Belonging

WHAT THIS IS

The Youth Impact Survey is open to anyone in Waterloo Region aged 9 to 18. It's run by the Children and Youth Planning Table (CYPT), in partnership with the Region of Waterloo, the University of Waterloo, and UNICEF Canada. The last round of responses unlocked nearly $3 million in funding for local youth programs. The goal this spring is 2,000 voices. They're at 600. The survey closes June 1.

This is a story about why that matters.

When was the last time someone asked you what you needed? I mean really asked. Sat with you, looked into your eyes and waited for your answer.

For most of us, the honest answer is: probably never, and if it has happened, you remember it precisely, you remember. The room. The person. The feeling of being taken seriously.

Now imagine you're nine or twelve or sixteen…

THE STONE IN OUR POCKET

I spent an hour last week with Adan Imran, and I keep thinking about something she said. She's nineteen now. Five years ago, in grade nine, she became a Youth Connector with an organization called the Children and Youth Planning Table. It was the middle of COVID. Everything was virtual. Everything was strange. And in the middle of all that, she was handed a seat at a table where adults were making decisions about young people's lives, and was asked, warmly, "what do you think?"

Isn't that rare?

She told me, in the most matter-of-fact way, that not being heard might be the worst feeling a person can ever have. "You have a voice," she said, "but no importance to your voice makes your stomach feel empty." It makes you feel excluded from your own life.

I've been turning that over in my head for days.

Because she's right, isn't she? We all know what that feels like. The meeting where the decision was already made before you walked in. The conversation where someone older talked over you. The form that didn't have a box for the thing you actually wanted to say. We carry that feeling around like a stone in our pocket. And then we grow up, and somehow we hand the stone to the next generation without thinking about it.

The Children and Youth Planning Table is trying to put the stone down.

HOW IT ACTUALLY WORKS

Every three years, CYPT runs the Youth Impact Survey. It's open to anyone in Waterloo Region between the ages of 9 and 18. Nine dimensions of well-being. Twenty minutes. Anonymous and voluntary.

But what happens with the answers is the part that gets me.

The last round, in 2023, drew about 1,800 voices. Those voices became six priorities the Region is now working on, accessible transportation in the townships among them. They also became the evidence behind close to three million dollars in funding that local organizations secured for youth programs across our region. Mental and physical health support. Safe spaces. Activities. The kind of programs that get built when somebody finally has evidence of what kids actually need, instead of guessing.

Three million dollars. Traceable back to 1,800 young people who took 20 minutes to fill out a survey.

WHAT LISTENING BUILDS

The thing that got me about my conversation with Adan wasn't the policy stuff. It wasn't the three million dollars. It was a much smaller thing she said near the end of our call. She said the way she talks now, the way she presents herself in rooms full of adults, the way she pushes back and asks questions and shows up confident, all of it traces back to one decision someone made when she was fourteen, to give her a seat and mean it.

That's what's actually on offer here. Not just data. A whole shape a young life can take when somebody listens.

WHY 2,000

The goal for 2026 is 2,000 responses, and that number is the next honest step in a slow build. CYPT started at 300 responses in 2020. They got to 900 in 2021. They hit 1,800 in 2023. Two thousand in 2026 isn't a number plucked from optimism, it's the next rung on a ladder being climbed carefully.

They're at about 600 responses at the moment. The survey closes June 1. So there's a gap of roughly 1,400 voices.

We will never know which nine-year-old in Cambridge, or sixteen-year-old in Wellesley, or twelve-year-old in Woolwich is sitting at home right now waiting for that same decision to be made about them. We just know that two thousand of them deserve to feel it this spring.

YOUR PART

If you know someone between 9 and 18 anywhere in Waterloo Region, the three cities, the four townships, all of it, please pass this along. They'll earn volunteer hours toward their high school requirement, and get a shot at fifty-plus prizes that are, frankly, very good: a Nintendo Switch 2, an iPad Air, a Lenovo laptop, a Flair Airlines flight, a 3D printer, AirPods, a TV, gift cards, and more. The kind of list that makes me a little sad I'm not seventeen.

If you don't know a young person directly, you almost certainly know an adult who does. A teacher. A coach. A youth pastor. An aunt with a group chat full of nieces. Forward this. Text the link. Mention it at dinner.

And if you want to go a step further, the survey is especially trying to reach young people from equity-deserving communities, kids who don't usually get asked, kids whose voices don't usually make it into the data. Pass it on.

For ages 9 to 18. Twenty minutes. Anonymous. Closes June 1.

written with love by,
your friendly neighbourhood goose