BladeRunners
Aboriginal Community Career Employment Services Society (ACCESS)
Project Amount: $163,316

BladeRunners provides certified health and safety training to at risk Aboriginal youth and job placements in the construction industry within Vancouver.  Students learn life skills by participating in family, health and cultural workshops. Participants are provided with a variety of supports including housing, counselling services, construction equipment, and transportation to assist in the transition into the workforce.

Gathering Our Voices Conference
BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres (BCAAFC)
Project Amount: $105,577

Gathering Our Voices is an annual provincial gathering for Aboriginal youth in BC.  Through "Gathering Our Voices," the BCAAFC provided up to 1,500 youth delegates with career information, networking, leadership and personal development opportunities.

Aboriginal Youth Media Team
Knowledgeable Aboriginal Youth Association (KAYA)
Project Amount: $59,093

This program provides job skills training through a cooperative education program to Aboriginal youth in Metro Vancouver. Participants conduct a variety of media projects, including: gathering pictures, videos and written interviews to create media-rich stories based on outreach activities of the project.

Raising a Dream Totem Pole Project
Lu’ma Native Housing Society
Project Amount: $145,138

Lu’ma Native Housing Society will be responsible for carving two twenty-five foot totem poles and two ten foot totem poles that will be integrated into a new, twenty-five unit Aboriginal housing complex, the Lu’ma Aboriginal Children's Village. The master carver will work with the Aboriginal support worker to teach students Aboriginal values, culture, and lessons through storytelling.

Urban Aboriginal Youth Collective Forum
Métis Nation of BC (MNBC)
Project Amount: $40,000

MNBC will conduct youth engagement through a forum and community consultation sessions. These youth engagement processes will allow for youth representation in improving services related to the needs of Aboriginal youth in family services, education, and other issues of concern to the Urban Aboriginal Youth Collective.

Elders Engagement Program
Métis Nation of BC (MNBC)
Project Amount: $58,545

MNBC's activities will raise awareness of Métis culture and community, identifying Métis Elders in the Metro Vancouver area, provide networking opportunities for Métis Elders to become involved with Métis cultural activities, and transfer Elders' traditional knowledge.  MNBC will deliver 3 key activities in the 2009/2010 year, which utilize and compliment the information gathered from Elder participants during the 2008-09 outreach events: 1. Métis Elders One-Day Conference 'Elders Connection Day', 2. Métis Elders Workshops Series, and 3. Métis Traditional Knowledge Booklet.

Vancouver Community Initiatives
Native Education College (NEC)
Project Amount: $88,979

In 2009-10, NEC will deliver a pilot of the Aboriginal Health and Addictions Course developed in 2008-09 to address the identified lack of trained Aboriginal mental health and addictions staff to work with Aboriginal clients. In partnership with the Downtown Community Court, NEC will provide a basic education program for community court clients. This program is self-directed to provide participants with basic life-skills and learning modules that can be used towards the BC Adult Graduation Diploma. In partnership with the Aboriginal Front Door Society, NEC will deliver the Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness program to provide women with substance addictions in the Downtown Eastside with counselling services, group sharing circles, traditional healing ceremonies, and the development of personal wellness.

Aboriginal Culture, Life-skills and Health Program
Pacific Community Resources Society
Project Amount: $22,000

The West Coast Alternate (WCA) School is designed for high school students who have been diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and have social, emotional and academic needs. Currently, the Aboriginal students represent 90% of the total student enrolment. This project will enhance previous work done with the students and provide additional education opportunities in life skills, including hygiene, cooking and nutrition, cultural awareness, and parenting, as well as create work experience placements.

Richmond Aboriginal Life-skills and Leadership for Youth (RALLY)
Richmond Youth Services Association (RYSA)
Project Amount: $57,831

RALLY promotes youth leadership skill development through a series of workshops, community development activities, involvement in traditional carving workshops, outdoor activities, leadership workshops, individual empowerment and the learning of traditional practices and skills.

Aboriginal Retention Project
School District 40 – New Westminster
Project Amount: $57,831

Based on the success of the 2008-09 MVUAS funded literacy kits, SD 40 will develop and deliver a second set of literacy kits, which will include Aboriginal themed early learning resources, books, cooking ideas and information on community resources. SD 40 will also deliver the Aboriginal Youth Mentorship Program and the Aboriginal Student Transition to Post-Secondary program for high school students. The mentorship program allows students to further develop leadership skills and the transitions program provides cultural programs at Douglas College, as well as visit other post-secondary schools, to encourage the pursuit of post-secondary education.

Aboriginal University Prep Program
Simon Fraser University
Project Amount: $42,833

The Aboriginal University Prep Program provides Aboriginal youth and adults with transitional experience prior to formal admission to post-secondary education with the aim of enhancing participants’ probability of achieving academic success at the university level and enabling retention of Aboriginal students. The program achieves these objectives through a comprehensive curriculum that imparts skills and knowledge essential to Aboriginal student success in mainstream academic studies.

Literacy and Computer Skills
Surrey Public Library
Project Amount: $13,750

Surrey Public Library promotes literacy and computer skills development for Aboriginal people through a number of programs: Aboriginal Youth Outreach, National Aboriginal Arts Month Campaign, Aboriginal Early Literacy, and Cyber Kla-how-eya Computer Literacy. Through writing and research workshops, increased access to age appropriate reading materials and increased parental involvement, and a course on computer skills Aboriginal children, youth, and adults will develop literacy and computer skills that can be applied to education and the workplace.

Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS)University of British Columbia
Project Amount: $91,500

This program delivers a mathematical foundational skills program for Aboriginal youth in high school. Students acquire mathematical skills through a mentorship program, while teachers with high attendance of Aboriginal students are offered workshops on identified best practices and methods of instruction in teaching Aboriginal youth. A summer camp will also be delivered with the aim of providing a strong foundation in mathematics, in addition to instilling participants with a sense of pride in Aboriginal culture.