The Rideau Hall Foundation’s Catapult Canada Access Innovation Fund is accepting applicants for its second open call. The Fund supports youth-serving organizations in Canada to design, build, scale up and evaluate the impact of initiatives to better support Canadian youth in their learning goals.

The objectives of this second open call are to:

  • Support community organizations to scale-up current practices related to improving youth learning outcomes to increase reach and effectiveness;
  • Support community organizations committed to improving the educational and career pathways of opportunity young learners (youth disconnected from career and learning opportunities);
  • Support community groups and organizations interested in learning more about what works (and what doesn’t work) in supporting opportunity youth;
  • Build organizational capacity, particularly with respect to leadership;
  • Support creative and effective practices for building organizational long-term sustainability;
  • Support initiatives that foster greater community engagement and partnership across the sector;
  • Distribute and disseminate promising practices related to improving youth learning outcomes across Canadian communities; and
  • Foster a community that supports promising practices and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

Registered non-profits or charities (qualified donees) as well as grassroot groups or unincorporated organizations working with a shared platform (non-qualified donees) are welcome to apply. Applications should focus on project description, including alignment with the Catapult Canada mandate; what the project will do and the impact it will have. For the second open call, in addition to alignment with the objectives of the Access Innovation Fund, we will also be prioritizing initiatives that:

  • Involve beneficiary youth in their design, delivery or evaluation
  • Seek to learn and share what works, or does not work
  • Demonstrate good value for money
  • Demonstrate strong impact on their communities of focus
  • Show strong relationship with the communities of focus
  • Are Rural and/or Northern led
  • Support youth living with disabilities

Check out the recipients of the first Catapult Canada Access Innovation Fund grants to get some ideas. And, if you’re a grassroots group or unincorporated organization, you can find out more about shared platforms by watching this Catapult Canada webinar: