Innercity Arts reached a significant milestone this week: we registered our 100th youth.
This is a pretty amazing feat, given the programs humble beginnings.
It all began back in 2009, when our Youth Outreach Worker met a youth on the street and noticed the therapeutic and transformative nature of art. After getting input from Ottawa’s street-engaged youth, we decided to start a strength-based arts program called the Passion 4 Youth Fine Arts Program (now Innercity Arts).
On the first day of programming, our Youth Outreach Worker set up the art supplies and waited for the youth to arrive.
But they didn’t.
Not the first day at least. But pretty soon, they started showing up. But by the end of 2009, there were nine youth in the program. These nine youth saw something special in the program. It was their word of mouth that caused the program to grow.
Today, we see over 40 youth each week in our program.
It may have began with one youth and one idea…..but it THRIVED because of the support of volunteers, donations, and prayers.
Thank you to all of our youth and supporters.