International Literacy Day is celebrated on September 8th — a day that is dedicated to raising awareness and concern for literacy issues worldwide.
There are 773 million people worldwide who are unable to read or write.
At Covenant House Vancouver CHV), we continue to see an increases in the number of youth served who are newcomers to Canada. Included in this group are youth who are refugees/asylees; have a student, work, or visitor visa; or have no status.
During CHV’s last fiscal year, newcomer youth accounted for 33% of youth served across all programs, compared to 14% from the previous fiscal year. Of the 33% from last fiscal, 37% of them originated from a country other than Canada or the United States, compared to 23% from the previous year.
Newcomers typically stay for longer periods of time at CHV as they have to navigate a number of complex issues that can include working through immigration procedures, being ineligible to work, navigating different cultures and languages, and there can be expectations from the newcomers’ families to financially support them. Newcomers may also have experienced trauma, due to the circumstances under which they needed to leave their country of origin.
However, newcomers also bring with them substantial strengths and resiliencies. Frontline staff say that:
- Newcomer youth have a strong determination to succeed — they juggle multiple priorities such as working part time, learning English, and working on immigration-related matters
- They often have a lot of diverse/inspirational ideas of how to improve CHV’s services such as having a “word of the day” in program, so newcomers learning English can develop a shared vocabulary
- They tend to have strong community and family ties. The Covenant House attachment model of care really works for them as they value having these relationships
- These youth are very good at networking, and are resourceful and creative in how they navigate the housing and employment market
- They maintain a positive mindset despite the adversity and stressors that they are dealing with on a daily basis
- Many have strong educational backgrounds and aspirations
- They are responsible and reliable — many have had to learn to navigate health care, complex government systems, and educational systems for their families, including their own parents and younger siblings
- If given the opportunity, these youth have a lot of entrepreneurial ideas—many of these ideas would have a significant benefit to society such as how to improve accessibility for those with disabilities, or language barriers
- They openly share about their culture with others and enrich our understanding of the world
- Newcomer/refugee youth tend to maintain independence after leaving our services
When you support CHV, you are supporting the future of our community. An investment in youth is an investment in the future.
If you would like to support youth in their quest for literacy acumen, you can make a monetary donation here. As many youth are heading back to school, another way that you can help them succeed, is through donations of school supplies and related sundries. You can find the latest information on what youth need to succeed, here.
Thank you for supporting vulnerable youth in the community.