting in a community meal and celebration with the food the youth grew over the sessions.
Prince Edward Island Writers’ Guild
Initiative Title: “Queer Youth Writing Club”
Location: Charlottetown, PEI
Funding Amount: $6,600
A writing club for 2SLGBTQ+ youth and allies in Prince Edward Island. The club guides the youth through their creative expression and provides a place for peer-based support, resulting in a published anthology.
QMUNITY, BC’s Queer, Trans and Two-Spirit Resource Centre
Initiative Title: "BBB Program: gender-affirming chest-wear for youth"
Location: Serving all of British Columbia
Funding Amount: $30,000
Bras, Binders and Breast Forms Program (BBB Program) provides free new and used gender-affirming chest wear to transgender and gender-nonconforming youth. The program is supported by the QMUNITY Youth Worker who provides one-on-one support to the youth and their families.
Initiative Title: “The Quadrangle Community Counselling Line”
Location: St. John’s, Newfoundland (serving all of Newfoundland & Labrador)
Amount Funded: $30,000
Supporting the free-to-use remote and in-person counselling services for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Counselling Line is staffed by 2SLGBTQIA+ counsellors and this funding will provide 200+ hours of mental health counselling to youth across the province.
The Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity
Initiative Title: “Youth Network Project: Black 2SLGBTQ+ Youth Connect”
Location: Ottawa and Kingston, Ontario
Funding Amount: $30,000
The Youth Network Project: Black 2SLGBTQ+ Youth Connect will create a peer-led, trauma-informed, facilitated space for Black queer and trans youth to share about identity and belonging while navigating wellness. Resources, communication channels, and a celebration are included as part of the project.
Truly Alive Youth and Family Foundation
Initiative Title: “The Resilient Youth Café: Holistic Wellbeing Program”
Location: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Amount Funded: $30,000
The Resilient Youth Café focuses on physical health through movement and sports, mental health through peer-based programs and clinical counselling, and nutritional health through online cooking classes. Youth are provided with the tools, supports, and food needed to engage with the program.
Kindred Foundation also provided a $20,000 donation to Weston Frontlines Centre for their program called “What’s On My Plate?” which aims to increase mental health awareness and support as well as develop culinary and leadership skills in Black youth in the Weston and Greater Toronto Area.
2022 Awardees
Art + Health (Trustee: Taibu Community Health)
Project Title: “and still I rise: Mental Health Support for Ethiopian and Eritrean Youth with Experiences of Gender Based Violence”
Location: Toronto and Greater Toronto Area (Ontario)
Funding: $37,000
Group therapy sessions: 8 group workshops over an 8-week period.
One-on-one therapy: Done in partnership with Women’s Health in Women’s Hands that includes 10 individual sessions with a therapist for two participant cohorts.
Food box subscriptions to the one-on-one therapy participants in partnership with FoodShare Toronto and Kitchen Table Talks.
Referral Hub: Connecting therapists, social workers and participants to culturally appropriate resources.
Social Media: Providing information on mental health, gender based violence and other key topics.
Black Women in Motion (Trustee: The Neighbourhood Group Community Services)
Project Title: "The Care Exchange Program"
Location: Toronto and Greater Toronto Area (Ontario)
Funding: $30,000
A 12-week queer and trans survivor capacity-building program that will enhance survivor resiliency, self-advocacy and coping skills.
The program will train eight Black 2SLGBTQQIA+ survivors from the Love Offering Community Emergency Relief Fund as Community Caregivers. Community Caregivers will be responsible for facilitating bi-weekly 2SLGBTQQIA+ specific group healing circles for the larger survivor network.
The Good Guise x The Black Men’s Therapy Fund (Trustee: SKETCH Working Arts for Street Involved and Homeless Youth)
Project Title: "Rooting Mental Wellness"
Location: Toronto and Greater Toronto Area (Ontario)
Funding: $25,800
The Good Guise will offer eight 1.5-hour workshops at various Toronto Public Library locations on various mental health topics that include consent, mental health, harm reduction and positive forms of masculinity.
The Black Men's Therapy Fund will offer eight concurrent land-based, participatory mental wellness workshops to Queer, Trans and differently-abled young Black men. Participants will meet weekly to care for a communal garden and through “earthwork” to cultivate healing while engaging in facilitated dialogue on mental wellness and positive masculinity.
Engage in a wider social media campaign and the creation of a workbook zine.
QMUNITY, BC’s Queer, Trans and Two-Spirit Resource Centre
Project Title: "BBB Program: gender-affirming chest-wear for youth"
Location: Serving all of British Columbia
Funding: $35,900
Bras, Binders and Breast Forms Program (BBB Program): Providing free new and used gender-affirming chest-wear to transgender and gender-nonconforming youth.
Creating capacity for the QMUNITY Youth worker to provide more one-on-one support to youth and families.
Uzima Women Relief Group International
Project Title: "Immediate Provision of Mental Health Services Directly To Black Youth in Toronto and the GTA"
Location: Neighbourhood improvement areas such as Scarborough Village and Malvern (Ontario)
Funding: $36,608
Recruitment of Black youth including 2SLGBTQ+ youth to create an advisory committee.
Workshops and focus groups, mentorship and referral program, provide information, prosocial activities and other wrap-around supports (e.g., housing support) with 50 youth participants.
YNOT: Youth Now On Track Services
Project Title: "10 Steps Mental Health Mentorship Program"
Location: Supporting youth in the Toronto, Downsview, and Weston areas (Ontario)
Funding: $23,050
Empowering youth with tools, skills and knowledge and understanding of mental health and illnesses by training youth participants to gain knowledge in understanding and identifying triggers on mental health challenges and illnesses. Parents and youth will learn online communication and social media literacy on cyberbullying on issues of mental health and illnesses and 2SLGBTQ+. The organization will have enhanced social media presence connections to collaborate with external agencies as needed.
