Project Play
Aug 2023 – Sept 2024
Coming from a long-time participation in sports, I founded a youth community organization in collaboration with Ripple Effect Education’s Waterloo Peace Innovators Program, the Waterloo Region District School Board and the Youth Creativity Fund that brings sports athletics to underserved communities in the Waterloo region. Being a long-time baseball player at this point, I have had many personal experiences with the financial burden sports can pose on families who are trying to keep their kids involved in athletics. Following the belief that every child deserves to have an athletic experience, I created this project for my teammates and peers who faced these challenges while we were growing up. The organization works with the local school board to identify and distribute gift cards to students to purchase their own sports equipment to allow active participation in school and club athletics. Furthermore, the project includes a graphic that has been shared with families within the region, showing them accessible pathways they can take to get their kids involved in community sports.
More information about my cohort from the Waterloo Peace Innovators Program can be found here
Youth Impact Project “Dragon’s Den”
April 2024 – June 2024
Through mutual connections with local organization, I was chosen to be a participant on the Child and Youth Planning Table of Waterloo Region’s decision making team for their “Dragon’s Den” project. I worked with a team of like-minded youth to develop and create investment criteria for projects that would be presented to us on our official “pitch day”. On pitch day, students and their backing organizations presented ideas where we as the judges decide which projects were going to be funded. In the end, $70 000 was distributed to various youth-driven ideas around the Waterloo region.
Nolan Phuong 