Urban Minds

📢 Attention Ontario Educators! 🌟 The new year is almost here, and we’re thrilled to invite you to two exciting events curated just for you! 🎉 Event 1: Empowering Educators: A Deep Dive into OPPI’s New Grade 9 Geography Curriculum 📅 January 2025 🕒 1-hour session Join us as we walk through OPPI’s new supplementary lesson plans for Grade 9 Geography! This hands-on workshop will: ✅ Explore ways to incorporate urban planning into your classroom. ✅ Provide practical tools to engage your students with exciting concepts. Prepare for the session: Review the lesson plans beforehand. https://lnkd.in/gWT8kD8a Submit your questions or feedback on the lesson plans using this form by January 3, 2025. https://lnkd.in/grtGJbSC Indicate your availability for your school region using this poll. (Poll closes January 3, 2025!) https://lnkd.in/gSNyc9Q6 We’ll announce finalized dates on January 10th, 2025, so stay tuned! Event 2: Ontario Educators’ Appreciation Socials Celebrating YOU and the incredible work YOU do in shaping young minds! ❤️ 📅 Dates & Locations by Region: Kitchener/Waterloo: Friday, February 7, 2025 | 5 PM - 7 PM GTA: Friday, February 21, 2025 | 5 PM - 7 PM Hamilton: Friday, February 28, 2025 | 5 PM - 7 PM What to Expect: ✨ A sneak peek of our upcoming 1UP Conference. ✨ Highlights of Urban Minds programming for your classroom. ✨ Networking opportunities with educators and urban planning professionals. ✨ Complimentary Hors d'oeuvres to enjoy! RSVP: Email us at [email protected] by January 15, 2025 to confirm your attendance. Event locations will be shared on January 24th, 2025. Let’s make 2025 a year of meaningful collaboration and learning! We can’t wait to see you there! 🎓🌍 #OntarioEducators #UrbanPlanningEducation #UrbanMinds #1UPConference #TeachersSocial #ProfessionalDevelopmentWorkshops #OntarioTeachers

It's that time of year again for our annual Year in Review! Our Co-Executive Director, Ryan Lo, reflects on how "classroom dynamics" embody the work we do at Urban Minds and shares newfound lessons in youth engagement from our accomplishments in 2024. Thank you to everyone who made 2024 another milestone year for 1UP and Urban Minds! Read our last blog of the year here: https://lnkd.in/gbXU6wnd

We have another call for volunteers! We're looking for two Program Coordinators based in Hamilton, Ontario. Please share widely. These roles will be of particular interest to post-secondary students in planning, urban design, and related fields. As a Program Coordinator, you will report to the Program Lead and support the team in the following: 🔶 Develop and deliver youth programming, including the 1UP Conference, Leaders Lab, and other local events on-site when required 🔶Support local school chapters, recruit and coordinate with school chapter leaders and mentors 🔶Mentor high school student volunteers in the 1UP Creatives team in developing educational and marketing materials 🔶Coordinate with other Urban Minds team members to publish marketing materials You may be a good fit for this position if: 🔶You are passionate about meaningful community engagement, especially with youth 🔶You are based in Hamilton (i.e. you live, study, or work there) 🔶You are knowledgeable about the city-building landscape in the region and have a basic understanding of the stakeholders and processes in urban planning 🔶You have experience with event planning and delivery 🔶You are comfortable with public speaking and workshop facilitation 🔶You are a strong writer with experience writing in different formats 🔶You enjoy and are comfortable working with youth (ages 13-19) 🔶You are an approachable and organized team player that we can count on 🔶Above all else, you have a strong sense of curiosity and commitment to show up and learn as you go What You Will Gain: 🔶Program/event planning skills and experience organizing workshops and conferences 🔶Opportunities to attend and/or present at conferences and events, and to network with other professionals 🔶$100/year to support your professional development, e.g. conference or workshop tickets, online training modules, professional association memberships, etc. 🔶A space for you to break the mold and try new ways of doing community engagement See the full position description for details: https://lnkd.in/ewK97ymq Apply by December 20th by emailing your resume and cover letter to [email protected]!

