The Philippine Centre Canada’s (PCC) Youth Civic Engagement Lab (YCEL) program was previously open to youths of Filipino heritage, but is now open to other visible minority groups in Ontario.  This development has elevated the PCC’s mission to nurture Canada’s future leaders by supporting their dreams to help their communities, and bring them to greater heights. 

The training-workshop on civic engagement last November 10,11 and 12, 2023 at Arnprior, ON, was attended by young civic engagement enthusiasts who were eager to work with their teammates in generating and articulating their civic engagement ideas. Some of their impressive ideas were giving specialized care to selected cancer patients, publishing stories of Filipino migrant workers, and holding cooking classes where youths can learn how to make easy yet nutritious meals. They also had the chance to develop their initial ideas for civic engagement in their communities and presented them to their peers, thus, honed their program planning, and public speaking skills, and bolstered their self-confidence. This learning event was competently handled by Manuela Petersen, a seasoned training facilitator, alongside her youth training facilitator assistants, Reign Samson and Nicco Baldoza, college students at the University of Ottawa and Algonquin College, respectively. New friendships were formed, and every minute was productively spent, yet perfectly balanced with social activities at the end of each training session-particularly the “Karaoke night” where the participating youths belted and danced to their generation’s anthems with cheer and camaraderie. 

To put the youths’ learnings to practice, and to usher in the microgrant component of the YCEL program, PCC organized another training session- this time, on how youths can make their civic engagement project proposals to secure funding for their projects. This was held last November 25, 2023, at the Rideau Community Hub, Ottawa, ON. At the helm of this training-workshop was Adonis Sucalit, a Filipino Canadian expert in project management. PCC Chairperson Lota Bertulfo, and YCEL Program Manager, Melanie Radovan discussed the expectations, timelines, and mechanics in relation to the submission of the youth trainees’ project proposals for the microgrant application process. It was highlighted that PCC will continuously support the YCEL participants who are keen on applying for microgrants by giving feedback on their draft project proposals, and assigning mentors to future microgrant recipients who will guide them in all aspects of project implementation.  

The YCEL program is now accepting civic engagement project proposals from qualified youth applicants.

The PCC is the proud implementer of the YCEL- a program which aims to empower youths from visible minority groups in Canada through the enhancement of their awareness on the importance of civic engagement. Being engaged in community affairs is a means for the youth to contribute to the progress of their communities and Canada as a whole. The PCC acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Service Corps for this program.