City Shapers / Civic Innovators

A hands-on civic education program for youth ages 18-30 in Metro Vancouver to learn about their civic institutions through the lens of a current social issue. Each cohort is 7-10 weeks long. Past City Shapers cohorts took place in 2019 (social isolation), 2020 (resilient communities), and 2021 (public space). Surrey Shapers: Public Space ran Nov 2022-Feb 2023.

Applications now open for Civic Innovators: Renovate the Public Hearing! Click here to learn more.

North Shore Young Civic Forum

Created from a need for more conversations about the needs of the ‘missing middle’, the Forum is an 8-13 week long cohort program for North Shore young adults (ages 18-39) to learn directly from staff and electeds about current social issues, before presenting their ideas to local City Councils. Past cohorts took place in 2019, 2020, and 2022.

30Network

Together, CityHive & Youthful Cities co-hosted two 30Network network cohorts: Housing Affordability (2017) and Civic Engagement (2018). These knowledge-to-action labs each brought together 30 young people under 30 in Metro Vancouver to take a deep dive into some pressing urban issues and to create projects that address them.

New West City 101

April-May 2019 | Partner: City of New Westminster

In 2019, CityHive co-created ‘New West City 101’, a civic education-to-action program for high school-aged youth in collaboration with the City of New Westminster. The 8-week after school program focused on helping youth understand how their cities work, and how decisions are made. Topics included parks, housing, land use, the local economy, transportation and more. With guidance from New Westminster city staff, council members, and community partners, our cohort was able to learn about current city initiatives and challenges, and were given a space to share their voice in decision making processes. After interactive, informative sessions, the cohort had the opportunity to co-design projects and present back to city council, staff and their community. 

Richmond Youth Civic Engagement Program (YCEP)

Cohort 1: Jan-Mar 2021, Cohort 2: Sep-Nov, 2021 | Partner: City of Richmond

This program was delivered in partnership with staff from the City of Richmond and offered local youth an opportunity to learn more about their city and the different ways that they can get involved. Both cohorts spanned 8 weeks, and participants heard from staff from a wide range of departments as well as the museum. The program culminated in group presentations to a Mock Council, made up of the Mayor and City Councillors. The participants shared their ideas and initiatives to improve their city. This idea for this program was prompted by in initial campaign led by local high school youth who wanted more opportunities to engage with their City. This program continues to be delivered by the City of Richmond – you can learn more here.