Join us and Toronto City Planning this Saturday as we wrap up the community consultation for Chinatown Tomorrow Planning Initiative with a (literal) bang! We will share our findings from the past 1.5 years in three languages through presentations and interactive display boards. We invited several community partners (Long Time No See Collective, Morris Lum, and Prof. Linda Zhang) to share their stories of Chinatown through art, photography, and architectural models. The event will also feature Lion Dance and Fire Spinning performances by Chinatown Community Lion Dance and Chinatown Fire Department! It's an event you don't want to miss!

We're hiring! Urban Minds is looking for our next Communications Lead who will lead our communications team in strengthening our brand, implementing and improving our content strategy, publishing promotional content, and responding to inquiries. As a Communications Lead, you will report to the Co-Executive Directors and lead the Communications Team in the following: • Schedule and publish social media posts, blog posts, and monthly newsletters • Coordinate with other Team Leads to support their communications needs and share news in a timely manner • Improve and manage our new website • Implement and build on current digital marketing strategies • Respond to inquiries in a professional and timely manner So if you're passionate about youth engagement in city building like us and a creative communicator who can help us amplify our mission amongst our professional and youth audiences alike, then apply now! Applications close on Sunday, December 8th @ 11:59PM! Please note that this is a volunteer role with a time commitment of approximately 5 hours per week. Make sure to share this opportunity with friends and colleagues who might be interested! Learn more about the role here: https://lnkd.in/eUF65ptR Send your cover letter and resume to [email protected].

New on the blog!

Catherine Caetano-Macdonell and I had the great pleasure of working with this incredible team of Master's students at TMU School of Urban and Regional Planning this term through Urban Minds as their studio client. We asked the team to develop a new youth engagement assessment tool for planners and engagement practitioners. We knew this was a tall order - it had to work across broad fields of planning and in different projects and organizational settings - but this team far exceeded our expectations with their final presentation this past Tuesday! I wish I took better photos but congratulations to this team: Aveth Ravindran, Julia Dyck, Julia Menezes, Emery Firth-Masi, Zoha Ahsan, Andy Zhou. Also a big thank you to Dr. Magdalena Ugarte, Pamela Robinson, Eugenia O., Tracy Manolakakis, Sivahami Vijenthira, Daniel Fusca, and other mentors and interviewees who supported this project! Stay tuned for more updates in the new year!

Introducing the Healthy Youth in High Rises report! In the spring of 2023, Urban Minds partnered with researchers from the University of Waterloo, the University of Toronto, and Western University to conduct a research study on youth health, urban design, and high-rise living. The study aims to support new and existing collaborations between researchers, knowledge users, and youth to enhance interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches to knowledge mobilization. Particularly, understanding the intersection between youth mental and physical health with high-rise built environments and design. Urban Minds is so excited to have been able to support this research. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the report! The first research paper of this study is now published in the Landscape and Urban Planning journal. Check out the report here: https://lnkd.in/gSFTpD7s

Last summer, we gathered insights from youth across Ontario on engagement in their communities. We ran a community survey about how youth engage and want to be engaged in designing and building their communities. Here's what we found Key Findings: -Despite 60% of youth feeling under-engaged in shaping their communities, they actively share opinions with friends (87%) and family (78%) -Barriers include feeling uninformed (51%) and lack of inclusion (38%) -As 28% of Ontarians are under 25, involving youth in city-building efforts ensures sustainable and future-oriented community planning.

More and more youth are living in high-rise communities in Ontario as our cities densify and the housing crisis continues to price families out of single-family homes and townhouses. But how does this urban environment affect their health? This study aimed to find out more by directly asking youth themselves. Check out our research paper published in Landscape and Urban Planning! ⬇️ Shout-out to this incredible research team from the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and Western University, as well as my Urban Minds colleagues Kelly Gingrich, Catherine Caetano-Macdonell, Matthew James, and Matthew Chan for conducting the go-along interviews!