Our Work With Youth
North American youth are creative and innovative leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators who often demonstrate the value and need for inclusive problem solving and dialogue. Given their positive and inspiring contributions to environmental work across Canada, Mexico, and the United States, we invite youth to engage with us to help us strengthen our efforts.
Whether through competitions, public engagement, grant programs, internships, or by providing expert advice, we invite interested individuals and organizations focused on youth empowerment to engage with our work.
2023 CEC Youth Engagement Week
Looking for youth changemakers!
Apply to participate in the first CEC Youth Engagement Week—taking place in Montreal, Canada—and engage in our work! The selected youth will meet the different unit teams at the CEC, receive unique networking opportunities, and take part in discussions to strengthen youth engagement at the CEC.
Apply by 16 October 2023!
Youth Innovation Challenge
Since 2017, we have hosted the annual Youth Innovation Challenge, a contest that invites youth from Canada, Mexico and the United States to submit their innovative ideas and solutions for improving both the environment and the economy in North America.
EcoInnovation Network
The EcoInnovation Network (EIN) was launched in 2019 with the vision of facilitating the creation, enhancement, and networking of innovation centers within academic institutions across North America. This network aims to cultivate youth and community leadership in innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable growth. As of 2022, the EcoInnovation Network will be managed by the University of Waterloo in collaboration with the CEC.
Green Entrepreneurship Workshop Series
The Green Entrepreneurship Workshop Series offers young entrepreneurs tips, advice, and information about sustainability and entrepreneurship from North American business, academic, private sector, and Indigenous perspectives. These series took place in 2020 and 2022 in collaboration with the University of Waterloo’s Entrepreneurship @ Environment office.
Greening Entrepreneurship (March 3)
What is the role of entrepreneurs in a transition toward more sustainable societies? This session offers an introductory discussion that tackles this question and offers some direction to those in early stages of their sustainable and entrepreneurial journey.
Private Enterprise and New Entrepreneurs: How Established Companies can support New Entrepreneurs
Supporting the next generation of business leaders is a win-win-win solution for complex challenges related to climate change, unemployment, and business development.
Entrepreneurship and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (March 17)
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for universal adoption.
Championing Indigenous Youth Startups (March 24)
This session offers an exploration of Indigenous Youth Startups from across Turtle Island.
Succeeding as a Student with a Green Startup (March 31)
This session will offer tips, tricks, and lessons learned from student entrepreneurs who are balancing their entrepreneurship with their studies.
What is a Green Entrepreneur?
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
How to Start a Green Business
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development Goals
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
Innovation and Incubation with Green Startups
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
Impact Investing and Fundraising for Green Startups
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
Succeeding as a Student with a Green Startup
These live workshops bring together key researchers, successful entrepreneurs, and dedicated youth from across North America in a series of engaging and interactive 90-minute sessions.
Internship Program
If you are interested in our internship program, visit our Work With Us webpage.
Youth Engagement on Food Loss and Waste
This Food Matters Action Kit is loaded with informative resources and hands-on, creative activities to inspire youth of all ages to prevent food waste at home, at school and in their communities.
From organizing a Disco Soup party and learning food preservation techniques to building worm compost bins and solar dehydrators, the action kit with its activity guide is designed to encourage youth of all ages to protect the environment by preventing food waste.
Inspiring Youth to #ShrinkFoodWaste
Our Food Matters Action Kit is loaded with informative resources and hands-on, creative activities to inspire youth of all ages to prevent food waste at home, at school and in their communities.
#ShrinkFoodWaste: Let’s Shrink Food Waste Mountain
To keep shrinking Food Waste Mountain, watch the other videos in this series. And don’t forget to download the #FoodMattersActionKit to learn more about food waste and earn badges at http://www.cec.org/flwy/.
#ShrinkFoodWaste: Tale of the Forgotten Food
To keep shrinking Food Waste Mountain, watch the other videos in this series. And don’t forget to download the #FoodMattersActionKit to learn more about food waste and earn badges at http://www.cec.org/flwy/.
#ShrinkFoodWaste: Day of the Ugly Food
To keep shrinking Food Waste Mountain, watch the other videos in this series. And don’t forget to download the #FoodMattersActionKit to learn more about food waste and earn badges at http://www.cec.org/flwy/.
CEC Food Matters Action Kit
This video aims to inspire youth across North America to reduce food waste and help save our planet.
Contact
If you are an individual or an organization interested in learning more about how you can get involved in potential opportunities for increased youth engagement and collaboration, feel free to reach out to us.
Georgina O’Farrill
Head of Unit, Outreach and Partnerships
(514) 350-4336