Every Thursday, Crystal Kids get to visit the Nina Haggerty Art Centre where they get to spend time with Lorraine, who teaches a number of different painting or sketching techniques, all around a variety of different mediums. The work created by youth sometimes has an opportunity to be exhibited and even sold in various art shows before being publicly displayed at the art centre or moved back to Crystal Kids. We are taking a break from this for the summer, but this will be back during the school year!

The Window Garden Box Project was a collaboration between The Hive UCA, Alberta Avenue Business  Association, and Reach Council for Safe Communities. Crystal Kids Youth Centre had the luxury of being one of the locations selected for a set of raised garden beds. On March 2nd, 2024, they were constructed and installed. Since then, we have grown a wide variety of products to use in our own kitchen for our meal preparations. Thyme, parsley, rosemary, basil, green onion were all successful. Currently we have potatoes and beets as well in the works!

Twice a week, children ages nine and up learn guitar in the computer lab. Through learning songs of their own choosing, Crystal Kids are able to practice chords, musical notation and rhythm. The club divides its time between song practice and learning musical theory.  Each child is lent a guitar of their own to care for and maintain while at the centre. Despite most of the group not having prior knowledge about guitars, all of the children are now able to play along to at least parts of each song that is being practiced. The club is a highlight of the week for its members and will continue to increase its members’ skills as time goes on.

Each year, we celebrate all of the youth’s achievements and successes with our annual Junies Awards Night. We get to highlight the hard work that all the youth have put into everything ranging from academics to sports, from music to being an outstanding role model. The youth’s efforts are based on their work at Crystal Kids, the time they spend at school, home, and around the community. It also gives an opportunity for us to highlight some of the clubs at Crystal Kids, for example having the Guitar club perform live during intermissions and breaks during the event.

The “Triumph Teens” (or more commonly known as “Material Gorls”) was a targeted program developed for 2023 to 2024. This was an empowerment and self-esteem program for a number of youth to develop and directly improve relationships with their peer group. Through monthly field trips and meetings, the Material Gorls focused on learning self-sufficiency skills such as budgeting and promoting emotional well-being. Progress was noted and gauged through talking circles, specifically planned activities. Individual surveys and reports with members of the “Triumph Teen” program were conducted as well, with the information used to further improve the program and ultimately relationships between the youth and their peer groups. Talking circles allowed for a controlled and mediated environment for group discussions and expressing of individual feelings. Field trips provided opportunities for youth to share experiences ranging from team building to learning in the context of mutually shared interests. Examples of these field trips with “Triumph Teens” include an escape room activity and visiting MC College.