National Teen Driver Safety Week Parachute Youth Road Safety Grant Program 

Do you care about road safety and are looking to make a difference in your community? Do you want to learn new skills and get paid for it? Parachute is offering a grant opportunity to young people in Canada who are committed to educating their peers and communities about road safety to encourage safe driving behaviour and advocating for changes that will make roads safer for all. 

About the Parachute Youth Road Safety Grant Program

The Youth Road Safety Grant Program is part of this year’s National Teen Driver Safety Week activities as Parachute aims to shift the focus of the annual campaign to youth as changemakers. This year’s campaign seeks to highlight and support the role of young people in Canada in improving road safety and provide young people with the resources they need to become active and engaged road safety advocates who contribute to creating safer communities.

This new initiative will empower young people to take action on road safety issues in their local communities. The grants will fund local, engaging, youth-initiated, youth-led projects to educate young people and community members on pressing road safety issues and safe driving behaviour and/or advocate for proven measures in their communities, such as:

• pedestrian, bicycle, and wheeled safety
• road design and safe mobility 
• road safety and the environment
• speeding (behaviour, laws, enforcement) 
• alcohol- or drug-impaired driving
• distracted driving

By supporting youth-led projects, Parachute’s Youth Road Safety Grant Program will create positive change by promoting safe behaviour among young drivers and passengers and encouraging young people to advocate for changes to their communities.

In addition to providing funding for the education and advocacy projects, Parachute will train youth on best practices in communication and outreach through an activity guide, virtual orientation and webinars to help strengthen the skills and abilities of the project team. Training will be provided by Parachute’s Knowledge Translation and Communications teams.

Applicants are encouraged to be creative and find engaging and effective ways to communicate important road safety messages and advocate for community changes. Applicants are also encouraged to partner with local organizations such as community organizations, local businesses, police departments and other schools and post-secondary institutions. 

Examples of road safety education projects

• social media campaigns: create and share posts, stories, or videos on social media platform that focus on important road safety information, tips and statistics for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.
• youth-friendly contests: organize contests, such as poster or speech contests, focused on road safety where other young people publicly present their own ideas for solutions to address road safety issues in their community
• school assemblies and workshops: develop and implement interactive presentations and workshops with guest speakers, hands-on activities and facilitated discussions to educate and engage students on safe behaviour on roads 
• public art and theatre displays: use a variety of art forms such as murals, street paintings, skits, and spoken word in high traffic areas to communicate road safety messaging and stories

Examples of road safety advocacy projects

• engage local policymakers and government representatives: advocate for changes in policy and improvements to roads and sidewalks in your community (e.g. traffic calming measures, reduced speeding policy change, improved enforcement of speeding laws) through a letter writing campaign, community-wide petitions or by organizing a townhall or one-on-one meeting
• positive ticketing blitzes: in collaboration with local law enforcement partners, encourage and reward positive driving habits by providing positive tickets that are tied to an incentive such as a gift card draw, a small treat, or freebies.
• set up an interview with your local news outlet: contact your local newspaper, radio station or television network to share you and your peers’ personal stories, statistics and information about the road safety issues that are impacting your communities

Benefits of the Parachute Youth Road Safety Grant Program

Grant recipients can experience many benefits by participating in the Parachute Youth Road Safety Grant program, including:

• create positive impact in grant recipients’ communities by raising awareness of and advocating for important road safety issues, promoting safe road behaviour, and advocating for community changes, including improvements and upgrades to roads and sidewalks, improved enforcement and policies that make road safer for all.  
• opportunity to develop leadership and project management skills by leading your own road safety education or advocacy campaign
• access to training and mentorship opportunities from Parachute staff to support the development of road safety campaigns
• build relationships with community partners such as youth organizations, schools, local businesses and law enforcement
• gain valuable skills and experience to put on resumes and applications through planning and implementing an impactful, community-focused initiative
• become an important stakeholder and contribute to conversations and decisions around road safety 
• become a part of a network of youth leaders and road safety advocates, such as the Canadian Youth Road Safety Council

Eligibility

Applicants must be a young person or group of young people aged 15 to 24 years old in Canada (i.e., Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or granted refugee status) who is interested in promoting road safety and are committed to creating positive change in their communities. Activities must be youth-led and conducted in Canada. Only individual youth or groups of youth in Canada are eligible for these grants, not organizations. Only the primary applicant(s) have to meet the eligibility criteria.

Grant amount

Grants of $500 will be available for youth in Canada to implement road safety activities at their school, post-secondary institution,or local community event. 

Eligible costs, or costs that you can use your grant for: 

• Fees and honorarium, e.g., for youth leads, speakers, facilitators
• Materials and supplies, e.g., posters, flyers, banners, apparel
• Technology equipment rental, e.g., virtual reality headset, video equipment, audio rental, Zoom Pro and Canva Pro
• Local travel expenses, e.g., for youth to travel to activity and event sites
• Prizes and giveaways, e.g., gift cards, promotional items
• Costs to increase activity accessibility, e.g., translation, interpretation, remediation

Ineligible costs, or costs that you can’t use your grant for: 

• Expenses incurred before or after the grant period starts and ends
• Fundraising activities or charitable donations
• Personal expenses e.g., meals, rent, utilities, entertainment
• Costs outside the scope of the road safety project

Honorarium 

Each project team will be given a $100 honorarium to be divided among the team members for their hard work and participation.

Application and screening process

Interested applicants are required to complete the application form to outline their road safety campaign’s goals, expected outcomes, activities, detailed budget and timeline. Applicants should also provide demographic and contact information of the project leads and description of the community in which the activities will take place. The selection committee will judge applications based on: 

• how your project demonstrates meaningful youth engagement and leadership 
• how committed you are to making roads safer in your community
• whether your activities can be completed within the given budget and timeline
• whether your activity has an impact on your applicant’s community
• use of creative and innovative ideas

Reporting

Grant recipients will be required to submit a detailed expense report, provide a minimum of three photos of their project in action and answer a few questions on a feedback form.