McGill's Youth Outreach Program works to:
* Create safe opportunities for self-expression and the development of interpersonal skills of the youth, while promoting the learning of soft literacy skills
* Provide social support to the youth by being a mentor
* Focus on the positive qualities and gifts of the youth
* Create a safe and accepting environment for the youth
* Plan activities that are relevant to the needs of the youth by working with the youth and not for them or on them
* Demonstrate our commitment to the youth and the program
In order to reach these goals, we visit the youth once a week for approximately 1 hour in groups of 4-5 volunteers. Mainly our focus is on the soft literacy skills, which we promote through games and activities. These can be anything from Pictionary to reading through a recipe in order to bake cookies! Through this we are able to also promote other positive skills in the youth, such as communication. It is an extremely rewarding program for both the youth and the volunteers involved!
