We at Action for Healthy Communities (AHC) believe that the next generation of leaders is now.
That’s why our AHC Youth team’s Empowering Leadership in Youth Through Community (ELYCA) program helps passionate youth create youth-led projects that impact our Edmonton communities. Making a societal difference requires awareness, passion, and determination for change. Last year, we had 15 groups who will be completing their project at the end of this month. While we had numerous successful youth-led projects, The Creatives Collective from our second cohort of the ELYCA program is showing it’s stylish to be environmentally friendly.
Making Positive Impacts
Clothing waste is a significant contributor to environmental challenges, with millions of tons of discarded garments ending up in landfills every year.
In fact, according to a 2023 study by the University of Waterloo, Canadians alone dispose of nearly 500 million kilograms of fabric each year which includes clothing, household linens, and other fabric-based products. This waste not only consumes valuable resources but also releases harmful greenhouse gases, exacerbating climate change.
Last year the Creatives Collective was founded by a diverse team of youth who are passionate about addressing the growing global issue of clothing waste while helping people discover their personal style. For the Creatives Collective group, promoting sustainable fashion practices is a critical step toward building a more sustainable and equitable future.
Throughout 2024, The Creatives Collective made a lasting impact by hosting a series of creative, hands-on workshops. These included:
- Crochet workshops in partnership with a local business Blue Fibre Studio,
- Textile learning sessions in collaboration with organizations like Waste Free Edmonton,
- Fashion literacy workshops with local Edmonton designer Alliyah Lecky
- Block printing workshops inspired by sustainable South Asian traditions
By equipping participants with practical skills and raising awareness about the environmental cost of fast fashion, the group empowered individuals and youth to make more conscious fashion choices and embrace sustainable practices. Their efforts highlight how innovative, youth-led initiatives can tackle global challenges and inspire meaningful change in local communities.
A Discussion with Creative Collectives
Our ELYCA program has not only created initiatives that impact the community but has helped empower youth leaders to reach their full potential. That’s not to say there haven’t been some fair share of obstacles as well. We sat and spoke with team members Raiyana and Muskaan to get their new-found perspective on leadership and the challenges they faced.
You said that you had to get out of your comfort zone for this project, what did you mean by that?
Raiyana Being a leader and managing people under you and doing it in a way that’s collaborative, decision-making, and teamwork was something that I learned which, I don’t think I was comfortable doing before this project.
You engaged a lot of participants using Instagram. How was that for you?
Muskaan: At first, we were scared to bring out ideas onto social media because not everyone understands the vision and we really tried to work hard to engage an audience that’s not open, especially in Edmonton. A lot of Edmontonians are not used to having creative outlets and are scared to come forward and engage, so we were hard-pressed in finding ideas to bring out this audience. It is really hard to attract people who are not actively engaged in creative communities.
Raiyana: To add on to that, it is our first time doing something like this and we are not established so it was hard. A lot of people do not usually care about environmental initiatives because they don’t think it impacts them directly.
Muskaan: Many people want to keep shopping regularly because things like thrifting take time and it’s not easy. People are usually not engaged in sustainable fashion efforts and that was our hardest challenge. Also when you are starting an initiative you have to sit with that bitter feeling that you are not getting engagement [On posts and when you share resources], and sometimes it can be disheartening. When we started, we did not have a lot of people engaging and it took us a while to even get to about 200 followers to our account.
What is something that you are reflecting on right now as a positive outcome of your project?
Raiyana: I am proud of our initiative because what we are doing is very new to the City and after our event focused on clothing swaps, we saw many groups who we know starting to start their own swapping events which told us that they took inspiration from us!
Muskaan: Being able to put yourself forward and problem solve and put your ideas to life and put it into something physical is something that is hard to do. I am a very idealistic person and I was never, ever able to put it into action, and having these workshops and events was a representation of our ideas coming to life. The confidence that comes with putting yourself out there is a big thing especially coming out of your comfort zone, doing presentations, and putting yourself out there which we had to do a lot when promoting our project.
Empowering a Generation of Youth to Be Sustainability Aware
The Creatives Collective had 12 workshops they presented throughout the year, and because they gradually gained momentum after each activity, more participants were waiting to hear when they would host another event. At their final event on Friday, January 17th, they hosted a tote bag-making workshop focused on highlighting sustainable bloc printing South Asian practices.
The tote bag-making workshop had over 30 participants in attendance, and the group made connections with local Edmonton groups focused on sustainability, including Waste Free Edmonton. They also collaborated with other youth-led groups in the ELYCA program, like LEED (Linking Education in Edmonton).
Next Steps for Creative Collectives
As ELYCA is a one-time seed grant, the Creatives Collective is not able to apply for it again, but their mission is far from over. Before all groups complete their project, they attend a sustainable workshop where they are informed of other ways that they can continue sustaining their activities.
The Creatives Collective plan on continuing with their activities by partnering with other local groups and applying for funding from organizations such as Volunteer Alberta via the ASCEL grant and the Sprout Fellowship, which only accept participants who have led a Canada Service Corps-funded project in the past. You can follow the group on their Instagram account @thecreativescollective or contact them via email at thecreativescollectivee@gmail.com
For more information on the ELYCA program, please visit the ELYCA page on our website or follow us on Instagram at ahc_youth