The W
20 Dickson St Unit 101 N1R 1T4 Cambridge, ON, Canada

THIS FRIDAY is our May Movie Night! Join us from 6:00P.M.-8:00P.M. for pizza, popcorn and a flick! This month, we are offering this activity for ages 8-12. Open to cis and trans girls, non-binary and two-spirit youth. Been with us in the last year? Shoot us an email to TheW@YWCACambridge to register. New to The W? Head to www.YWCACambridge.ca and fill out an inquiry form on The W’s landing page. Image Description: a multi-shade blue background with a black film strip through the centre. An old style film camera in the bottom left. The image is titled Movie Night. In the bottom right corner reads: Friday May 27 6-8pm at The W ages 8-12

Muslim Women Of Cambridge are hosting a series of workshops at The W every Friday in June. See below for details and how to register! Limited spots available In collaboration with sound vision and YWCA, we are offering a knowledgeable discussion for bridging the gap between parents and youth. To get register kindly follow the link please https://bit.ly/CMW1724 #youth #parents #resolutions #collaboration #muslim #cambridgeontario #conflict

It’s Friday! And that means it’s time for a #FridayFeature This week, we are featuring one of The W volunteers, Shafiya, as she is hosting a virtual yoga workshop for us on Sunday, February 28th from 6:30P.M.-7:15P.M. Open to Cis and Trans girls, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit youth ages 10-12. Participants will be guided through a series of poses, at a beginner level. If you’ve never tried yoga before, this is the perfect session for you! Register by contacting [email protected] (registrants will be sent an outline of the session, as well as a Zoom link prior to the start time) And now, to introduce Shafiya as our #FridayFeature. She has been with us for almost a year now; below is a little bit more about her! Shafiya is studying Fitness and Health Promotion at Conestoga College. She has a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from India. Shafiya is certified as a Group fitness and Personal trainer from OFC , including yoga and resistance training. Shafiya is currently working as Physical Therapy Assistant at a long term care home, in Brantford. Shafiya worked as a Physiotherapist in India for an institution, for more than a year. We are so grateful to have met Shafiya and been able to welcome her into our volunteer community! To meet her, register for our virtual yoga class on Sunday February 28th!

This week in the SHYFT At Home Self-Care program, we made scream boxes(swipe to see an example). Sometimes we just get that urge to let out an ‘Arrrrrgggh!’ but we may not feel it appropriate to do so in the environment we’re in. Sure, we could scream into a pillow, but this is more fun to make! Below is a snippet from our facilitation: Do you ever have days where you’ve bottled up anger or sadness, and you can’t help but think why is no one noticing that I’m upset?; the fr...ustration over others not noticing might be due to a need not being met. Are you able to acknowledge the feeling, and use self-care to meet the need? Let’s say you’ve been feeling increasingly upset about your school assignments- but you keep on doing what you need to do, without stopping to let yourself feel the feeling- if you don’t take a break to figure out the feeling, and let yourself feel it, it might not be as easy to learn what you need to do to help yourself- and at the same time, others around you keep expecting you to plug along, not knowing there is something wrong. But say you figure out that the frustration is coming from feeling like you don’t have enough time to complete assignments. Feeling the feeling might look like having a good cry or scream (and you have a scream box for that now, just sayin’). Naming the feeling might be saying I feel overwhelmed and then- because-I feel like I don’t have enough time to complete everything. Once you’ve figured out the feeling and why you’re feeling it, you can think of solutions. Sometimes, before we can take action to help ease a feeling like anger, frustration, fear or sadness, we need to let ourselves act it out- crying, yelling, stomping, etc. Feelings like anger are okay- it’s how we act them out that can look different depending on how we deal with them. Feelings like anger and frustration often have us wanting to yell or make it known in some other way that we are angry. But dealing with those feelings within ourselves’ first, can be helpful in how they come out to others! Acknowledging our emotions is self-care, and figuring out how to release and express those emotions in a way that feels helpful for us is too! See more

Happy Friday, friends! Today we are bringing you something a little new with a #FridayFeature With some help from our pals over at Male Allies we have put together 60 craft kits to be distributed through Mill Courtland Associations and Centreville-Chicopee Community Centre The kits come with all the craft basics you need, some colouring sheets, and links to lots of amazing activities.... In March, we will be hosting a virtual after school art and conversation program on Wednesdays at 4pm for youth ages 8 12. This program is open to youth of all genders. To register or for more information email [email protected] With the isolation we are experiencing now, we are grateful to be able to continue to connect with youth, to create space to connect with each other and to create and take part in some hands-on, art-based projects together. Thanks to our friends at Mill Courtland and Centreville Chicopee for continuing to welcome us into your spaces and communities! YWCA Cambridge The W and Male Allies are thrilled to be able to continue this work. The SHYFT program has been running for over 6 years now and is funded through the Lyle S Hallman Foundation. SHYFT hosts programs and workshops within the community and in schools throughout the Region. Thanks to this funding we can continue to connect with youth, build stronger communities and engage all youth in conversations around gender equity and ending gender based violence. #thew #ywcacambridge #cbridge #galt #youthprograms #shyft

A big congratulations to our Small Steps sister Julie for winning the Soroptomist Live Your Dream award! We are so proud of the path you're on!

