Focus Forward For Indigenous Youth Thunder Bay

Pat Meredith (Donor) through the Thunder Bay Community Foundation has generously donated $5000 toward the Focus Forward Youth Garage Project. The project will provide high school students attending the Matawa Education and Care Centre with the powerful opportunity to build a garage for their Outdoor Education Program. FFFIY will facilitate three, one-week workshops to help students learn about planning, organizing, and completing a project of this scale. The project will be incorporated into the school's existing curricula, while youth constructing the garage will gain construction trades course credits, safety certifications, and access to career workshops as they complete the project.

Yesterday students from Montreal Lake Cree Nation learned how to install solar panels on the roof of a building. These panels will help power their new communit...y greenhouse! Stay tuned for more updates on the Hope Gardens project. Thank you North American Solar Academy for carrying out the training! In a couple of weeks, the HVAC system and planters will be installed and the greenhouse will be up and running! We're using state of the art cold-climate heat pumps and an ERV donated by Mitsubishi Electric Heating & Cooling Canada to keep the energy costs low for this 4-season greenhouse in Northern Saskatchewan! Thank you, everyone, for all your support to make this project possible!

Hi everyone! Today is orange shirt day, we hope that everyone has supported this important movement by wearing an orange shirt. If you couldn’t however, educat...ing yourselves on the harm that Residential Schools have caused and continue to cause to Indigenous families across Canada is just as important. #orangeshirtday #everychildmatters See more

Who is Focus Forward? What are their goals? Focus Forward’s mission is to collaborate with Indigenous communities across Canada, empowering youth through locally developed trades-based education to strengthen Individuals’ and communities’ futures. That is put very simply and we have some exciting things in the works that we can’t wait to reveal! Stay tuned and give us a shoutout or follow if you are interested in us or our mission. Have a great Friday everyone! -The Focus Forward Team

It’s #meettheteammonday yet again! This is Camryn Newman, one of our members who is dedicated to making a difference. Camryn is 19 years old and currently enrolled at Lakehead University, and is entering her third year of Applied Life Sciences. Being born and raised in Thunder Bay, she recognizes the disadvantages that the local Indigenous youth face, which is why she joined Focus Forward. She strongly believes that awareness is essential, but action is the key to the future. Through focus forward she has taken the opportunity to help plan fundraisers and projects that are in support of the Indigenous youth of Thunder Bay. Camryn is filled with optimism for this upcoming year and for the new events we have planned!