Local Youth Program Recognized by National Agency(Vancouver BC) National Victims of Crime Awareness Week is coming up and MOSAIC has been invited to present at the Victims Week Symposium in Ottawa on April 7.MOSAIC, a local non-profit organization, offers a myriad of services for families including some that are specifically for youths. It is MOSAIC’s Annual Youth Conference Voyages that has attracted the attention of symposium organizers, who have requested a detailed presentation of the program for its national audience.Rubina Mudhar, Coordinator of Special Projects will speak at the symposium along with Perminder Flora, MOSAIC Coordinator of Violence Prevention Programs.Mudhar said the annual conference has grown in popularity since its inception in 2011. “We’ve had great word-of-mouth advertising from previous participants. The first year we had 30 youth and since then, attendance has ranged from 60-80, so we know it’s having an impact. Young people will come up to me and say “this is really important, we need to have more events like this”. They care. They want to participate and learn more about the resources available to them and find out how they can be involved”.Previous Voyages conferences have included themes of bullying, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. This year’s conference on April 12 focuses on Social Media Education and Awareness, and Online Safety. The full day event features an account by a teen who experienced cyber bullying when she revealed her sexual orientation; a presentation by BC Lions’ players (as a part of the Be More Than A Bystander project by the Ending Violence Association of BC); a group interactive experience; a presentation by the Safe Online Outreach Society; and information about local community resources available for teens. The conference is at SFU Surrey Campus and is free for members of the public ages 13-24.Voyages is staged in collaboration with Acting Together – Community University Research Alliance Project at KPU and the National Victims of Crime Awareness Week.MOSAIC is a non-profit organization and the primary settlement and employment services agency in Metro Vancouver assisting immigrants in Canada. MOSAIC also delivers family, youth and senior’s services for local communities.
