Peer mentorship program

Ignite the Warmth in partnership with UBC's Allard School of Law and community partners will be facilitating a six-week program to encourage connection, curiosity, and community for peer mentors and youth to build awareness and capacity to create a more socially just world.

This free-to-anyone mentorship program will emphasize learning about systemic barriers and making a lasting impact within participants’ communities. Concepts such as power, privilege, and social, restorative, and transformative justice will be explored with the help of community experts. Participants will also learn about practices for self-care and how self-care lends to community care and, evidently, collective liberation. They will be supported by mentors with backgrounds and lived experiences in social justice efforts. Throughout the program, they will work together to support and uplift each other and community.

Why Peer mentorship?

The value of mentorship for both youth participants and peer mentors is that it’s collaborative, communal, collective, connective, creative, non-hierarchical, explorative, curious, transformative, relational, and healing. It provides an space for youth to explore their values, lived experiences, and dreams alongside peers and mentors who believe that change is possible in big and small ways.

In our program, mentorship thrives as a collaborative journey, where every participant contributes to the shared learning experience. We encourage mentors to view themselves as fellow learners, igniting a collective exploration of ideas, dreams, and solutions. It's about shared responsibility, where each unique perspective enriches our collective understanding. Together, we are change-makers, capable of making a positive impact in our communities, both in transformative and incremental ways.

Partnership with Allard Law

Our collaboration with the UBC Peter A. Allard School of Law provides an opportunity for youth to see first-hand how change can be achieved within policy and the justice system. The Allard School of Law serves our diverse communities through education, engagement and community building and aims to improve access to justice, make a positive contribution to reconciliation and decolonization, and support the empowerment and inclusion of equity-seeking groups.

Program details

Time commitment

• January 8th, 2024: Mandatory onboarding session for peer mentors

• January 17th - February 28th, 2023 on Wednesdays from 5:30-8:00pm

  • For participants: 4.5 hours/week for 6 weeks

  • For peer mentors: 6 hours/week for 6 weeks

• Note: There will be no sessions the weekend of February 10-11th (Lunar New Year) and February 19th - 23rd (Spring Break).

What to expect

• Every session will be 2 - 2.5 hours with opportunities for speakers, sharing circles, and discussion with the cohort

• Every weekend will offer an optional 1-2 hours of community-centred, organizing, or reflective activities (see below image for the program schedule)

• Refreshments will be provided

Location

• Sessions will be hybrid and held online and in-person at Allard School of Law (Vancouver campus)

How to get involved

We're looking for youth participants who are:

• Between 18-25 years old

• Curious and excited about:  

• Connecting with peers and community leaders for learning and mentorship

• Discussing and challenging power dynamics and their impact on creating change

• Embracing equity-centered, community-led values

• Meeting other people and for fun, support, and personal growth

We are looking for volunteer peer mentors who:

• Identify as youth and/or have experience working with youth

• Have experience with facilitation, mentorship, and/or liberating structures

• Value meaningful relationship-building between & across historically underserved communities

• Embrace tackling complex problems for transformative change

• Have the literacy to apply principles of equity, social justice, decolonization, and anti-oppression