Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

This community-based research project seeks to understand community resources that will assist in promoting youth health and environmental sustainability. Traditional programs often fail to address the complex realities of young people's lives, as a result we have partnered with communities in Jamaica and Canada to map their resources and listen to their view and experiences. Through workshops and interviews with youths and community members, we identified both significant barriers and powerful opportunities. Key obstacles included safety concerns, access to healthy foods, and a disconnect between existing services and youth awareness of them. A notable finding was how environmental issues directly impact health; in one community, industrial air pollution was a major deterrent to outdoor physical activity. Conversely, powerful solutions emerged, such as creating centralized, accessible youth hubs, leveraging the influence of peer networks, and developing truly inclusive programming. The study concludes that fostering healthy, sustainable living for young people requires breaking down the traditional silos between the environmental, social, and health sectors. By centering youth inclusion and voice, we can identify equity gaps and foster the cross-sector collaboration needed to build stronger, more resilient communities. These findings will now guide the co-design of a targeted intervention that reflects the actual priorities of the youth it aims to serve.