Lawson Foundation

🌍 The Lawson Foundation is excited to launch the 2nd year of our Youth Action & the Environment Pilot Fellowship. Meet the new class of 2024-25 recipients: Abhay Singh Sachal, Sabrina Guzman Skotnitsky, Smiely Khurana, and Inaam Chattha. Over the next 12 months, they’ll receive financial support, mentorship, and skill development opportunities to empower their growth as leaders and support their innovative projects exploring the intersection of environmental action and holistic well-being. Join us in supporting them on these exciting journeys and follow their stories as they drive meaningful environmental action across Canada! 🌱✨ Learn more about their projects and the Fellowship: https://lnkd.in/gS9YAJjk

For the past three days, the new class of our 2nd Youth Action and the Environment Pilot Fellowship gathered in the Huron-Wendat nation near Quebec City to meet, engage in shared learning, and build relationships that will help guide their fellowship experiences. Over the next year, the four fellowship recipients will continue their environmental leadership journeys, equipped with support, including funding, coaching, and capacity-building resources, to grow their projects and empower their leadership development. We are grateful to have been joined by our Wellness, Evaluation, and Social Enterprise Coaches, who, along with our Lawson team, will help the fellowship recipients navigate the next exciting 12 months. Stay tuned for our official announcement and fellowship recipient introductions, which are coming soon!

Happy International Youth Day! Let's continue to support and empower the next generation of changemakers as they lead us toward a brighter future.

Episode 8 of our Child & Youth Diabetes Strategy (CYDS) Learning & Connecting Series is now live. Join Amber Bedard and Sofia Vitalis of Reciprocal Consulting to explore culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) frameworks, which examine best and promising practices through Indigenous evaluation methodology. Sofia and Amber shared how these frameworks provide space for discussion on actionable steps to further reconciliation and decolonization work. We also encourage you to learn more about Reciprocal Consulting and its human-centred approach to Indigenous culturally responsive evaluation. https://lnkd.in/gmcUsF5q

The first day of our Child Youth & Diabetes Strategy (CYDS) Convening, held in Victoria on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen peoples, was filled with passion, enthusiasm, and spirit as participants connected and reflected on their work toward diabetes prevention, management, and wellness for Indigenous children, youth, families, and communities. The Lawson Foundation is deeply thankful to all who have travelled from across Turtle Island to gather in person to share stories, questions, ideas, and wisdom. We also offer our gratitude to Elder Roberta Price of Coast Salish Snuneymuxw and Cowichan Nations and Elder May Sam of Malahat and Tsartlip Nations for their blessings, as well as keynote speaker Monique Gray Smith for her powerful story, “Love is Medicine.” Today, the convening will hear from three panels of CYDS participants about their experiences and learnings, and we are all excited about the thoughtful group discussions that will follow. Learn more about CYDS and some of our current projects and initiatives being supported here: https://lnkd.in/gCUfx4n3

🌟 Join us in celebrating Barbara Henneberry, who was recently honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Early Childhood Education–recognizing the critical importance of outdoor play in the healthy development of children. Using the opportunity to share her best practices from her 38 years in the field, Barbara spotlighted the significant positive impacts of nature-based learning and emphasized child-led exploration and community engagement, which can help foster important skills and emotional growth in young children. Barbara’s success exemplifies the positive impact that outdoor play can have on early childhood education and resonates deeply with our work at the Lawson Foundation. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition! 🌱👏 Read and share the full story here: https://lnkd.in/emyqbfKT

Last month, the Lawson Foundation, alongside the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and Cloudberry Forest School, proudly co-hosted a transformative Full-Day Symposium on Supporting Outdoor Play and Learning in Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) settings. 🌿 The event, held at the O’Brien Farm in St. John’s, NFLD, brought together advocates, faculty, researchers, practitioners, government officials, and outdoor play enthusiasts from across Canada. Here, the Lawson Foundation shared findings and learnings from our Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0, which supported eight incredible projects across Canada over three years to build adult capacity in Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) to advance our pursuit of equitable access to outdoor play-based early learning for all young children in Canada. ✨ Other highlights and takeaways: 1️⃣ The symposium featured in-depth presentations, panel discussions, and collaborative dialogues on outdoor play research and experiences, enhancing understanding of the current realities and opportunities nationwide and specifically in Newfoundland and Labrador. 2️⃣ Members of our Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0 cohort introduced their projects, discussed lessons learned and shared strategic insights during an interactive Cross-Canada Café. 3️⃣ Participants visited the unique and inspiring Cloudberry Forest and Nature School program on-site, grounding the symposium in what thriving outdoor play and learning looks like in action and the potential for licensing these programs as ELCC! 4️⃣ Our distinguished guest, Debbie Groff, Child Care Deputy Senior Administrator for Washington State, shared her insights on licensing outdoor ELCC programs in the USA. 🌟 5️⃣The day concluded with a special reception celebrating Cloudberry Forest School’s 10th anniversary. We extend our thanks to all the presenters and participants, our symposium co-organizers, and the entire team at the O’Brien Farm. Learn more about our final Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0 evaluation report on “The Power of a Relational, Values-Driven Approach to Building Adult Capacity”:  https://lnkd.in/gHqqCNtM 📸 Swipe through the photos to relive the day’s vibrant energy and special moments.

🌿 We are delighted to release our final Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0 evaluation report:“The Power of a Relational, Values-Driven Approach to Building Adult Capacity.” Our Outdoor Play Strategy 2.0 supported eight incredible projects across Canada over three years to build adult capacity in Early Learning and Child Care (ELCC) to advance our pursuit of equitable access to outdoor play-based early learning for all young children in Canada.  This final report is filled with key findings around (1) embedding outdoor play in professional learning for Early Childhood Educators, (2) increasing ELCC's capacity to embrace outdoor play in practice, and (3) aligning multi-sector efforts for impactful change through collaboration across Canada.  The report also offers four calls to action for stakeholders throughout Canada’s outdoor play ecosystem: 🌱 Lean into values to drive quality and change. 🛠️ Equip and empower people at all levels. 🤝 Strengthen organizational culture through collaboration. 🌍 Nurture an ecosystem approach for long-term impact. The Lawson Foundation extends its heartfelt gratitude to all project teams for their tremendous contributions to building adult capacity in the outdoor play ecosystem countrywide and to Taylor Newberry Consulting for their evaluation work, which led to this final report.  While significant progress has been made, there is more to do to create a sustainable ecosystem for outdoor play in ELCC settings, particularly in the area of public policy to create supportive regulations for outdoor play in ELCC. We encourage you to read and share the report. The full PDF and executive summary can be found on our website: https://lnkd.in/gHqqCNtM

The Lawson Foundation celebrates and honours the diverse histories, traditions, and cultural heritages of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis across Turtle Island. We recognize the powerful wisdom that exists within Indigenous worldviews and knowledge, and we are grateful to have been able to draw on Indigenous leadership principles, models of Indigenous wellness, community-centred and strength-based approaches, and the values of relationships, reciprocity, and learning in our areas of work.

We recognize the importance of data and how it helps paint an accurate picture of the sector’s shared struggles and opportunities for progress. That’s why we are encouraging all nonprofits, charities, and grassroots groups in Ontario to fill out Ontario Nonprofit Network’s 2024 State of the Sector survey. 📊 Survey Details: - Available in French - Takes approximately 15 minutes to complete - Closes on July 10 by 5 PM EST 🎁 Bonus! Enter to win one of four $50 gift cards. Participate here: https://ow.ly/weYR50SlgyC