School Health Grant for Youth

From: Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)

Apply Now! (PDF, 1.15 MB)

Please be aware that it may take approximately 2 months after the close of the solicitation for approved youth applicants to receive their grant funding. Therefore, ensure that the activities outlined in your Application do not begin within the next 2 months, and plan your activities accordingly.

The School Health Grant for Youth provides Canadian youth, ages 13 to 19 and enrolled in grades 9 to 12 or Secondary 3 to 6 in Quebec, the opportunity to apply for up to $1500 of grant funding. The goal of the grant is to empower youth to develop their own initiatives that encourage and promote healthy living in their schools and communities.

Projects must match up with PHAC's mandate and encourage healthy living by teaching participants about important topics, sharing resources and information, and helping participants develop healthy skills. Plus, they should focus on 1 of the following priorities:

• Positive mental health and well-being
  • Example: Create a peer group/community that fosters community connectedness and understanding of different cultures and lifestyles.
  • Example: Host a book club to read and discuss mental health and wellbeing literature in a safe group atmosphere.

• Healthy eating and nutrition
  • Example: Organize a cooking workshop to increase awareness of healthy eating. Use Canada's Food Guide to help you decide on the types of meals to cook.
  • Example: Organize a registered dietician to speak at a school assembly about how to be mindful of daily eating habits, using information from Canada's Food Guide.
• Physical activity
  • Example: Organize an intramural sports program to help youth learn a new sport.
  • Example: Start an inclusive sports program that is accessible for youth with disabilities to create a supportive school environment.
• Reducing substance-related harms
  • Example: Host an awareness event on vaping in your school and how it affects students.
  • Example: Organize a workshop on preventing and reducing substance-related harms, focused on reducing stigma and holding non-judgemental conversations.

Who can apply

To apply you must:

• be a youth between the ages of 13-19
• be a student enrolled in grades 9-12 or in Secondary 3 to 6 in Quebec^{Footnote *}
• be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident in Canada
• not be a federal government employee at the time of applying

  Note: Teachers and school administrators are not eligible to submit a grant application. However, they can act as a mentor and a youth ally. To empower youth and to ensure that the projects remain youth-led, youth applicants are responsible for submitting their own applications via their own email accounts. They can choose to copy their mentor, but only applications received directly from youth will be reviewed.

How to apply

1. Read and review the Youth Grant Applicant Guide.
2. Download and complete the Youth Grant Application.
3. Send your completed Application to school.health.grant-subvention.sante.scolaire@phac-aspc.gc.ca.
4. For guidance, assistance and ideas, please feel free to review our Youth Grant Q&A and examples of previous projects.

For more information:

• Youth Grant Applicant Guide
• Youth Grant Application (PDF, 1.15 MB)
• Youth Grant Q&A
• Previously Funded Youth Projects

Application deadline & timeframe

We are currently accepting Applications until Friday, April 19, 2024 (5:00p.m. EDT).

You can only submit 1 proposal per Call for Applications. Additionally, students from the same school are not allowed to submit duplicate proposals; each proposal must be unique.

Please be aware that it may take approximately 2 months after the close of the solicitation for approved youth applicants to receive their grant funding. Therefore, ensure that the activities outlined in your application do not begin within the next 2 months, and plan your activities accordingly.

The Youth Policy and Partnerships Unit (YPPU) will review applications and communicate decisions directly to applicants via email and provide information on next steps. Successful applicants will be asked to complete their project and submit a Project Report by August 31, 2024.

Contact us

For more information about the School Health Grant for Youth, or if you have additional questions (or just need a helping hand), contact us at school.health.grant-subvention.sante.scolaire@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

Previously funded youth projects

Positive mental health and well-being

• Wellness and Empowerment Day (WAE Day): Workshops focusing on life skills, stress management, and healthy relationships. This day aimed to support the diverse needs of students and strengthen the school community.

Reducing substance-related harms

• Social Justice Coalition Drug Awareness Expo: This exposition was held to increase awareness about substance-related harms and mental health issues through trivia games, poster displays, student-led research presentations and sharing of personal experiences.

Healthy eating and nutrition

• Cooking and culture club: Cooking club focused on providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary to make healthy food choices. Students learned about the link between food choices and overall health during weekly cooking club meetings. Students also learned basic cooking skills which provided them with resources to make healthier food decisions. Meetings featured unique recipes from a culture within the school community, and used authentic ingredients fostering an appreciation for diversity.

Physical activity

• Youth Reconnecting Round Dance: A school day event that reconnected youth to Indigenous culture and promoted physical activity with special guests including community Elders and drummers.

Information and additional services:

• Youth Health
• Mental Health Support: Get help
• Blueprint for Action: Preventing substance-related harms among youth through a Comprehensive School Health approach
• Resources for preventing substance use and related harms among youth
• Mental Health and Wellness
• Canada's Food Guide
• 24 Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth: An Integration of Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, and Sleep
• Pride guide 2022: Youth strategies for tackling gender-based violence in our schools
• Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health
• Making a budget
• Promoting mental health and wellbeing for children and youth: Protective factors (infographic)
• PREVnet: Promoting Relationships & Eliminating Violence Network

To learn more about education, training, jobs, volunteer work and opportunities to make your voice heard check out Youth in Canada.

Stakeholders are encouraged to visit our toolkit for social media and promotional resources for the School Health Grant for Youth.