Have you been missing our program activities? Maybe you’d like to join a virtual program, but you don’t have time or access to an appropriate device to hop on Zoom each week. Maybe you wanted to sign up, but the programs have been full, or you missed your chance. For all of these reasons and more, we have decided to launch The W SHYFT At Home.On Your Own, subscription boxes! How does this new feature work, you ask? There’s a one-time registration for a FREE 3 month subscript...ion. After signing up, you will receive one activity in a box via delivery, once a month for 3 months. Activities each month will be based on an activity that was featured in the previous month’s program. Activities will come with instructions and a brief intentional description of how the activity connects to our programs. Subscription boxes are intended to be doable without a facilitator. To qualify for a subscription box, you must be under the age of 13 and not currently enrolled in a weekly program. Registration deadline is March 1st. Delivery dates will be determined based on staff availability. Subscription boxes are open to those living in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo only. You must register for a subscription box, so please visit our website: ywcacambridge.ca/w-programming-centre-registration-form/

For years, we’ve been asked to make slime in our participant-led programs. And we’ve always found a way to make it intentional. So when we created our latest SHYFT At Home self-care based program, we knew we had to include it. Here’s how we tied it in, if you’re curious: Why are we making slime in a self-care program? In the last few years, slime has become known as a stress reliever for a few reasons- some people say squeezing and stretching slime feels like a release for te...nse muscles, as when we are stressed, we often clench, causing our muscles to tense up. Some also say watching their slime bubble up, melt and jiggle is mesmerizing for their eyes- and the focus that takes, keeps their mind off of other things they’re thinking about. Others enjoy the ASMR sounds of slime as it pops or makes squishing and snapping sounds, and find such repetitive noise to be soothing or ‘satisfying’. Slime has also become popular as a fidget toy to be used for focusing when we are easily distracted, as some people find keeping their hands busy helps them listen better, as well as feel less nervous to add to a conversation or be a part of a group. Sometimes we might feel like standing up and walking around, but we need to stay put because we’re supposed to be focusing on something; fidgeting with something like slime can give us a bit of that movement our bodies are wanting. These slime examples were made by two of the participants in our current group. Be on the lookout for another option for slime making with us in the coming weeks! Image is a green glittery slime and a light purple swirled slime side by side.

Last week, we shared that we would be canceling in-person programs for the time being. But guess what!? We are transitioning to ‘At Home’ versions of our Monday workshops! We are providing packages of supplies needed, instructions, as well as a write up of what would usually be our discussion topic to go along with the activity. We will also provide an optional Zoom check-in, to chat with participants and talk about the activity if they’d like- this is a great way to still co...nnect with others and have a chance to share, listen and learn with each other! Registration is still required for ‘SHYFT At Home’ , so youth must be signed up to receive a package for pick up or delivery and a 6pm Zoom link for check-in. We only have six registration spots available. Call 519-622-9960 OR email [email protected] to register. Open to Cis and Trans Girls, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit Individuals ages 10-12. See more

W volunteer, Sharmistha has been working hard on a quiz platform for us these last few weeks; we are finally ready to release it AND give youth in grades 7 to 10 a chance to test their knowledge each week, starting December 1st. On a monthly basis, youth with the link to the quiz platform will be given access to a new quiz each week. At the end of the month, we tally up weekly scores and give a small prize to the person with the most correct answers. We know it’s not the same... as doing experiments and working on fun projects BUT it does give an opportunity to test our knowledge so that we might feel more confident in our science, tech, engineering and math based classes in school. Here’s a quote from the quiz creator: Resilience, innovation and creativity are the sources of inspiration! No matter what resistance comes, we will work hard to overcome. There is so much we can still do to nurture our interest in STEM!. Opportunity to participate in our monthly quizzes open to Cis and Trans Girls, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit Individuals in Grades 7 to 10. Contact us to receive the link! [email protected] OR 519-622-9960

With the most recent developments of COVID-19 and increasing Public Health regulations, we have made the difficult decision to postpone all in-person programming at The W until the New Year. Our Small Steps to Success program and youth programs will still be running and available virtually. You can still reach us through email and call us at 519-622-9960. We have enjoyed the time that we have been able to spend with all of you through in-person programming, workshops a...nd scheduled appointments over the last few months! Here’s how you can stay connected with us: Continue to follow us on social media for program related posts and updates on available programs Join us in our virtual programming! Keep an eye out for virtual programs for youth ages 8-13 and ways to take part offline too! Connect with us at [email protected] Have a youth program idea? Tell us what you would like to see and what activities you would like to take part in! We would love to hear from you! If you want to join our pre-employment program, need support or are looking for community resources for the holidays, connect with Sara and Terra in the Small Steps to Success Program, you can email them at [email protected] or [email protected] If you are needing links to resources in the community (food, clothing etc) or help with school-related issues, our W Outreach Worker Shannon is your person! You can email her at [email protected] If you are a teacher, administrator, CYW or social worker in the Waterloo Region and are looking for ways to engage your class with our content and messaging, you can book us in for free customizable, class-wide virtual presentations. Topics include: Gender Box Activity, Healthy Relationships, Consent and Bystander Intervention, Body Image and Self-Esteem and Media Literacy. Email [email protected] for information or to book a workshop! We will continue to keep ourselves informed and will provide updates as they come. We will keep working through these challenges together to ensure we are doing what is best and safe for one another. We look forward to connecting in person again soon!

