| Purpose : |
Through a range of activities, the project will tackle various aspects of gang membership such as the difficulties teens face in integrating into society, as well as their perception of the established order and of their place in society. Éducaloi is proposing a three-year project that involves the active participation of young people at all stages.
In the first year of the project, an in-depth study of problem-related needs will be conducted with stakeholders and youth centres, and strategies will be developed for collective communication at Éducaloi and Regroupement des maisons de jeunes du Québec [Quebec association of youth centres]. Following that, the sponsor and its partners will design and promote a guide to legal information and awareness of some of the phenomena surrounding teen crime. In addition, this tool will be reviewed and validated by Quebec Bar Association and police services experts, among others.
The sponsoring agency believes that by encouraging young people to express themselves through a medium particularly popular with this group— graffiti—they will be more open to the legal information conveyed through this exciting format. For this reason, the project will provide young people with reserved spaces (murals) to express their creavity through art and teamwork, and for communicating their vision of justice in a completely legal manner. Éducaloi plans to complete six local mural projects with six youth centres and with young people of all social backgrounds throughout the project. Business owners, police and city officials will be invited to participate in the murals, to provide space for their production, to fund or sponsor part of the activities and to help promote the project. By solliciting increased participation by at-risk youth, the promoters hope to help them assimilate the values of the legal system and society and to reinforce their feeling of involvement in and belonging to the community. By having them express themselves on the subject and by encouraging them to think critically, they will make more informed choices, mainly whether or not to join a street gang.
The creation of murals will then in the second year lead to a project management guide that will be made available in the youth centres. This guide will serve as a tool to help teens complete other local projects. It will be reviewed and validated by Regroupement des maisons de jeunes du Québec.
The third year of the project will be dedicated to promoting it: organizing the tools launch, designing a Web site, producing and circulating promotional material aimed at encouraging young people to get involved in youth centres, and organizing various promotional activities (press releases, Éducaloi electronic newsletter, etc.).
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