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The Circle Education Receives First West Foundation Impact Grand

July 22, 2024

We are happy to announce that The Circle Education has received a $10.000 impact grant for our Pass it On Boys program from the Island Savings Community Endowment.

We were part of the first batch of 2024 grantees last month, with 58 organizations sharing $735,700 so far this year! $120.000 in grants was distributed by @FirstWestFoundation, through its Island Savings Community, to eleven charitable organizations served by Island Savings on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

For more than two decades, The Circle Education has worked tirelessly to address violence in all its forms. Taking a proactive approach with our programs to gender-based violence, The Circle works with children and youth to build healthy relationship skills.

One of such programs is the Pass it On Boys, supporting boys in Grade 8+ to connect with one another and with facilitators to develop self-confidence, build empathy, and foster positive relationships through a positive and strength-based mentorship model.

“Thanks to Island Savings and First West Foundation, The Circle Education can continue to support the particular needs of adolescent boys, helping them to uncover their potential and to develop the confidence and competence to contribute to their families, schools and communities in healthy ways”, says Janine Fernandes-Hayden, Executive Director of The Circle Education. 

“First West Foundation is proud to provide grants through the Island Savings Community Endowment”

“We are thrilled to support The Circle Education and their Pass it On Boys program, as they offer a safe space to grow, learn and practice valuable, life-long skills”, adds Jackey Zellweger, Foundation and Community Investment Specialist at First West Foundation.

#FirstWestFoundation

Find out more about the First West Foundation here

So what’s in it for me? – by Chris Gay

So what’s in it for me? – by Chris Gay

As a contractor for SWOVA, I have very specific tasks laid out that involve project coordination. As the project coordinator for the Respectful Relationships (R+R) program, the Pass It On Program, and for the Online R+R Facilitator’s Training, I need to ensure all the...

The Best Part of Pass It On – by Chris Gay

The Best Part of Pass It On – by Chris Gay

The Pass It On female teen mentorship program has now completed its second year. This year there were 16 mentors and 16 buddies. The mentors met weekly with their mentor supervisor, Kate Maurice, for support and guidance. In addition, they met monthly as a group with...

SparkFest: A night of celebration – by Chris Gay

SparkFest: A night of celebration – by Chris Gay

Kate Maurice, the Mentor Supervisor for the Pass It On female teen mentorship program, held us intimately and passionately in a circle of gratitude during an evening of entertainment on Sunday April 29th at the Harbour House Hotel. The event was a fundraiser for the...

SparkFest: A night of celebration – by Chris Gay

Sparkfest: Creating and Celebrating Community – by Kate Maurice

On April 24th, Pass It On is coming to the end of this year’s program which means, in the words of female student mentor, Paige Penny, ‘We now throw Sparkfest as a way to celebrate the past year and to build momentum for the next year.” April 29th marks the 2nd...

Building Inter-generational Capacity  – by Kate Maurice

Building Inter-generational Capacity – by Kate Maurice

The Pass It On Program is an initiative that aims to empower and support adolescent girls by providing education and skill building to help them stay safe. The project has two key components. The first is to engage high school adolescent girls in a dialogue around the...

Venturing into the world of on-line training – by Chris Gay

Venturing into the world of on-line training – by Chris Gay

Respectful Relationships (R+R) is a National and Provincial award winning schools-based primary violence prevention program for youth, developed by SWOVA. SWOVA has spent almost a decade of research and development, refining ideas about how to stop bullying,...

And My Best Friend is Gay  –     by Christina Antonick

And My Best Friend is Gay – by Christina Antonick

In the classroom, we use Energizers as activities for groups of youth to practice skill building related to the Respectful Relationships program as well as have the opportunity to move around and be in their bodies during our sessions. In a recent circle we played...

Stereotypes Create Lives Lived in Boxes — by Christina Antonick

Today in the Respectful Relationships Program, we worked with Grade 8 youth to explore stereotypes and how they relate to violence. My co-facilitator Kevin and I do a role play and act out our two scenarios of two youth in conversation. The first scene is a young man...

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