Next week, during GLOW programming, we have a special treat: Mohammad Ali Aumeer, the Socialist Vocalist, will be joining us to give a performance of some social justice-themed hip hop and then talking to us about the craft of songwriting! It's going to be amazing! Be prepared to sing along! This activity is open to all genders and will fill up fast, so register ASAP by emailing [email protected]

Oh how thankful we are for the community of folx that surround us! Abbie of @yh.jewelrydesign offered to facilitate a jewelry design workshop and we couldn’t be more excited! As you have probably already figured out, we always connect our activity content to a concept related to social justice, self-esteem, confidence, gender analysis or healthy relationships. Abbie, along with W staff came up with the theme of ‘Self Love as Resistance’. How do we share statements of self lo...ve with the world, when often the world is telling us not to? Let’s chat about WHY self love can be an act of resistance in a world that often tells us we’re not enough. We have one spot left in this workshop for Cis and Trans Girls, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit Individuals ages 11-13. It is taking place on Monday, November 16th from 5:30-7:00pm. Call 519-622-9960 OR email [email protected] to claim our last open spot! See more

Last Minute Program Drop: we have a few spaces left in this Sunday’s movement class from 10:30-11:30am, at The W. If you’re between the ages of 8 and 10, join us with W volunteer and movement instructor, Shafiya, to move through play! This will not be your typical exercise class! Open to Cis and Trans Girls, Non-Binary and Two-Spirit Individuals. Call 519-622-9960 OR email [email protected] with questions or to register. Can’t make it this Sunday? We have spaces available next Sunday, November 15th as well!

We live in stressful times, and it is important to have healthy coping mechanisms in order to ride the waves of emotions that we are all experiencing. Learn ways that you can express your big feelings safely, and what to do if someone that you know needs help. Presented by Rondi McFarlane, Peer Navigator from Grand River Hospital's Adult Outpatient Mental Health Department. Ages 14-16. 4 PM to 6 PM on Zoom. Email [email protected] to register.

This week in our in-centre SHYFT themed workshop, we discussed why we offer space to share our pronouns. When asked in check in if there are other places participants are given a chance to share their pronouns, no one stated that there were- and in fact it was stated that our space was the first they’d learned about pronouns and what they are. So, we moved on to discuss how- if everyone in fact has a pronoun, why is it so difficult to find spaces and places in which we can sh...are ours? We talked about how when we are born and assigned a label of ‘male’ or ‘female’, from there we are often socialized into roles. And then it becomes commonly assumed that our pronouns can be judged by how we look, what we like, how we act, etc. But what if we come to a point where we can no longer carry the pronouns assumed for us, but yet we don’t feel ready to share a pronoun that does not align with the assumptions others have made about us? Normalizing introducing ourselves with our pronouns gets us used to the fact that we all have a pronoun, and that pronoun may not align with the characteristics, gender roles, or gender expressions that we present or the boxes the world fits us into based on the sex we were assigned at birth. If we all have an opportunity to share, we are acknowledging the fact that gender and sex are not to be defined in the same way, and that gender is more so about how we feel, and we can express our identities through who we know ourselves to be, rather than others deciding for us, based on assumptions assigned to us. So, in our programs, we offer an opportunity to share our pronouns, along with our names, to begin to establish this as a common practice not only within our space, but so that folx may carry this on throughout the other places and spaces they go. We made pronoun bracelets to go along with our discussion, for ourselves or for whom ever we felt would like one of their own! See more

This week we are back (virtually) in our school communities talking all things gender. Even though we cannot see the faces of the youth, we hear their voices loud and clear. Being a part of these conversations feels more like community than ever. It can be difficult to challenge the notions of masculine and feminine and see the many ways that these concepts impact our lives so deeply. From the moment we are born, these ideas are being shared with us, from all around. They ar...e deeply engrained in the ways we are raised, lessons we are taught, the language we use, the people around us and of course, through social media. Who we are, how we identify, express ourselves and what we become should not be for others to decide. Hearing youth share these messages, their thoughtful reflections and stories, and learning from them brings so much hope for a world without the limitations of gender roles and the value we place in them. We are so grateful to share in this unlearning. What’s something you are working to unlearn? #TheW #ywcacambridge #galt #cbridge #YouthPrograms #LearningToUnlearn (Image is of concrete with a chalked message in blue which reads ‘see in a different light’. It was a message written by a participant after a gender box discussion in a SHYFT program)