UWV Launches Community Sewing and Tailoring Skills Program

We’re excited that our sewing and tailoring skills development program has launched. The initial pilot is being delivered through Ottawa Community Housing at their Michele Heights location and we bring the equipment and instructors to them. We have a great group of women and it is wonderful to see how quickly their skills are developing!

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Behind the Scenes at ArtWorks

We are a few weeks into our new program ArtWorks and our program participants are making some pretty amazing hand crafted items. Check out some behind the scene photos from last week’s session to see our youth participants from Operation Come Home in action!

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UWV Community Sports Program

United World Voices has teamed up with Confederation Court Community House and Canadian bobsledder and Olympian Cody Sorensen to deliver an evening sports program for local youth.

Through participation in sports the program strives to help youth build new friendships, connect and share their experiences, and learn valuable life lessons such as sportsmanship, teamwork, and self-confidence. The program launched March 30th 2016 at Hawthorn Public School and will continue every Wednesday from 6pm-8pm. We had a blast playing basketball with local youth and worked up a sweat with Cody who lead us through an Olympian style warm up.

Stay tuned for pictures and details from our next session!
A little about our Olympian team leader:
Cody has always had a passion for sport, business and giving back to the community. Cody was recruited to bobsleigh from the sport of track and field and competed as a member of Canada. A provincial high-school hurdle champion, Cody was also the captain of the University of Guelph Gryphons varsity track team for two years. During his stint running track, Cody captured three individual national medals in the 60-metre hurdles, and was captain of the team when the Gryphons won their first ever men’s and women’s national titles. A two-time all-Canadian, Cody graduated with a B.Comm degree in Economics and Finance and recently completed an MBA from Queen’s University. Cody competed in the 4-man event at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi and despite a strong start, his team had a heartbreaking crash on the second run. Cody is a second generation Olympian. His father Ole competed in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games as a greco-roman wrestler.

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For more information on Cody please visit www.codysorensen.ca

Thank You Cycling with United World Voices

We are grateful to Ottawa Fit and all those who attended our indoor cycling event last Sunday thanks in support of United World Voices programs. Events likes these help keep important programs like ArtWorks available to those in our community who need them, and we are grateful for your energy, thoughts and support. We are particularly grateful for the support and leadership provided by Shelly McKay, former Canadian National Team cyclist and triathlete, for donating her time and leading the class, as well as our good friend Brian Kemp for organizing it. Last but not least, Ottawa Fit for providing their space free of charge for us to get our sweat on!

Events like these make a significant contribution to our capacity to grow financial support of our programs. We can’t thank you enough.

Here are some photo’s from Sunday’s event!

 

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UWV & Operation Come Home launch new program: ArtWorks

Art Works, UWV, OCH and CS final (1)UWV is proud to announce that we are kicking off 2016 with an exciting local collaboration designed to empower and engage at risk and homeless youth in Ottawa.

We will be working with Operation Come Home  to deliver a program called ArtWorks that bridges artistic expression with inspirational presentations and discussions relating to personal achievement, sustainable living, employment opportunities, and self-expression. By creating handcrafted items from recycled materials participants will have the opportunity to engage in a creative process and build awareness of how their self-expression can translate into income generating opportunities.

With local artist Claudia Salguero as an instructor for the first series we can’t wait to see what our participants create when the program begins March 29th.

Skills development program for disadvantaged women and new immigrants

We had the pleasure of attending a mural unveiling last week at Ottawa Community Housing together with local Ottawa artist and musician Claudia Salguero. Ottawa Community Housing provides programs for safe and vibrant communities throughout Ottawa, and UWV is working with the organization to establish and conduct a program for sewing and tailoring skills for income generation. To be launched early in 2016, this UWV program will provide disadvantaged women, new immigrants, and youth with new skills to assist their families and generate income. Not only will this program benefit the community in Ottawa, but it enables UWV to pilot a program that we hope to launch with a partner overseas within the year.

Using spoken word for youth engagement

Check out Jamaal Rogers if you get the chance. He is an amazing Ottawa-based spoken word artist that does terrific work with youth, both in the schools and with other organizations, to build self-confidence and creative self-expression. We’re building plans to work with him on some innovative programs for youth in 2016!